32 Thoughts: How Artemi Panarin ended up with the Los Angeles Kings

• Flames will be flexible in Kadri trade talks
• Can Toronto get a first-round pick for McMann?
• Why there's a push to narrow difference between NHL and international officiating standards

There was one player consistently texting Artemi Panarin while the newly crowned King considered his future: former teammate Patrick Kane.

“I hate him, so I didn’t want to come to Detroit,” Panarin chuckled during a zoom call with reporters Thursday afternoon.

The winger made it very clear Los Angeles became the sole preference as his next NHL home, informing the Rangers of this decision hours before being traded there. Without confirming exact details, he admitted the Kings slow-played things, sensing they had an advantage. 

“(GM Ken Holland) waited pretty long, he made me nervous,” Panarin said. “I have experience being a free agent, so it was kind of similar. … I was not ready to pick a team where I didn’t want to go. I probably go back to Russia if LA doesn’t give me anything.”

We’ll never know if he was serious about that one, but added, “If Kenny knew how much I wanted to play for the Kings, he probably would've given me $5 million.”

Panarin signed a two-year, $22-million extension minutes after the trade, which was essential to him.

"I don’t like to switch teams back and forth. I played already with three teams. I have two kids, a dog, a wife. It’s just too much stuff. I don’t want to be rented for a couple months, then go somewhere else.”

The deal concluded two crazy weeks. Tuesday, talks with the Kings fell apart when the team got squeamish over a $45-million extension. That led to a wild night of rumours and whispers hinting he was headed elsewhere and had a $60-million offer. It is believed something in that vicinity was offered by Seattle, at a number greater than $14 million per season. 

Panarin was asked about that and didn’t deny. 

“(This decision was) not so much about money,” he answered. “Do you want to play with guys or not want to play with guys?”

Conversations with Ranger defender Vladislav Gavrikov, who played 179 games with the Kings, sent him down this path. The only negative is that Panarin said he wants to wear 72, currently worn by Bailey the mascot. Maybe he can buy Bailey a Louis Vuitton dog fleece jacket, retailing for $1,090 (US) on the designer’s website (I checked). 

Panarin also confirmed what had been previously reported, that the Rangers wanted him to take a short-term contract with a lower AAV. Not exactly what Anze Kopitar did (two years, $7 million per season), but that philosophy. You can’t help but wonder what would have happened if the contract he signed in Los Angeles was available in Manhattan, but no one would have expected that last September.

“I don’t know if I should say this but I feel like the contract offer (said), ‘We’re not sure if we want you or not.’ We talked not much in the beginning before the season starts and then after, obviously, my start of the season was not great. And then probably we talked in the middle of year, but not much.”

When the Rangers lost 10-2 to Boston on Jan. 10, he thought, “Even if (GM Chris Drury) wanted to give me a deal, he probably can’t.”

Days later, Drury delivered the news, face-to-face. 

32 THOUGHTS

1. Panarin’s arrival does not diminish the Kings’ desire for a centre. There were reports they tried to add Vincent Trocheck to this deal. I can’t speak to that, but word is Trocheck prefers to stay East with what control he has. That doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee, but it is his preference at this time. Talking on TNT Thursday night, Holland mentioned Warren Foegele — who has been a scratch — as someone he’ll need to move.

2. Detroit, by the way, went hard at Trocheck when he was a UFA. Rangers beat them for his services.

3. I’m the wrong guy to ask about Liam Greentree. We’ll see in a few years. In theory, the Rangers could have refused to trade Panarin on Wednesday. Hold him past the Olympic freeze. One of my theories is that New York, battling to restore its image among players, chose to make the move rather than drag it out. If Panarin wasn’t going to budge (leaving $30 million on the table is a pretty strong sign), your only hope is the Kings fold under pressure — but their actions even had the player sweating.

After a series of skirmishes and hard feelings, Chris Kreider and Carson Soucy thanked the Rangers for how their exits were handled. Picking a fight with Panarin might have undone what New York is trying to do. But it is a reminder this scenario is extremely difficult for the team to win. Vancouver found that out with Ryan Kesler, Calgary with Noah Hanifin. The Flames fought much harder with Rasmus Andersson, extracting a better return from Vegas than originally offered. Same with Philadelphia when it sent Claude Giroux to Florida. They had to fight for more. 

4. Mike Sullivan and J.T. Miller are on a business trip to Italy. Gold is the goal and nothing can get in the way. But, at some point, they need to sit down and discuss some Rangers. I understand that losing sucks and Miller doesn't want to pour gasoline on the fire with his post-game commentary. But there has to be a better way than how he's answering questions right now. It's only inflaming tensions. Sullivan clearly is just as frustrated, feeling his message is not getting through. He's the coach and Miller is the captain. They have to work with each other to make it better. Or the Rangers are going to have to change something there, too.

5. Seattle’s massive offer to Panarin turned eyeballs northwest. They’re not going to do this for anyone, but now it is known they will do it for the right on-ice someone. 

6. The roster freeze is underway until 11:59 pm ET on Feb. 22. No trades, and while players can be put on waivers, they do not have to report to their new team until Feb. 17, if claimed. What you can do is extensions, and there will be discussions.

For example, how do both the Jets and Jonathan Toews feel? Does he extend for another year? Does he want to move to chase a championship? While I’ve heard “some” discussion between Buffalo and Alex Tuch, it is clearly not enough to get a deal done. The Sabres have indicated they are not interested in “making their team worse,” a wise decision considering how hot they’ve been. To me, that says they could keep Tuch even if not signed, and if I was in charge, I’d do it. There come times you have to think about the now, reward your players and your fans. 

I could see them adding a beefier blueliner, if possible.

7. Nashville’s begun feeling out potential hockey operations leaders. Still very early, though. 

8. Another player to add to your trade boards: Jonathan Marchessault. Nashville has the big names and strong complementary players (Michael McCarron and Nick Perbix would be two), but I sometimes forget Marchessault, and now have been reminded a couple of times. He has control, but there’s a willingness between team and player for something to happen. Unique in his case: his preference is somewhere with good minor hockey infrastructure for his children. 

9. Eric Engels dropped a really good interview with Jeff Gorton. My theory is they like Ryan O’Reilly. But we don’t know if he will go anywhere. There’s been a lot of Blake Coleman talk, but I don’t believe that’s feasible.

10. One of the reasons Nazem Kadri’s market slightly slowed is the availability of Trocheck and Robert Thomas. Add teams making sure they don’t miss anything with O’Reilly and it’s a kind of stasis. Utah checked in, and no doubt this will pick up. There’s a slight concern about term, but the Flames are flexible. Picks-and-prospects style or hockey-trade style, they will consider both options — and a lot of other stuff, but hands-off their high-ceilinged young players. 

11. Toronto is looking for a first-rounder for Bobby McMann. Big and fast, can see the possibility. One challenge for 2026: Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Minnesota and Vegas have already traded their first-rounders. (Carolina dealt theirs, but got another one from Dallas.) Ottawa doesn’t have one, and is unlikely to get it. That limits potential partners. Tougher, but not impossible. McMann’s a good player. 

12. There’s a lot to discuss in Edmonton, but let’s start with this: the Oilers need to move Andrew Mangiapane. It’s clear he’s not a fit for Kris Knoblauch, and there’s no point in pretending otherwise. Cut the losses and move on. They’ve searched for more players who’d be willing to accept a bottom-six role, like Kasperi Kapanen has. That’s one thing I still see them battling, carving out roles everyone accepts and is comfortable with. This was something Toronto battled with in the Core Four era and has evaded the Oilers. Empowering everyone on the roster to feel valuable and important turned Florida from good to great. 

13. Leon Draisaitl’s “starts with the coaching staff” line following Wednesday’s loss to Calgary was really something. You almost never hear a player say that — although his general honesty is a Godsend. I’m not sure if he’s talking about preparation or energy, but it’s led to local speculation the team will put Paul Coffey back on the bench. He brings an edge they could use. I asked about this earlier in the season, and was told no. Does everyone involved really want that?

14. San Jose is active. Two signed defencemen after this year: Sam Dickinson and Dmitri Orlov. Eying more, while also trying to alleviate their contract logjam, at 49 out of a maximum 50. 

15. The most complaints I’ve received about a call in recent memory was the Sandis Vilmanis hit on Charlie McAvoy. Not that there wasn’t supplemental discipline, but that the Panthers ended up with a power play. People were furious about that one.  

16. Speaking about refereeing, let’s move to the Olympics. Last week, one Olympic executive said that, when IIHF officials were invited to join their NHL counterparts at last summer’s orientation camp, there was special emphasis on teaching international referees not to overreact to big hits. Will it work? We’ll find out. But it’s critical to watch, because an adjustment in this direction makes a major difference for say, Tom Wilson, who has been a wrecking ball over the past week.

The more I looked into this, the more I heard there is a real desire to move hockey away from “an NHL game” versus “an international game.” Less, “This hit wouldn't be legal in a IIHF game.” More, “one standard, not NHL or IIHF.” I’m extremely curious to see how this goes.

17. During video review of hits, referees on the ice have final say. 

18. A month ago, Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong did an interview on Real Kyper and Bourne where he discussed how he felt North American referees would call a North American game because, essentially, that’s how they are wired. There was a lot of agreement with that. He did say he was under the impression that Canada will get NHL refs in their games, but there was slight pushback on that.

Here’s how it’s going to work in Milan. Only one official from the World Juniors (a linesman) will be at the Olympics. The NHL is sending seven referees and six linesmen. The IIHF is sending six referees and seven linesman. So, the math for Canada (or the USA) to only get NHL officials doesn’t add up, especially during the quarterfinals. That said: there is a recognition that you want to put the right officials in the right games to have the best possible outcome for the tournament. So, in the NHL-heavy games, you probably will get an NHL-heavy crew, although nothing is contractually guaranteed.

19. Since Brayden Point played with Connor McDavid at the 4 Nations, I thought it would be Zach Hyman replacing him. When I heard it was Seth Jarvis, I remembered what Jon Cooper said last week about loyalty to the players who won that event. 

“Let's be honest, of course it matters. You've gone through 12 days of not only what went on on the ice, what went off the ice and the political landscape and what the guys had to go through. And familiarity is a real thing…Would we have loved to have kept the 4 Nations team and just added two guys? For sure. Because when you win with people, you know them, you trust them, you want to keep going through a wall for them.”

20. Cooper, who was an assistant coach on Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, on Macklin Celebrini: “This is probably a completely unfair comparison, but I remember in the World Cup…a kid named Auston Matthews who we'd never seen play. We'd heard of (him), he was some young kid playing in Europe somewhere, and he was coming to be on the team. And so we had him as the 13th forward in that tournament going in. And soon after, I don't know if it was game two or whatever he was playing with McDavid and they were making magic together.”

Cooper’s Lightning faced San Jose twice in January. They won both and kept Celebrini statistically in check, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t impressed. “Let's take the playing side out of it, what a special kid for what is he at 19 years old. That kid deserves to play and we'll find a spot for him.”

21. Finally, Cooper on the pressure of “Gold or nothing” for Canada: “Would you rather be in a situation where, ‘Oh my God, I can't wait to see if we can just get the Bronze? No way, man. I want to be the team that's Gold or bust…If you've got that, that means you have a chance to win, and I'd rather have that.”

Not everybody's wired for that though.

“I'd rather be the king of the mountain, knock off the hyenas coming up instead of being down there and trying to fight your way to the top.”

22. That is an outstanding Lion King reference. Cooper does have one small placard on a shelf about Being Brave.

23. Also: does anyone get shut down after the Olympics? A few sources think we might see players from teams who may be out told to get necessary surgery and be ready for next year rather than going through the March/April meat grinder to come. I wondered about Florida, with so many who’ve played a ton of hockey over four years. Some clearly aren’t 100 per cent.

24. Between the end of the Olympics and the trade deadline, Dallas will get clarity on Tyler Seguin. Is it possible he can return this season? No doubt he wants to. It affects how much space they’ve got to play with. 

25. One thing that’s really surprised me is the number of players willing to rip up guaranteed contracts. Two summers ago, with his Detroit role diminishing, Filip Zadina walked away from a guaranteed $4.5 million. Radical, but he was adamant. Now, it’s a trend.

Over a seven-week span, David Kampf (owed more than $3 million), Alexandre Texier ($1.5 million) and Egor Zamula ($2.4 million) terminated their contracts. Texier has since signed an extension in Montreal, so that was a good gamble. But the NHL is not thrilled with the trend, especially when signing bonuses are already collected. Kampf had a $1.325 million bonus, Zamula $500,000. The league felt that, if the bonuses were not going to be returned, the money should remain on someone’s cap. Both terminations were delayed as the league pushed for that outcome. Ultimately, that didn’t happen, but it bears watching.

26. Some Devils fans were surprised at the Nick Bjugstad deal. Two things: they might be moving out players and need replacements. But, when times are tough, you need good pros. Bjugstad’s a good pro. 

27. Great ESPN stat from Thursday’s Florida/Tampa game: they played seven times this year, including exhibition. Almost 800 penalty minutes. 

28. On Monday’s pod, I suggested moving the Winter Classic to the week between the NFL Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. The Boston/Tampa Stadium Series was such a success because it wasn’t overshadowed by football. Pigskin is king. There’s no avoiding it, too powerful, we must worship our football overlords.

It’s possible the college playoffs spread out even more over New Year’s, which makes it harder on the current date. One of our executives, Ed Hall, pointed out that open weekend is taken, because that’s when the NHL usually does All-Star Weekend. I thought about it. What about one the week before the Super Bowl and one the week after?

Someone texted me about doing an outdoor game for All-Star. I asked about that a few years ago, and got a good answer: Why turn two events into one? Makes no sense.

29. Over Christmas, the Islanders had so much demand for Matthew Schaefer jerseys that they ran out of numbers four and eight. Had to rush-order them.  

30. I was doing a highlight last week where I said Darren Raddysh scored on a blast from the forward tees. Someone texted he’d be insulted. He’s the former champion at Pulpit Golf north of Toronto, and those guys play from the tips.

31. Tough few weeks, with several sad losses, including three Alberta-based junior hockey players who died in a car crash.

The Santa Clarita Lady Flyers showed incredible spirit, winning a tournament in Colorado days after a van accident hospitalized two players and killed one of the parents.

John Gardner, who coached at Avon Old Farms, died in December and won a New England championship in each of the last five decades with an alumni list including Brian Leetch, Jonathan Quick, Spencer Knight, Chris Higgins and Cam Atkinson.

Colin Campbell delivered an excellent eulogy for David Branch, as did Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich, who played minor hockey for the Whitby Wildcats, the team Branch coached. The longtime junior hockey executive loved Christmas, and Gadjovich told a story of how, every year, the Wildcats “adopted” a family in need and bought them gifts. (He remembered buying for a single mother with three children.)

But I also wanted to mention Brian Feschuk. I went to Western with Brian’s sons Scott and Dave, and got to know their dad a bit. Brian and close friend Bill Anderson introduced me to some very competitive bocce, and there was one golf outing where Dave and Brian started yelling at each other on the first tee because one tried to hit from outside the blocks. I was also reminded that, on Dave’s wedding weekend, Brian “stuck” me with the tab at the Fort Garry Hotel bar in Winnipeg. I was happy to pay, but forgot the machinations to make sure it occurred. Great times. Great person and father. 

32. See you in Milan. Can’t wait. The players will put on a great show.