Player Discussion Artemi Panarin

[TGWL]

Panarin was WAY better than McDavid or Draisaitl against the Panthers

Take away the last game and this still couldn't be further from the truth when comparing with McDavid. But regardless of that you still need players to get you to the playoffs and Panarin does that.

 

[Synergy27]

Nobody wins the Cup until they do and you can't build a team around guys that you know for sure can win the Cup.

I mean. Yeah, sure. But would you feel confident rolling into the playoffs next year, or the year after when Igor has a contract, knowing that Panarin is your highest paid forward and your chances of winning are largely contingent on his production? He just doesn’t seem to have a playoff style game and I don’t see how that’s just going to change one year.

 

[chosen]

The issue, as it almost always is, is the cap. You can’t make the money Panarin does and then not produce in the playoffs.

Sure, go ahead and argue that Florida is shutting down McDavid and Draisaitl too. Now go ahead and remember that Edmonton isn’t winning the Cup either.

To win the Cup, your best players need to be better than the best players on. The other team. If they’re not, you’re gonna lose. That’s it. The rest is window dressing.

Some people just don't seem to understand that if your defensemen are pinned in their own end most of the game, your forwards can't put up big numbers.

 

[Machinehead]

I mean. Yeah, sure. But would you feel confident rolling into the playoffs next year, or the year after when Igor has a contract, knowing that Panarin is your highest paid forward and your chances of winning are largely contingent on his production? He just doesn’t seem to have a playoff style game and I don’t see how that’s just going to change one year.

If we fix everything else wrong with the team, yes.

Barkov got dragged for not being a playoff guy his whole career and now he's running away with the Conn Smythe.

They fixed the actual weaknesses on the roster.

 

[80shockeywasbuns]

If we fix everything else wrong with the team, yes.

Barkov got dragged for not being a playoff guy his whole career and now he's running away with the Conn Smythe.

They fixed the actual weaknesses on the roster.

I can’t ever see them doing it. I think their mentality is that if they give up 2 goals the defense did their job and the forwards have to figure it out. And when they can’t score its because they’re “not going to the hard areas” or “willing to pay the price”.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I can’t ever see them doing it. I think their mentality is that if they give up 2 goals the defense did their job and the forwards have to figure it out. And when they can’t score its because they’re “not going to the hard areas” or “willing to pay the price”.

I think both things can be true.

I don't think anyone is wrong when they say that this team won't go into the tough areas of the ice to score goals. It's been a problem forever. Panarin is as guilty of that as anyone but then again, he's been that guy for years now. He is not and will never be a guy who can carry the team through a run so yeah, the criticisms there are valid and should apply because of how much money he's making.

I also think they could have won this year with the same group of forwards doing what they did if they had competent defenders in their top 4 in place of Trouba and Lindgren. It remains their single biggest issue and what ever they do this offseason doesn't matter if they don't rectify that first.

I'm off the opinion that this team would be better off with out all 3 players listed above. While it's basically impossible to replace 120 points, Artemi himself isn't going to do that either so it really becomes weighing would you rather have what ever 2024-25 Panarin is or what ever you can get for him in a trade+what ever money is left over. I'm having a hard time seeing how we fix the defense with out pushing money out and moving him would take care of A LOT of that (both in terms of money and a return to fix at least half of our D issues.)

 

[will1066]

Hockey is the one major sport that morphs into something different from regular season to playoffs. Yes, it is hard to replace 120 regular season points. But we've all seen that finishing as a top seed doesn't guarantee that you'd get any further in a playoff run than finishing middle of the pack and getting into the post season. I prefer spreading out those 120 or even fewer points across players. ROR was the Blues' leading scorer with 77 points in 2019 but like nearly 2/3 of the roster had double-digit goals.