Could the New York Rangers Trade Artemi Panarin Instead of Mika Zibanejad?
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined TSN Radio in Montreal last Monday and was asked about the New York Rangers and whether they could still move Mika Zibanejad or Artemi Panarin if the team gets off to a slow start.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: New York Rangers and Overrpriced Contracts That Can Be Traded
Host: “Is there any, is there anybody else that you like you’d want to talk to out of the European players, as far as like storylines going into this year, I was reading a story earlier about Mika Zibanejad being a big, big soccer fan, so maybe he’s going to go that AC Milan game that you’re talking about. Like, I’m so curious as to what happens with the New York Rangers last year, who, going into the season were a favorite to win the Stanley Cup, and then by the month of December, they were no longer a playoff team.
Dave Pagnotta: Yeah, yeah. A lot of changes, obviously happening there. Curious to see. He has, Zibanejad has no move clause, and they’ve explored that around the league, but he’s been pretty adamant that he doesn’t want to move. He wants to stay there.
The guy I’m really curious about with the Rangers is Artemi Panarin. Final year of his deal. What’s going to happen with him? His future in the Big Apple, if they get off to a hot start, does that change their mindset in terms of trying to now add to this group to get back on track, and they rebound quickly after a disappointing, very, very disappointing season last year, as you said.
Or if it’s status quo, do they start to get a head start on trade discussions involving Panarin, who also has no trade protection. But with the way that the team has obviously been going, and even with that owner wanting that team and his team to be consistently competitive, they’re going to have to take a look at that possibility.
If the Rangers by the halfway point are floundering a little bit, or a bubble team, then it wouldn’t shock me at all to see Panarin starting to feel some more headlines, as opposed to a guy like Zibanejad.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The fascinating thing about the New York Rangers is that they have tough decisions to make with this roster, especially with Artemi Panarin. Panarin enters the final year of his deal. He has been everything and more for the Rangers when he signed that seven-year contract during the Jeff Gorton era. Panarin was the piece that accelerated the rebuild many years ago. So it will be interesting to see if the Rangers would want to move on from their leading scorer.
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Panarin is eligible to sign an extension, but there are no indications what the team will want to do with him moving forward. We know the New York Rangers wanted to move Mika Zibanejad and still do, but the player holds all the cards with his no-movement clause. It appears Mike Sullivan could help Zibanejad find his game, moving him to the wing with J.T. Miller at center. It is going to be hard for the Rangers to move Zibanejad right now.
But if things don’t go well to start, it could be Panarin, not Zibanejad, who moves.
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