{"id":436258,"date":"2026-01-30T13:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/436258\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T13:09:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:09:23","slug":"what-are-the-options-for-a-potential-artemi-panarin-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/436258\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the options for a potential Artemi Panarin deal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins Gino Reda to discuss where things are headed for Artemi Panarin<\/a> as the Rangers choose to sit him while they seek a deal, the possibility the Blue Jackets could dramatically change the trade market if they choose to be sellers and the Wild keeping an eye on the centre market.<\/p>\n

GINO REDA: Under a week to the Olympic trade freeze and there\u2019s absolutely no doubt the New York Rangers<\/a> are moving Artemi Panarin<\/a>. The only question now is when and where to?<\/p>\n

To speak to that, here\u2019s our Insider, Pierre LeBrun.<\/p>\n

Pierre, the Rangers have said they\u2019re not even going to dress their leading scorer because they don\u2019t want to risk an injury to him. How did we get here and where do you see this headed?<\/p>\n

PIERRE LeBRUN: Yeah, just for some background, it started back on Jan. 16th when the Rangers put out that letter that was very public about their retool. On that same day, GM Chris Drury<\/a>, we understand, met with Panarin and said we\u2019re not signing you, we\u2019ll work with you and your agent to trade you. And by the way, I think that news was really hard for Panarin to digest.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s obvious to the rest of us that they weren\u2019t going to re-sign a 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent, but I think for him it really hit him hard. So that\u2019s important to remember as this plays out.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, his agent, Paul Theofanous, has had the green light from the Rangers to speak directly to teams. And that\u2019s not only relevant because the player has a full no-move, so they control a lot of this, but because as we understand it, Panarin would like to get an extension through this trade, whenever that happens. In other words, fast forward July 1 to right now in late January and pick his next team.<\/p>\n

That has complicated things, because I think there are some teams that would have looked at him more as a rental, but aren\u2019t ready to get into a big extension with him. It\u2019s absolutely the opposite for some other teams, and I\u2019ll tell you why in a second.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start, for example, with the Washington Capitals<\/a>. They do have interest in Panarin. Where it goes from there, we\u2019ll see. But the extension part makes a whole lot of sense for them because they\u2019re not sure of making the playoffs, where they are in the standings today. So, the extension would make it a more intelligent move if they end up with him. Not to mention, by the way, we still don\u2019t know if Alex Ovechkin<\/a> is going to retire or not at the end of the year. And if he does, is Panarin a replacement? Washington has interest, makes sense that they\u2019re in there.<\/p>\n

My understanding is that the Panarin camp has reached out to all three California teams: Anaheim, L.A., and San Jose. The Ducks, there\u2019s a Joel Quenneville<\/a> connection from their time together in Chicago. But I\u2019m told the Ducks are out right now. And the reason for that is the extension doesn\u2019t make sense for them, Gino.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve got a lot of young core guys to sign here in the next year or two and spending four years times 10 or 11 million a year, whatever you believe the extension might end up at, doesn\u2019t really make sense for Anaheim. So I\u2019ve got Anaheim out.<\/p>\n

Have the Sharks talked to them? Yes, my understanding is the Sharks have had a discussion with the Rangers. We know Mike Greer and Chris Drury<\/a> have a history, worked together in New York. But beyond that conversation, I\u2019m not sure how serious San Jose wants to be here. They just traded for Kiefer Sherwood<\/a>; they just signed Alex Wennberg. I wouldn\u2019t have San Jose as a front runner right now, we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

L.A., they can\u2019t score. They\u2019ve got a ton of salary cap room starting next summer with the retirement of Anze Kopitar<\/a>. But guess what? They need a centre more than a winger. So, I guess what I would say on the Kings is, I just get the feeling that Ken Holland<\/a> is just staying in there to see where it goes. But again, I don\u2019t sense that the Kings are pushing that hard.<\/p>\n

The Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> have talked about it. What a shock. The Hurricanes love all the shiny new toys that might be out there on the market. We know the Hurricanes have talked about it, via sources. The part that I struggle with, Gino, is Tom Dundon really going to dole out that kind of money on extension for Panarin? Does Panarin fit stylistically with the Hurricanes and how they play? I don\u2019t know, just things that I think about.<\/p>\n

If I had to think of a team that would probably be No. 1 on Panarin\u2019s list, I would say the Florida Panthers<\/a>, like almost every other player in the league. But how could Florida really make that happen with their cap situation? I struggle to make the math work there, but it\u2019s worth mentioning them. And obviously there are other teams, but that\u2019s a bit of a glimpse where things might be right now.<\/p>\n

REDA: It\u2019s so funny because it almost sounds like we\u2019re talking about Panarin coming up to July 1, free agency, rather than coming up on the trade deadline. But in many ways, it\u2019s being handled in a similar fashion.<\/p>\n

And also, Pierre, depending on what happens over the next week or so, we could see another major seller from the Metropolitan Division, and it\u2019s a team with some pretty attractive assets, as well.<\/p>\n

LeBRUN: Yeah, the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a>, who are now 6-1 under Rick Bowness since the coaching change. We always say, \u201cWhy are coaches always getting fired?\u201d This is why coaches get fired, sadly, is that more times than not, there\u2019s a coaching bump, and it\u2019s why it\u2019s so attractive to teams.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jackets don\u2019t want to be sellers. They hope that this run under Rick Bowness continues and that they\u2019re solidly back in the playoff race by the time the Olympic break comes next week. My understanding is that the Blue Jackets want to see where they are at the Olympics, and then decide if they\u2019re buyers or sellers.<\/p>\n

If they\u2019re sellers, let\u2019s say they get a few losses next week and it sours their hope for a playoff run, they could really dramatically change the market. Because one of the problems we\u2019ve had so far, Gino, or the frustration I hear from contenders, is that there\u2019s not enough teams that are selling.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jackets have a bunch of interesting pending UFAs. They have Boone Jenner<\/a>, they have Mason Marchment<\/a> – who they traded for, but it was always the possibility of flipping him \u2013 they have Charlie Coyle<\/a>, Eric Gudbranson.<\/p>\n

I will tell you, Coyle is getting a lot of calls, which tells you how few centres are on the trade market. A lot of teams want to know what Columbus will do with Coyle.<\/p>\n

Between all of this, there\u2019s a chance that some of these players get extended. Jenner is such a popular player there in Columbus, so maybe he gets signed. Maybe other guys get moved. But at the end of the day, it\u2019s about Columbus announcing if they\u2019re in or out, and they haven\u2019t made that announcement yet.<\/p>\n

REDA: What about Minnesota? Bill Guerin<\/a> took a huge swing by bringing in Quinn Hughes<\/a>. The Wild have the most points in the West since that deal. And he may not be done yet, Pierre.<\/p>\n

LeBRUN: Not if he has his way. Our understanding is that Bill Guerin<\/a> is really sizing up the centre market around the NHL ahead of the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s more of a post-Olympics move for Minnesota, but you never know if it happens before next week. He just wants to know who\u2019s available.<\/p>\n

I think Ryan O\u2019Reilly would be perfect for Bill Guerin<\/a> and the Wild. I just don\u2019t know that O\u2019Reilly is available yet. The Predators have been competitive and O\u2019Reilly, I don\u2019t think wants to quit on things there in Nashville. So, I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s actually on the market.<\/p>\n

Vincent Trocheck<\/a>, the Rangers are selling. We just talked about it. Trocheck \u2013 Bill Guerin<\/a> has a connection to him through Team USA. I think that\u2019s a player of interest to Minnesota.<\/p>\n

I just mentioned Coyle. I believe the Wild have checked in with Columbus on him. Wherever you see centre between now and March 6, think of Bill Guerin<\/a> and the Wild, because that\u2019s what they hope to do.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re in a division with Colorado and Dallas. They\u2019re probably going to play the Stars in the first round. They\u2019re all in, to be sure, in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

REDA: All right, lots going on. That\u2019s the early edition of Insider Trading. The full version with Pierre, CJ, and Dregs is coming up on the early edition of SportsCentre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins Gino Reda to discuss where things are headed for Artemi Panarin as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4759,33896,32986,5,33170,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-436258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-artemi-panarin-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8478550","10":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-29","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-minnesota-wild-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-30","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115984214458322650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}