Player Discussion Artemi Panarin

[LokiDog]

what do these numbers mean

It means in the regular season, when Panarin was on the ice, the Rangers had 42% of the high danger chances, while the opposition had 58%.

With Panarin at 37% in the playoffs, it means that the opposition is getting 63% of the high danger chances that occur for either team when the Panarin line is out. That’s not good enough in the regular season, but it’s downright terrible in the playoffs. He is the second highest paid player in the league. This coincides with what several have said that, injured or not, he has pretty much played this way all year. He gets his points, but they come at a cost to the team, and the totals are inflated by feasting on an all world PP unit.

 

[Whoot Whoot]

He had a great season let’s not pretend like he did nothing this year, he led a potent offense in points

He was hurt the last few games of the season - im guessing on his wrist / that could be the reason for all the trouble

Lots of fair weather fans in here
The guy has been a star for us - he’s almost certainly dealing with something

 

[LokiDog]

He had a great season let’s not pretend like he did nothing this year, he led a potent offense in points

He was hurt the last few games of the season - im guessing on his wrist / that could be the reason for all the trouble

Lots of fair weather fans in here
The guy has been a star for us - he’s almost certainly dealing with something

Most of us are here every day, including the off season, during non playoff years so I don’t know how you’d label any of us fairweather, but moreover, there are plenty of us who hated the way Panarin played this season and did not think he had a “great season” despite the points.

He’s a point accumulator. He picks up his points on the PP and off the rush, but rarely dominates a shift. He doesn’t play a lick of defense (aside from his first year in NY) and he is a turnover machine. Go back to posts from the regular season and you’ll find plenty of posts saying Panarin always gets his points, but his play has been lacking. He hasn’t played like an 11M player since his first year signing here. I would gladly take a lot of “lesser” top line talents with their lesser cap hits, lesser production and lesser liabilities than Panarin’s increasingly selfish and lazy play. There is no justifying him being the second highest paid player in the NHL, whatsoever. He isn’t a top 10 player in the NHL and he isn’t the most valuable player on his own team. He just has “sexy” point totals.

 

[Synergy27]

The raw numbers for this team are fascinating and horrifying as well. The Rangers have the top 11 worst players in terms of high danger chances against at 5v5 in the playoffs.

McDavid rates poorly on this list as well but you can see that he created 100!!! high danger chances so he’s still at a very positive 61% from a rate perspective.

Crazy stuff. Almost makes me question the stat keeping a bit.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Ohhh gonna get out a good rant here because this player has really f***ing aggravated me...

Panarin was not good during the regular season. His stat line was fine if not very good, but anyone with eyeballs knows that his play sucked for most of it.

It came around the last month of the season before he got hurt. What ever that ailment was, I don't really see it impacting his overall play because this is largely the player he was last year, it's just become magnified because the competition in the playoffs is MUCH better than the regular season. There are no Flyers, Senators, Devils or Red Wings to exploit here.

The injury excuse doesn't hold up though because he isn't sucking because he's laboring out there - This isn't Draisaitl shit where hes near death at the end of every shift. He's been out there for several optionals/morning skates since the Pittsburgh series too. Injured players don't do this.

It's not like he isn't finding the passes he desires so badly at all, he had 2 last night (Zibanejad missed the net on one, Laf rang the post on the other.) In fact hes probably has as many in this series as Toronto had as a team when they played Tampa but those plays happened because they were THERE. Panarin has been trying to force those passes when there is 0% chance that they're going to be successful. It's been the story of the playoffs for him and he refuses to simplify his game when its not there.

Getting on your highest paid player for underperforming is 100000% warranted. Especially when said player has *allegedly* made demands about who he plays with and basically dictates his own ice time (how many marathon shifts have we seen him take?) He gets too much slack from the organization and the fanbase. Yeah he was great 2 years ago. Who gives a f***? He sucks right NOW in games that are infinitely more important. I'm not blind to the fact that he was a crossbar and a Lindgren flub on the PK (that was a f***ing slam dunk that he whiffed on) away from completely changing the narrative on here, but thats part of the issue here. Wouldn't have really changed the fact that he had a shit game and has had a shit playoff (yes, even though the stat line still looks okay) - overlooking this is some Zuccette level shit. We're generally, as a fan base, better than that.

This level of play is unacceptable from him. I just hope that he doesn't burn us by doing something incredibly stupid at this juncture as he has done several times already because I'm not so sure we'll be able to come back from it the next time it happens. Whats even more stupid is that I'm still holding out hope that he'll be able to string together a strong finish to this post season, even though I've been waiting on it since the start and it hasn't even come close to happening. f*** if he give us even 70% of what hes supposed to be capable of we not only roll in this series, but we stomp Colorado too.

I'm mostly pissed because I KNEW this would happen when he signed here. Keeping him away from NYI may have kept them from winning the cup, but signing him may very well keep us from doing the same. Buyout proof contract and we have him for 4 more years, which presumably will be the years where this team will be most ready to contend?

Really hope Gary hits us up with another amnesty buyout.

 

[LokiDog]

View attachment 557244
The raw numbers for this team are fascinating and horrifying as well. The Rangers have the top 11 worst players in terms of high danger chances against at 5v5 in the playoffs.

McDavid rates poorly on this list as well but you can see that he created 100!!! high danger chances so he’s still at a very positive 61% from a rate perspective.

Crazy stuff. Almost makes me question the stat keeping a bit.

Does it? I don’t put a lot of stock in advanced statistics at all, but this still matches the eye test pretty well. The Rangers have been a team, all season, that can be largely out played, tread just enough water to keep from drowning, get buoyed by great goaltending and then ride a dominant PP and one or two good shifts per game to a victory.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

View attachment 557244
The raw numbers for this team are fascinating and horrifying as well. The Rangers have the top 11 worst players in terms of high danger chances against at 5v5 in the playoffs.

McDavid rates poorly on this list as well but you can see that he created 100!!! high danger chances so he’s still at a very positive 61% from a rate perspective.

Crazy stuff. Almost makes me question the stat keeping a bit.

NST has been off all postseason, especially for us.

They had Carolina and Pittsburgh with like 20+ in games where they had no more than 10. I get that these things are subjective, but there is some janky ass shit going on there.

 

[duhmetreE]

He's better than this.

I think he will be much better next season.

 

[CLW]

He's better than this.

I think he will be much better next season.

Hm. Why? Why isn't he better THIS season when we are actually contending? It's clearly not all injury related as others have pointed out. If he comes up with something like "his attitude will be better next season" in the exit interviews then it won't sit well with me (not that I think he'd say such a thing).

 

[LokiDog]

Hm. Why? Why isn't he better THIS season when we are actually contending? It's clearly not all injury related as others have pointed out. If he comes up with something like "his attitude will be better next season" in the exit interviews then it won't sit well with me (not that I think he'd say such a thing).

Moreover, will he be better than he was this regular season? And most of last? Because only his first year as a Ranger was he truly worth a 12M cap hit.

 

[duhmetreE]

Hm. Why? Why isn't he better THIS season when we are actually contending? It's clearly not all injury related as others have pointed out. If he comes up with something like "his attitude will be better next season" in the exit interviews then it won't sit well with me (not that I think he'd say such a thing).

Because we saw what he's capable of the previous seasons. This is no where near that and it hasn't been all season.

He started to look like Old Panarin when he was with +Copp -Strome. Once Strome came back it changed and then he got hurt.

I honestly love Copp with him. 2 legged Copp. I think he will be a good influence, not only for Panarin but the entire group. He understands the game at a high level.

So, healthy and better conditioned Panarin + healthy Copp - Strome + one of the kids = Better results IMO

We need to make it work. He's here for quite some time and immovable. I think he takes pride in his work. He's not on social media with his budget flip phone but I'm sure he knows he's not playing to his potential.

 

[LokiDog]

Because we saw what he's capable of the previous seasons. This is no where near that and it hasn't been all season.

He started to look like Old Panarin when he was with +Copp -Strome. Once Strome came back it changed and then he got hurt.

I honestly love Copp with him. 2 legged Copp. I think he will be a good influence, not only for Panarin but the entire group. He understands the game at a high level.

So, healthy and better conditioned Panarin + healthy Copp - Strome + one of the kids = Better results IMO

Fair enough. I still don’t know if I believe Panarin is the type of ego who is willing to “buy in” and make the adjustments needed to be worth his salary in the playoffs. He clearly enjoys being treated as a player-coach to an extent, supposedly dictating who he wants to play with, and he was a large part of the feeling that Quinn had lost the team after the great end to the year they were having prior to the bubble - Panarin’s first year here when he was still settling in. Ever since, he’s not been nearly as dynamic and doesn’t like to adapt or stray from doing things “his way”. Not sure that’s ever going to be a guy worth dedicating 15% of the salary cap to, but I can see why you are optimistic that the results can at least be better than this next year. Easily.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Moreover, will he be better than he was this regular season? And most of last? Because only his first year as a Ranger was he truly worth a 12M cap hit.

Man he still paced for 105pts this season, regardless of his defensive play or how he's done it that is absolutely elite production and if you subtracted that from this team we would be hard pressed to make the playoffs. Even this "down year" was one of the most productive seasons in franchise history. He is so under appreciated by this fanbase, now I won't critique YOU specifically as you are rational when it comes to our underperforming youth like Kakko so I don't think you're being a hypocrite. But every excuse under the sun is given for these guys when the 2nd overall pick in his D+3 season in his "strong playoffs" has 5pts in 18gp. Panarin has OVER THREE TIMES as many points. If our young kids produced at the rate Artemi was while he's supposedly been garbage, everyone would be over the moon.

 

[will1066]

Hm. Why? Why isn't he better THIS season when we are actually contending? It's clearly not all injury related as others have pointed out. If he comes up with something like "his attitude will be better next season" in the exit interviews then it won't sit well with me (not that I think he'd say such a thing).

It would be really dumb for all parties to not fix it now, because the greatest opportunity is the one that's in right in front of you and not next year or the year after no matter how great the expectations are. You never know whether you'll get to this point again, there are no guarantees. But, Gallant will wait until he's year 2 into his regime before he has the stones to take a hard-line approach with him and the other underperforming vets. And that's wishful thinking.

 

[LokiDog]

Man he still paced for 105pts this season, regardless of his defensive play or how he's done it that is absolutely elite production and if you subtracted that from this team we would be hard pressed to make the playoffs. Even this "down year" was one of the most productive seasons in franchise history. He is so under appreciated by this fanbase, now I won't critique YOU specifically as you are rational when it comes to our underperforming youth like Kakko so I don't think you're being a hypocrite. But every excuse under the sun is given for these guys when the 2nd overall pick in his D+3 season in his "strong playoffs" has 5pts in 18gp. Panarin has OVER THREE TIMES as many points. If our young kids produced at the rate Artemi was while he's supposedly been garbage, everyone would be over the moon.

You wouldn’t be subtracting it from the team. You would be subtracting it and repurposing 12M worth of cap space. 106 points from a player that plays the game the way Panarin does probably has the same net impact as 75 points from a guy like ROR or Bergeron. The difference being that fans see those glitzy numbers and highlight reels and go all weak kneed fan boy for the flashy players (see Kravtsov). There’s a reason Crosby - by most accounts the world’s most elite grinder - was always considered the best out of Malkin, Ovie, etc. and it’s because 100 points from Sid had a much better net effect than 100 points from Geno. If you don’t think that with 11.6M of cap space the team could find a way to replace 80 of those 100 points while being far less of a one dimensional liability, it speaks to a love of flash and skill more than substance and winning.

 

[17futurecap]

@Inferno nailed it, Tampa literally gives him the wall every time he gets the puck, and then he wildly throws it to the middle of the ice to no one in particular, and it’s going the other way.

He’s a damn good power play specialist though, should be getting 1:20-1:40 of every power play, it’s okay to ask for more than 2 five on five points since Carolina started.

 

[Synergy27]

Does it? I don’t put a lot of stock in advanced statistics at all, but this still matches the eye test pretty well. The Rangers have been a team, all season, that can be largely out played, tread just enough water to keep from drowning, get buoyed by great goaltending and then ride a dominant PP and one or two good shifts per game to a victory.

I agree on all accounts but this seems a bit extreme to me.

 

[EdJovanovski]

You wouldn’t be subtracting it from the team. You would be subtracting it and repurposing 12M worth of cap space. 106 points from a player that plays the game the way Panarin does probably has the same net impact as 75 points from a guy like ROR or Bergeron. The difference being that fans see those glitzy numbers and highlight reels and go all weak kneed fan boy for the flashy players (see Kravtsov). There’s a reason Crosby - by most accounts the world’s most elite grinder - was always considered the best out of Malkin, Ovie, etc. and it’s because 100 points from Sid had a much better net effect than 100 points from Geno. If you don’t think that with 11.6M of cap space the team could find a way to replace 80 of those 100 points while being far less of a one dimensional liability, it speaks to a love of flash and skill more than substance and winning.

Yea yea yea elite talent like that would hit free agency, and we would definitely spend that 11 million on another superstar. It's not like we spent over 11 million on Nemeth, Reaves, Blais & Goodrow. While getting rid of Buch who signed at 5.8M (which we probably could've brought down to 5M as he was devastated by the trade). We can't just go on the assumption that we'd land another big name player like that automatically with the cap space. We'd either have to trade for them or sign who? What elite free agent was available?

And Kravtsov is not a one dimensional flashy player, he's an omnidimensional presence who plays the game like a grandmaster of chess.

 

[huerter]

View attachment 557244
The raw numbers for this team are fascinating and horrifying as well. The Rangers have the top 11 worst players in terms of high danger chances against at 5v5 in the playoffs.

McDavid rates poorly on this list as well but you can see that he created 100!!! high danger chances so he’s still at a very positive 61% from a rate perspective.

Crazy stuff. Almost makes me question the stat keeping a bit.

Check the games played raw numbers.

 

[Gordon Bombay]

It's not so much the points for me with Panarin. Like another poster said who would you rather have in the playoffs, Bergeron or Gaudreau?

It's how he played when he first got here. He was tenacious on the forecheck and neutral zone stealing pucks and skating and moving. That guy with less points was more valuable to this team.

Others have alluded to it. Whether it's injuries, or the Strome bromance this dude is not the same player he was.

I will give him next year. I saw a vetted poster say he missed a lot of the summer training. That's fine. What's not fine is the player he's been this whole season. He's earned the right for a little slack because we've seen what he can be. He's gotta get back to it though, that AAV will haunt us with this current version of Panarin.

 

[LokiDog]

Yea yea yea elite talent like that would hit free agency, and we would definitely spend that 11 million on another superstar. It's not like we spent over 11 million on Nemeth, Reaves, Blais & Goodrow. While getting rid of Buch who signed at 5.8M (which we probably could've brought down to 5M as he was devastated by the trade). We can't just go on the assumption that we'd land another big name player like that automatically with the cap space. We'd either have to trade for them or sign who? What elite free agent was available?

And Kravtsov is not a one dimensional flashy player, he's an omnidimensional presence who plays the game like a grandmaster of chess.

It’s a moot theoretical because the organization isn’t going to move him, but…

You’re obviously trading Panarin in this scenario, so something is coming back in that trade. We’re not in a position to take futures alone and no teams can afford it either. I don’t know. If you got Ehlers and an A prospect and pick, that’s 6M cap space for a guy who has put up 101 points in his past 109 games. The drop in production is like 20% but the cap hit is 50%. You can do a lot with that remaining cap. What if you could swing a Panarin for Pettersson at 7.3M plus a prospect? Solve a lot of problems at center and still save 4.3M on the cap. Filip Forsberg just had as good of a season as Panarin and is a much better all around player who can bring it in the playoffs. He’s a UFA. Tkachuk is RFA with a high QO and Calgary may make changes. He just had a 100 point season.

It’s a dumb hypothetical because you can’t just ask who would you sign to replace him. You can’t simply delete his contract. Without knowing what a trade involving him looked like, you can’t know how much cap you’re working with or what kind of return you got, so you can’t predict further moves. I’m pretty sure, however, that you could replace 75-90% of Panarin’s production while becoming a more balanced team. Add Strome’s cap hit to the mix and you have 16.5M to add players to augment Zib, Kreider, Laf, KK, etc. and create a top six that works.


Panarin is the type of player who gets the reputation as a coach killer. It’s his way or the high way - he won’t adapt for his coach, or his teammates. He’ll play his game and collect his massive salary and if the Rangers win, they win. If they lose? He’ll be partying with Vasi, Kuch, Sergachev in Tampa this summer.

 

[EdJovanovski]

It’s a moot theoretical because the organization isn’t going to move him, but…

You’re obviously trading Panarin in this scenario, so something is coming back in that trade. We’re not in a position to take futures alone and no teams can afford it either. I don’t know. If you got Ehlers and an A prospect and pick, that’s 6M cap space for a guy who has put up 101 points in his past 109 games. The drop in production is like 20% but the cap hit is 50%. You can do a lot with that remaining cap. What if you could swing a Panarin for Pettersson at 7.3M plus a prospect? Solve a lot of problems at center and still save 4.3M on the cap. Filip Forsberg just had as good of a season as Panarin and is a much better all around player who can bring it in the playoffs. He’s a UFA. Tkachuk is RFA with a high QO and Calgary may make changes. He just had a 100 point season.

It’s a dumb hypothetical because you can’t just ask who would you sign to replace him. You can’t simply delete his contract. Without knowing what a trade involving him looked like, you can’t know how much cap you’re working with or what kind of return you got, so you can’t predict further moves. I’m pretty sure, however, that you could replace 75-90% of Panarin’s production while becoming a more balanced team. Add Strome’s cap hit to the mix and you have 16.5M to add players to augment Zib, Kreider, Laf, KK, etc. and create a top six that works.


Panarin is the type of player who gets the reputation as a coach killer. It’s his way or the high way - he won’t adapt for his coach, or his teammates. He’ll play his game and collect his massive salary and if the Rangers win, they win. If they lose? He’ll be partying with Vasi, Kuch, Sergachev in Tampa this summer.
View attachment 557267

Yea my theoretical was imagining if his contract was just deleted, didn't exist, didn't sign him; what we should've done with the money instead.

I may be in the minority and I acknowledge I am a very eccentric guy with an erm... unique, perspective on hockey; but I would argue our team is actually too X's & O's "play the right way" and not flashy, fast, or skilled enough. Watching teams like Colorado & Tampa they are so much more dynamic and dangerous than us. We play such a simple game, dumping pucks in, not taking risks, we play not to lose, we don't play to win. Laf & Kakko have had the creativity they flashed in juniors zapped out of them. I think we would be in a much better spot if we told those guys to just play their game and try all the flashy shit they want, go create offense, forget about trying to develop into 200-ft responsible guys who play the right way. Those guys are a dime a dozen. 1st and 2nd overall picks are supposed to be offensive superstars.

I know I care more about flash, swagger, etc than most fans but what's the reason we watch sports in the first place? If hockey was completely boring and didn't get your blood pumping we wouldn't watch it nor would we care if we won. Hockey is entertainment at the end of the day. Yea I want to win but I want to have fun doing it. I don't know if Panarin is really a coach killer, the ultimate hardass, no fun, "play the right way" enthusiast himself (Torts) absolutely loved Panarin.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Yea my theoretical was imagining if his contract was just deleted, didn't exist, didn't sign him; what we should've done with the money instead.

I may be in the minority and I acknowledge I am a very eccentric guy with an erm... unique, perspective on hockey; but I would argue our team is actually too X's & O's "play the right way" and not flashy, fast, or skilled enough. Watching teams like Colorado & Tampa they are so much more dynamic and dangerous than us. We play such a simple game, dumping pucks in, not taking risks, we play not to lose, we don't play to win. Laf & Kakko have had the creativity they flashed in juniors zapped out of them. I think we would be in a much better spot if we told those guys to just play their game and try all the flashy shit they want, go create offense, forget about trying to develop into 200-ft responsible guys who play the right way. Those guys are a dime a dozen. 1st and 2nd overall picks are supposed to be offensive superstars.

I know I care more about flash, swagger, etc than most fans but what's the reason we watch sports in the first place? If hockey was completely boring and didn't get your blood pumping we wouldn't watch it nor would we care if we won. Hockey is entertainment at the end of the day. Yea I want to win but I want to have fun doing it. I don't know if Panarin is really a coach killer, the ultimate hardass, no fun, "play the right way" enthusiast himself (Torts) absolutely loved Panarin.

Tampa being this high flying dynamic team is as much of a myth as them being a soft team.

They've completely changed the way they play. There is still a ton of skill and talent left over, but that entire roster, to a whole, has taken on much more of a 'meat and potatoes' approach to winning games, which is why they've won the last 2 years.

If you've been paying attention, its the Rangers who have scored more of these "pretty" types of goals in this series than Tampa has. If anything they need MORE of what you don't like, not less.

Flash doesn't mean shit if it doesn't get you anywhere. You'll learn that with Kravtsov when he inevitably flames of the league again and Panarin's issue isn't even that he's being "flashy", it's that he's being stupid by forcing things that have no chance of working.

Like the totality of his play in this series hasn't been THAT bad, especially compared to the last 2. The issue is that he continues to make the same mistakes over and over again that have gotten him burned in the previous 2 series. Being risk adverse is exactly what Cooper preaches and its helped them get back into this series (along with Trouba being an idiot in G3 but thats besides the point.)

Does Panarin being more risk adverse change the result of Yesterday's game? Probably not. Could have very well done so in G3 though and thats with all the dumb Trouba stuff.

 

[excaliber]

View attachment 557244
The raw numbers for this team are fascinating and horrifying as well. The Rangers have the top 11 worst players in terms of high danger chances against at 5v5 in the playoffs.

McDavid rates poorly on this list as well but you can see that he created 100!!! high danger chances so he’s still at a very positive 61% from a rate perspective.

Crazy stuff. Almost makes me question the stat keeping a bit.

By the way most of you were talking I'd have thought Panarin was the only player on the ice during his shifts. The whole team sucks if you look at the above stats. I'm going to laugh when it's disclosed Panarin has a leg injury after the playoffs.
NY fans are fair weather fans at best. You don't deserve a player like Panarin.

Flame shield up ready for the incoming bombs.

 

[Platano King]

Does anyone else remember when Tampa fans said the same thing about Kucherov? Ask Bolts fans in 2019 and they say he creates bad turnovers, is a floater, doesn't play defense, vanishes in the playoffs etc... Would anyone in their right minds say that now?

I like to look at precedent. The precedent shows that Artemi has been an elite scorer and play driver for much of his career. The precedent shows that Artemi is the most productive player the Rangers have had since Jagr. Even this season, a down year where he still scored 96 points, he was our best player post-deadline and pre-injury. Injuries have mental impacts too and people often forget that- even if he's physically ok, he's clearly shying away from contact and off his game mentally- just like Mika last year after the neck injury.

The objective of any Panarin trade wouldn’t be to replace his points 1:1. The objective would be to improve the team. You either understand that concept or you don’t.

The NMC obviously makes this all a pipe dream. But the point is that many here think that you can build a better top to bottom team even if Panarin’s direct replacement only scores a fraction of the points Artemi does.

Obviously, but my point is that there isn't anyone the Rangers can get in return that can tangibly improve the team. Panarin has a $12m cap hit and is 30 years old, and plays wing, which is a need for very few teams in the NHL. I don't think there would be a single team that has a combination of assets, desire, and/or cap space to make it work. Anyone trading for Artemi would have to be a contender just based on his age alone. Since its a pipe dream, why entertain the prospect? We need to make it work, especially when it is well known that Artemi is capable of game-changing play. There would be nothing more frustraing than dumping Artemi for less value than what he's worth and watching him return to form on another team.

Every star player has down years and bad playoff performances. People thought Ovi was cooked in 2012, and Kane had a very disappointing performance that same year to the point where some thought Jordan Eberle was better. Stamkos was an injury prone liability and playoff choker. Crosby was washed up and a playoff vanishing act who would retire with only one cup. Et cetera. The overreactionary hot takes are insane when Panarin has a track record of 5+ of elite play in both the regular season and postseason. If he still looks like this by the 2023 playoffs? Maybe you have a point. But its been one middling season and 18 bad games affected by injury. A little bit early to call for his head, no?

It’s a moot theoretical because the organization isn’t going to move him, but…

You’re obviously trading Panarin in this scenario, so something is coming back in that trade. We’re not in a position to take futures alone and no teams can afford it either. I don’t know. If you got Ehlers and an A prospect and pick, that’s 6M cap space for a guy who has put up 101 points in his past 109 games. The drop in production is like 20% but the cap hit is 50%. You can do a lot with that remaining cap. What if you could swing a Panarin for Pettersson at 7.3M plus a prospect? Solve a lot of problems at center and still save 4.3M on the cap. Filip Forsberg just had as good of a season as Panarin and is a much better all around player who can bring it in the playoffs. He’s a UFA. Tkachuk is RFA with a high QO and Calgary may make changes. He just had a 100 point season.

Panarin is the type of player who gets the reputation as a coach killer. It’s his way or the high way - he won’t adapt for his coach, or his teammates. He’ll play his game and collect his massive salary and if the Rangers win, they win. If they lose? He’ll be partying with Vasi, Kuch, Sergachev in Tampa this summer.

If you think Panarin's a choker I want to see how you react in the hypothetical scenario we get Matthew "0.5 playoff PPG" Tkachuk, lol.

The only hypothetical trade I'll do is maybe Petterson. Even he looked like dogwater at the start of his season, and many questioned his contract. And do you honestly think any of the players you mentioned has the capability to transform the game the way Panarin does? You don't win without that transformational skill, period. You need a Kucherov, a Kane, an Ovechkin, a player that can change everything in one play. Panarin is capable of that, an Ehlers/Forsberg combo isn't. The 2012-15 Rangers had a deep and well rounded forward group, and it didn't mean shit in the end without a transformational talent that could tip the scales.

And you're just making shit up at this point with that last sentence. Coach killer? Because hard-ass Tortorella and 3x cup champion Quennville famously hated him.