turned down more money<\/a> from other teams such as the Seattle Kraken to sign a two-year, $22 million dollar extension with the Kings.<\/p>\n\u201cI just want to play for these guys, for that organization,\u201d he said. \u201cOther teams [were on] the list, obviously, too, but I actually [didn\u2019t] really want to go anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if [Kings general manager Ken Holland knew] that, he\u2019d give me [$5 million], probably.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panarin had previously discussed extending with the New York Rangers, but their offer made him question how much they truly wanted him to stay. As the team struggled, the two sides worked together to trade him, during which time he talked to former Kings and current Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov about Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to find a team for myself, where I want to be,\u201d Panarin said. \u201cSo it\u2019s kind of about feeling. Obviously, you look at the players, and then I was [speaking] with Gavrikov the last couple days, a lot. So he introduced LA, a great organization, great teammates there. Obviously, great spot to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
In contrast to the Rangers\u2019 pivot to a future without Panarin, the Kings\u2019 offer of an extension showed their commitment to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be rented, like, for a couple months and then go somewhere else,\u201d he said. \u201cI just look for a team, like, \u2018Who wants me? Who can sign me right away?\u2019 Because, they\u2019re just not [renting] me for a couple months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panarin will not join the Kings immediately, as they are on the road tonight to take on the Vegas Golden Knights. Once their Olympic break begins tomorrow, he\u2019ll begin reaching out to his new teammates and coaches and adjusting to his new setting. He can also use that time to get back up to speed, as he hasn\u2019t played a game in over a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably perfect timing for me for [switching teams], when Olympics break [starts],\u201d he said. \u201cIt [gives] you some time for meeting with the guys, and then just have a couple of practices together before you play. Usually, it\u2019s happening in the season, and guys, they\u2019re playing [the] next day, somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
If everything goes according to plan, Panarin should debut with the Kings on Wednesday, Feb. 25, also against the Golden Knights, paying off weeks of anticipation for both himself and the Kings organization and fanbase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — Artemi Panarin made his desire to play for the Los Angeles Kings abundantly clear during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5126],"tags":[3039,5,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,40,4,5695,2099],"class_list":{"0":"post-449810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-kings","8":"tag-artemi-panarin","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-kings","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-kings","13":"tag-lakings","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-kings","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangeleskings","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-nhl","20":"tag-tst-los-angeles","21":"tag-vladislav-gavrikov"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116027208740791424","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449810","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=449810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}