Flashbacks on what? He was a PPG in the 2016 series, he was hardly the biggest concern in 2017, and he was utterly dominant until the Caps adjusted and focused on shutting his line down and killed the Jacket's entire offense. That narrative really needs to be retired.
Not at all, he can't do it by himself out there. Even Toews and Kane in their glory days had rough series every once in a while.
He will absolutely earn every dime, especially if he has a repeat of last year, this year.
And Vegas won the West with a team of 'pretty goods'.
This narrative is tired and wrong.
*shrugs*
Maybe.
There are some unpleasant trends in his underlying numbers come playoff time. Specifically his xGF% (scoring chance generation) tends to tank pretty hard, well into the low-40%s.
As far as 2016, his sh% lifted him a lot as far as point production. The next year, the sh% wasn't there and the points didn't come.
2018 was his worst performance to date as far as xGF% (41%), but he made hay early on the PP to the tune of 4 points (plus another 2 points 5v5). Which is fine, PP points count just as well as other points.... they're just not typically as sustainable as 5v5 point production, which we saw as the series progressed. 5 points in the first 2 games then.... smoke bomb. Ninja. He's gone. Not his fault, team stopped drawing PPs (whether by refs swallowing whistles or the players failing to draw them) and the opposing PK adjusted to the system and snuffed the chances they got (it's not like feeding the puck to Panarin at the dot could possibly be predictable and therefore preventable....no sir, we've never seen that).
The bigger problem is 5v5, where playoff series are won. This is mostly eye-test, so it's admittedly subjective, but when Panarin gets keyed in on, he falls back into what's comfortable. I'm sympathetic to the argument that he lacks a supporting cast to fall back on, but at some point you can't keep trying the same damn entries every shift, you can't keep posting up at the same spot and wait for the one-timer feed, without expecting the other guys (who have coaches, and video coaches, and great players, just like your team) not to adjust and cut it off. Depth helps spread the talent checking him out, but you've got to adapt to the adaptation, you can't just keep running into the same brick wall hoping the next time it falls down.
Watching the final 4 games where the Caps started squeezing him, he wasn't providing his centers with options. He was doing the same shit he did for most of the 2017 season, letting the other guy on his line (Kane here, Wennberg or PLD there) handle carrying the puck in and finding him at his happy place on the opposite circle... only his centers in CBJ aren't as good as Kane, and when the other team knows they can pressure the F1 with 2 guys, then the guy waiting at the circle needs to do something else to give the F1 more time and space and draw a ****ing defender. Which he basically never did. The Caps were happy to let Panarin hang out, stationary, at the dot while they pressured the other forwards on his line. They closed off the center, Panarin never got he pass, and his offense was suffocated. And lord knows we wasn't going to make up for it going the other way.
I like Panarin. I think he's a fantastic player, and would take him back on the Blackhawks any time if it were in any way feasible. I'm just not sure I would say he's a no-brainer 10mil+ guy. I do think he's worth 10mil+ to Columbus though, and they should pay him.
EDIT: Sorry, in case anybody isn't familiar with the xGF stat and cares to investigate, here's a resource
Shot Quality And Expected Goals: Part I | Corsica