The Los Angeles Kings acquired star forward Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers on Wednesday in exchange for prospect Liam Greentree, a conditional third-round pick in 2026 and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2028.
In addition, the Kings and Panarin agreed to a two-year extension worth an average annual value of $11,000,000 through the 2027-28 season.
“Players of Panarin’s skill, hockey sense, resume … hard to find those players,” Kings general manager Ken Holland said. “He’s an elite offensive producing machine. Does it year in and year out, year after year. Talking to him, he’s really excited to come to L.A. I think this was his No. 1 destination, so you’re getting a player motivated, that wants to come out here.”
The deal happened just as the NHL Olympic roster freeze, which runs through Feb. 22, began.
The Rangers are retaining 50% of Panarin’s salary, which puts him at a $5.8 million cap hit on the Kings’ books for this season.
The Rangers sat Panarin for the past three games, not wanting to risk an injury as they pushed hard to get a deal done before the Olympic break.
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Panarin will not be going to Milan, as Russia’s men’s hockey team remains banned by the IIHF, and now can spend the time acclimating to his new team and city.
According to rules set by the NHL and NHLPA, all teams must be fully off from Feb. 6 to Feb. 16 but can begin practicing again at 2 p.m. local time on Feb. 17. NHL games resume on Feb. 25.
Several teams were circling Panarin at the end — including Carolina, Tampa Bay and Washington. Sources said Panarin told the Rangers that L.A. was where he wanted to go.
Panarin and his agent had full control of the season, as his contract carries a no-movement clause.
Panarin is considered one of the Rangers’ greatest free agency signings of all time as he wraps up the seventh year of an $81.5 million contract he signed in July 2019. The crafty winger has been the Rangers’ leading scorer in five of the past six seasons.
Even though the Rangers didn’t have leverage, sources say they felt they got the best prospect in the Kings’ organization in Greentree, a power forward whom Los Angeles selected 26th in the 2024 NHL draft.
While many around the league believed Panarin’s preferred destination was the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, sources say the Panthers never got close in part because they wouldn’t be able to make the salary work.
The Kings, meanwhile, are looking to go all-in for captain Anze Kopitar’s final season in the NHL. Los Angeles is looking to break through after losing to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs each of the past four seasons.
“You either compete, or you enter this long-term rebuild,” Holland said. “Well, I’m not interested in a long-term rebuild. I think some of the people that we signed are not interested in that, so we’re trying to compete.”
While Holland said the Kings don’t intend to change their style of play, Panarin and the Kings both believe he can fit into their system while injecting excitement into a team that needs it.
“In the O-zone, he’s going to have the freedom to do what he wants to do, but when you don’t have the puck, you’ve got to defend,” Holland said. “I think that’s the same for all 32 teams. We don’t score, or haven’t scored as much as some other teams, so we’ve had to make sure we’re good on the defensive side.”
For the conditional pick, if the Kings win one playoff round this year, the third-round pick becomes a second-rounder; if they don’t win a playoff round, the pick will be the better of their two-third rounders, sources said. If L.A. wins two playoff rounds this year, the Rangers also receive a fourth-round pick in 2028.
The Rangers announced last month they were entering a retool after a disappointing first half of the season. The same day, general manager Chris Drury met with Panarin and told him the team would not be extending a new contract when the 34-year-old becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. In that conversation, Drury told the star winger they would work with him and his agent to facilitate a deal to a preferred destination.
The Rangers, who are in last place in the Eastern Conference, are expected to remain busy ahead of the March 6 NHL trade deadline. Panarin is the second veteran to be traded this season after Carson Soucy was sent to the rival New York Islanders last month. According to sources, defenseman Braden Schneider and center Vincent Trocheck are the most likely Rangers to also be traded this season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
