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Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Kings Land Panarin, Commit to Winning Now

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Raz Devraj | Last updated Feb 6, 2026 10:15 AM ET

Nothing’s been louder than the noise behind superstar winger Artemi Panarin since it was revealed that the New York Rangers were looking to move on. It’s been rumor after rumor, with many of them involving the Los Angeles Kings.

Knowing the Kings’ offensive struggles and lack of a true superstar, it was no surprise that the Kings were poking around the situation to see if Panarin was someone they could land.

Wednesday afternoon, the domino finally fell. The Kings acquired Panarin from the Rangers in exchange for forward Liam Greentree and a conditional 3rd-round pick (If the Kings win one playoff round, the pick becomes a 2nd-round pick, and if they win two rounds, the Rangers get an additional 2028 4th-round pick). The Rangers also retained 50% of Panarin’s salary.

“Didn’t want to give away Greentree, but if you want to do anything, you’re going to have to move somebody,” Kings general manager Ken Holland said. “As we sat in the room today…We felt that this wasn’t something we wanted to pass up.”

The Kings later announced they had signed Panarin to a two-year extension worth $22 million.

Kings Get Their Superstar

There are a lot of question marks if you look at this through a Rangers lens, from the value they got in return for the player who has led them in points for seven straight seasons, to why they rushed to make this deal happen a month out from the trade deadline, but for the Kings, this was an opportunity they just couldn’t pass up.

“These types of players, with this resume, are very, very difficult to find,” Holland said.

Not only are these types of players rarely available, but think about all the times the Kings have had their eyes set on impactful players that have either chosen some place else or didn’t want to come to Los Angeles at all. For the first time in what seems like forever, a superstar preferred LA as their next destination, and the Kings made it happen.

Offering the extension played the biggest part in the Kings’ ability to attract the Russian winger, and the fact that they only had to give Panarin two years makes the totality of this trade a slam dunk.

According to Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, Panarin was offered a four-year deal worth more than $14 million average annual value (AAV) by the Seattle Kraken. Panarin still wanted to come to LA.

“I never wanted to go anywhere else,” Panarin said on a Zoom availability on Thursday afternoon.

There was also talk about the Kings going back and forth between deciding to jump on Panarin or going in the complete opposite direction and gearing up for a rebuild. Was there really any chance they were going to choose to go in the other direction and blow it up, knowing Anze Kopitar is done at the end of the season? The Kings have been adamant about “winning now” for a while, and while they weren’t a Panarin away from being a contender, they have fully committed to going for it.

“You either compete, or you go into this long-term rebuild. We’re not interested in a long-term rebuild…I think some of the people we signed are not interested in that, so we’re trying to compete,” Holland said. “We made the move today to make our team better.”

There was skepticism about the Kings going after Panarin and whether it was the right move or not for a franchise that is stuck in that mushy middle. Thinking about what the cost would be to land him propelled that skepticism. Not to mention the biggest hole in the Kings’ lineup (down the middle) that has yet to be addressed.

Is signing a 34-year-old winger really the move the Kings should be making when they are light down the middle, and don’t have a center group that provides much confidence in being enough for a playoff run?

The answer is yes, and it’s a yes because of the way it happened.

Acquiring a talent like Panarin, who instantly becomes the best player on the roster while only having to give up Greentree and a conditional 3rd-round pick, is a no-brainer. You make that move 10/10 times because the opportunity to do so doesn’t come around often. There’s no question that Panarin instantly makes the Kings a better team, especially a team desperately looking for the one thing Panarin thrives at: creating offense.

Holland pulled off one of the biggest trades in Kings history, and it’s a no-risk, potentially high-reward move that automatically makes them better. Does adding Panarin push this group into the contenders conversation? No, it doesn’t, but the Kings still have their 1st-round pick in this year’s draft, they didn’t give up any roster players, they still have the cap space/draft capital to bring in a center, and if somehow Panarin doesn’t work out, they aren’t locked in with him long term, and there’s no reason why they wouldn’t be able to get the same value that they gave up if not more in a trade. There’s no gamble, there’s no risk, this is just a trade that gives them a better shot at staying the course and competing.

“We believe Panarin’s going to come in and give us a little pop,” Holland said. “Help the PP, when we go into overtime certainly he can play in the extra time; those points are critical.”

The story of the Kings’ season has been competitive enough to be in every game but not enough to pick up that extra point on most nights. Tied for the most overtime losses in the league with 14, the Kings are almost one goal away from a completely different record. The addition of Panarin should aid in their ability to score that one extra goal.

Sitting on the outside looking in, the Kings are three points out of a playoff spot. Dropping two games in a row to teams they are battling against was less than ideal heading into the Olympic break, but when the team returns on Feb. 26, they will have their superstar winger ready to help drive this bus up the standings and into the playoffs.