Is the Artemi Panarin-Rangers Partnership on the Brink of Collapse?

When you look at Artemi Panarin’s journey with the New York Rangers, it’s hard not to feel mixed emotions swirling around the ice rink. Here’s a guy who’s dazzled with skill and flair, yet as much as you might want to crown him the savior of Broadway’s hockey dreams, reality whispers a harsher truth. Is it time for the Rangers to face forward, to stop clinging onto a contract that might no longer serve them? Jonny Lazarus and Carter Hutton recently unpacked this very quandary, weighing whether Panarin’s prime years are fading and if the Rangers should conserve their cap space to construct a more balanced, collective powerhouse rather than banking everything on one marquee name. With free agency pools drying up and the pressing need to target a Stanley Cup, the question isn’t just about Panarin’s talent—it’s about the team’s blueprint for success and who really drives it forward. Tough times call for tougher decisions, especially in the Big Apple, where patience wears thin fast. LEARN MORE

Should the New York Rangers decide it’s time to move on from Artemi Panarin?

Daily Faceoff: Jonny Lazarus and Carter Hutton talking Artemi Panarin and the New York Rangers, and if it’s time for the Rangers to move on from and don’t look to extend him.

Hutton: “Is he a guy that they, we see staying in New York? Or is he a guy that says, ‘Hey, I’m going somewhere in the free agency, money’s going to really overpay me?’

Lazarus: “Yeah, and this is probably going to be his last contract too, right? You got to keep that in mind with his age. So I don’t think he’s going to take any sort of bargain. I don’t think he’s going to take any sort of hometown discount.

NHL Rumors: Will Artemi Panarin Be Top Free Agent This Summer

And if I’m the Rangers, I think it’s time to move on from him. But as much as I love Artemi Panarin, we’ve seen even at his best, even when the team is at their best, it hasn’t been good enough with him as the guy. And if he feels like he is the guy, and when I say that, I mean, you know, really, the person who drags everybody in in the playoffs. And, you know, like the Barkov’s, the McKinnons, the Kucherov’s. Like the guys who help their teams really get to that top of the mountain and win the Stanley Cup.

Panarin hasn’t been able to do that, and there’s nothing that tells me he will be able to do that, you know, before his career ends. So, for me, I think it’s time to clear up that money and try to build out a stronger team collectively over maybe one star player. Again, like the free agency pool now has totally dwindled with all the signings that have happened lately.

So it’s not like you’re going out there and getting a big fish. But the New York Rangers cannot win a Stanley Cup depending on how Artemi Panarin plays. You know, I think Igor is the most important player. And that’s just how it’s always been and how it’s going to be if the way the contracts work, if that’s how we’re judging it.”

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