The Artemi Panarin Train Slowly Gains Steam
Lyle Richardson of Bleacher Report: Naturally, we were destined to be in this position with Artemi Panarin. This time, the New York Rangers are only a few points out of a playoff spot. Yet, it feels like so many more with the injuries to Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox. The Shesterkin one is more perplexing given the lack of timeline clarity.
There are some major and minor details here. Panarin has not agreed to anything except that he will not take a pay cut. He is not shooting the puck like the Russian was two years ago. Panarin’s point production has been around 1.1 points per game which has been solid. However, too many nights something seems off. We saw this last year as well.
Others look at which teams could be a fit for the Russian star. Washington comes to mind immediately as the Capitals try to plan for now and ahead. Carolina and Vegas are always in the running in these sweepstakes. An interesting team is Detroit which has some prospects and is on a nice run. The Los Angeles Kings remain a wildcard. They have tons of deadline cap space and pieces to make a move happen. The Kings are stuck in the muck and need a big push. Panarin would provide that.
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The impressions here are that we may have to wait.
What About Joonas Korpisalo?
Jimmy Murphy of RG.org: It is little shock that Joonas Korpisalo has been on the trade market. Maybe the shutout over the weekend will boost his value a little. Largely, the goaltender has been underwhelming for Boston, while Jeremy Swayman has rebounded just enough. Korpisalo has improved slightly over the past two campaigns, but not enough.
With him always available, it feels like the contract is a bigger problem here. There is the 10-team trade clause, the $4 million salary, and yes, two years remaining on the deal.
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Boston feels like Michael DiPietro is rounding into some great form in Providence. Management wants to give the younger goaltender a long look in Beantown. When the San Jose Sharks acquired Laurent Brossoit, that closed a big window. Other teams are hesitant to acquire Korpisalo at best.
Honestly, that waiver option is becoming more likely than just a fallback choice here.
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