NYR News

Elliotte Friedman said on Hockey Night in Canada that the Rangers are looking for the same kind of price for Artemi Panarin that Colorado paid last season for Brock Nelson from the Islanders.

Top prospect Cal Ritchie, a first round pick in 2026 and a conditional third round pick were the core pieces that went to the Islanders.

Friedman added, “It sounds like that is where the Rangers starting point is with Panarin right now. Part of this is also will he be willing to sign an extension, are there places, he has a no-move clause so he controls where he goes, but I think some of the teams are wondering could there be an extension as part of this. I think some of the teams that are looking around, Anaheim, there is a history with Joel Quenneville, LA has some decisions to make about their overall situation and where they are right now and where they truly are as a franchise and what an extension would look like. I think Washington with an extension and I think there are a bunch of other teams and I’m always conceding that I’m missing teams that are in on this but I think that is kind of where the market starts, the trade talks start and what Panarin is willing to do.”

Nelson was also a pending free agent.

(more…)

1/23/26 | Elliotte Friedman said on 32 Thoughts that he thinks LA might be a fit for Panarin if he’s traded with an extension. He added that Panarin reportedly believes he can play for another 4-5 years and guesses that his next contract could be something like 4 years and $12.5 million per season or five years at $10 million. He continued “contract matters here because if it didn’t then he’d still be a Ranger.”

1/19/26 | Elliotte Friedman said on 32 Thoughts, “All year long people had said about Panarin that he wanted to be a Ranger and that the Rangers had gone to him earlier this year and asked if he’d be willing to take a Kopitar-type of discounted deal and he said no. His reaction on Saturday kind of confirmed that that was his first choice, that his preference was to stay. There is no doubt in my mind that all of these teams in the league are trying to figure out what this means for him, where does he want to go, what does he want to do and how does he want to go about this. It’s clear that he is still processing it and there is no easy answer.”

He added, “if you ask teams around the league what they believe, obviously they don’t believe there are a lot of places he wants to go and secondly, they do think that his preference will be an extension….the early indication is. that teams think he would rather move once than twice and his preference is an extension over two moves. We’ll see what kind of places appeal to him.”

(more…)