Analyst David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that he's heard rumors swirling around the potential availability of New York Rangers star forward Artemi Panarin
The New York Rangers are in a period of transition, having fired coach Peter Laviolette and replaced him with former Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup-winning coach Mike Sullivan.
But after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs just a year after having won the President's Trophy and advanced to the Eastern Conference Final, there could be even more changes in store for the Rangers.
Veteran Chris Kreider is a pending free agent; he's the longest-tenured member of the team.
But that wouldn't the the most shocking subtraction by the team if the latest reports from analyst David Pagnotta prove true.
He said recently that he's heard rumors swirling around the potential trade of star forward Artemi Panarin, who is set to enter the final year of his contract that he signed with the club in 2019.
In the last few days, I'm starting to hear some interesting whispers surrounding Artemi Panarin. Now, I don't know if he's fully available, but he's got one year left on his contract, and they've got to decide whether they want to keep going with this core group or if they can move Panarin, get a significant return, and use that cap space - along with some of that capital - to rejig the roster.
I don't know if that's the path they're going to take, and it might be totally premature for me to even bring it up, but we're going to hear some interesting storylines about how the New York Rangers retool for next season.
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