6:46PM: Chris Johnston said on the NHL Network that he expects Panarin to meet with the Rangers, and the Islanders, later this week.

9:42AM: Teams are allowed to begin talking with UFAs today in advance of being able to sign players on July 1.

Jeff Gorton said after the draft yesterday, “we will talk to some people, we have targeted some people to talk to and gauge interest on both sides. As far as being really, really active? We will see. We want to talk to some people and lay out our plan and see what their plan is and figure that out.” (NYR)

When asked about buyouts, Jeff Gorton said “if we game plan for something and it happens and we are spending some money and doing things like that then we would have to consider how else we are moving money around. Nothing is decided, we have a big week of meetings coming up and we will go from there.” (NYR)

In regards to free agent meetings, the Panthers are expected to meet with both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky on Monday. (TSN)

Panarin’s agent met with Colorado on Sunday. (Dater)

While former Ranger Mats Zuccarello is still negotiating with Dallas he will also begin speaking with other interested teams today.

Elliotte Friedman said on the 6/24 31 Thoughts Podcast that Colorado is believed to be a team with interest in Zuccarello if he becomes a UFA.

The Rangers currently have around $17.5 million in cap space after the salary cap was set over the weekend at $81.5 million. (Cap Friendly)

Adam Rotter: Outside of Artemi Panarin there aren’t many available UFAs that jump out as game breakers so it’s likely that if the Rangers miss out on him they will be shopping in the veteran forward market. The Rangers are remarkably young up front, especially if they decide to trade Kreider, and I think it’s likely that a veteran forward could be a target. On defense the Rangers have Marc Staal, and possibly Kevin Shattenkirk and/or Brendan Smith, to be leaders and set examples for the younger players, but after moving Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, Michael Grabner, and even a guy like Cody McLeod over the past couple of years there aren’t any older players around. The Rangers have experienced forwards like Mika Zibanejad, Kreider, Vlad Namestnikov, Jesper Fast and Ryan Strome that all have 350+ games but I think that if the opportunity to get someone a bit older, that can also play, on a one-year deal comes about they will strongly consider it. It wouldn’t totally shock me if someone like McLeod, or a veteran from JD’s teams in Columbus, joins to help develop the kids. Brian Boyle would be a fit but there is a sense he will return to Nashville or New Jersey.