{"id":448449,"date":"2026-02-06T07:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448449\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T07:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:05:17","slug":"the-silver-lining-for-mike-sullivan-rangers-after-artemi-panarin-saga-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448449\/","title":{"rendered":"The silver lining for Mike Sullivan, Rangers after Artemi Panarin saga ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Artemi Panarin saga finally reaching a conclusion with his trade Wednesday to the Kings<\/a>, the Rangers entered their final game before the NHL break for the Winter Olympics \u2014 and the corresponding league-wide roster freeze \u2014 with the knowledge that their devolving season eventually will resume with more work to do for general manager Chris Drury to retool the roster for 2026-27 and beyond.<\/p>\n

Panarin, who inked a two-year contract extension worth $22 million with Los Angeles to bypass unrestricted free agency this summer, was dealt for junior forward prospect Liam Greentree<\/a> and at least one conditional third-round draft pick, depending on Los Angeles\u2019 postseason success.<\/p>\n

The last-place Rangers already had played the previous three games without Panarin, who had been held out of the lineup in losses to the Islanders and the Penguins ahead of Thursday\u2019s pre-Olympic finale against the Hurricanes at the Garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I just think the finality of it is finally here,\u201d Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said when asked about Panarin\u2019s official departure following an optional morning skate Thursday in Tarrytown, before the Rangers lost, 2-0, to the Hurricanes<\/a>. \u201cSometimes just the anxiety of the uncertainty is more difficult to deal with than the finality of it. Everybody can move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewArtemi Panarin is pictured during the Rangers\u2019 Jan. 14 game. Jason Szenes for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Sullivan said he wished the 34-year-old Panarin \u201cthe very best\u201d in a conversation after the trade was announced Wednesday afternoon. <\/p>\n

He added that he \u201calready has addressed the circumstances\u201d with the team, which began play Thursday night in a 3-12-2 tailspin to sink to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not [easy] because obviously we\u2019re all in this thing to win,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019re all wired to try to win. It\u2019s a competitive league, it\u2019s a competitive environment, and we\u2019re all competitive and we want to win. So when you don\u2019t have the ability to put one of your very best players in the lineup, it doesn\u2019t help your chances. But I also understand that it\u2019s just the reality of the circumstance, and it\u2019s part of where we\u2019re at right now. It\u2019s my job to coach the guys that I have available each and every night, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re gonna do.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the 20-year-old Greentree<\/a> slated to finish out his current season with OHL Windsor, the Rangers will continue to plug the gaping hole left by Panarin, their leading scorer, from within. <\/p>\n

Will Cuylle mostly has skated in his spot the past several games alongside center Vincent Trocheck.<\/p>\n

\"NewMike Sullivan reacts during the Rangers\u2019 Jan. 29 game. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know that we\u2019re not going to plug a player in, and he\u2019s going to replace what Artemi does for this team,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cI think what we\u2019re trying to do is build a team game where we can replace it by committee, so to speak. I think we can do a better job at being harder to play against, giving up less opportunities on the defensive side, which should allow us an opportunity to create some offense off of that. But I don\u2019t know that. We\u2019re not plugging anybody in and saying, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re gonna go replace what our Artemi\u2019s brought to this group.\u2019 That would be unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Greentree \u2014 a 6-foot-2 scoring winger and the No. 26 overall pick by the Kings in the 2024 NHL Draft \u2014 will be afforded an opportunity to develop within the organization.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I had a conversation with [Drury] about it, and I know our hockey operations department is very excited about this player, and the possibility of him becoming an impact player in the NHL,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cHe\u2019s certainly shown at the level he\u2019s been at that he\u2019s every bit that player. So we\u2019re certainly excited to add him to our group, and we\u2019ll see what happens moving forward. I think at the appropriate time, I will try to familiarize myself with him and his game, for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, Chris and I have had a lot of conversations around this and what the game plan is moving forward to try to reshape the organization and be as competitive as we can be in the most expeditious fashion. So this is part of the process. It\u2019s not a new thing that has caught me by surprise. I understand it, and we\u2019re working together to do our very best to try to accomplish what has been articulated to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Artemi Panarin saga finally reaching a conclusion with his trade Wednesday to the Kings, the Rangers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5111],"tags":[3039,5,2310,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-448449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-artemi-panarin","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mike-sullivan-nhl","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-rangers","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkrangers","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-rangers","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116022420002421904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448449","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=448449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}