It looks like Artemi Panarin may not be interested in giving the New York Rangers a hometown discount on his next contract.
Panarin turns 34 on Oct. 30, less than a month into the final season of the seven-year, $81.5 million contract he signed with the Rangers on July 1, 2019. There have been talks concerning a new contract — but no deal.
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast this week that the Russian forward rebuffed a proposal to do for the Rangers what longtime Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar did — take less money.
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“Anze Kopitar, who just announced his retirement, he had signed 10 years ago an eight-year deal with an average annual salary of $10 million a year,” Friedman said “At the end of that deal, the L.A. Kings went to him and said ‘we need you to take a little bit less, it’ll really help us win.’ And Kopitar did that [two years, $7 million per year].
“And I understand at some point this offseason, the Rangers had that kind of a conceptual discussion with Panarin. ‘Is there a way that you could do for the Rangers what Kopitar did for the Kings?’ “I don’t know if that’s going to be a possibility, but I do know that the two sides had the conversation, and obviously at this point, Panarin is unsigned, so we’ll see where that one goes.”
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Panarin has yet to play in a preseason game because of a lower-body injury sustained a week ago during training camp, though he was cleared for contact Friday. The Rangers are off until they visit the New York Islanders on Monday, and coach Mike Sullivan said there’s no guarantee he’ll see any action before the season starts on Oct. 7.
“In a perfect world, we’d like to get him into a game or two,” the coach said, “but a lot of it is going to depend on where he is. We’ll certainly air on the side of caution.”
The average annual value of Panarin’s contract ($11.64 million, according to PuckPedia) was the highest in the NHL for wings entering last season, according to Friedman. But that’s not the case any more.
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“He’s now been surpassed,” Friedman said. “Mikko Rantanen (of the Dallas Stars) and Mitch Marner (of the Vegas Golden Knights) are now the two highest-paid wingers in the league, at $12 million, and they’re probably going to be passed by Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets) and Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild) when they sign.”
Connor and Kaprizov are entering the final year of their contracts and are eligible to sign an extension. Kaprizov reportedly turned down an eight-year, $128 million offer; the $16 million average annual value would be the highest in the NHL.
Artemi Panarin reportedly turns down Rangers’ proposal
Panarin is the best free-agent signing in Rangers history. He’s helped bring the Rangers back into Stanley Cup contention; they got to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2024, winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s regular-season champions in ’23-24.
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Last season, Panarin led the Rangers in goals (37), assists (52), and points (89), although that was a drop from his career year in 2023-24, when he finished with 49 goals and 71 assists for 120 points, the second-highest single-season point total in team history. Only Jaromir Jagr (123 in 2005-06) had more. He’s been an NHL First-Team All-Star twice (2019-20 and 2023-24) and made the Second All-Star Team in 2022-23.
Through six seasons on Broadway, Panarin has 550 points (186 goals, 364 assists) in 430 games played. Only Connor McDavid (710), Leon Draisaitl (644) and Nathan MacKinnon (633) have more in that time frame. “He has been the key to the Rangers’ revival,” Friedman said.
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It’s hard to imagine that general manager Chris Drury doesn’t want to keep Panarin, and he’s said next to nothing about the contract talks. But he’d have to be a fool not to be well aware of how important Panarin is to the Rangers — there’s no player on the roster or in the pipeline who comes close to what Panarin brings offensively.
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“As far as the contract stuff, I’ve also said on record that I don’t talk about negotiations publicly,” Drury said last week. “Any conversations I have with Artemi or his representation will stay that way, just private.”
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But he knows what Panarin means to a team that’s trying to get back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs after one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
“I’ve said many times on record what I think of him as a player and he’s a huge piece of our team and our organization,” Drury said. “He doesn’t appear to me to be slowing down.”
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Friedman also said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the Rangers do what they did with goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who entered the season unsigned but inked a contract extension a few weeks later. The eight-year, $92 million deal kicks in this season.
“I would say last year that the New York Rangers, going into the season with Shesterkin and getting it done,” he said, “maybe at a higher number than they hoped to, says to me that they handled it once, they’ll handle it again if they have to do it a second time.”
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