Los Angeles Kings Sealed the Deal but Others Were Involved
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Wednesday with Steve Kouleas and Nate Thompson. He was asked was it truly LA or bust for Artemi Panarin or were other teams involved.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Trade: New York Rangers Trade Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings
Steve Kouleas: “The trade we’re all talking about is Artemi Panarin to the LA Kings. Rangers retain half of 11.6. To the Rangers. Liam Greentree and two picks, one that could be a second-round pick if the Kings win a playoff series. Let’s start with Artemi Panarin and Dave Pagnotta Sirius XM, Fourth Period, NHL Network Insider. I guess Panarin had Chris Druy’s hands tied. It was LA or bust, right?
Dave Pagnotta: “Welcome, yeah, something like that. It evolved into it being only LA as things kind of progressed over the last week or so, especially in the days leading up to the freeze today. There were other teams in the mix, and there were teams like Carolina and Tampa, Florida, Washington, Anaheim, et cetera, et cetera, that tried to be part of this.
And the list started to get shorter and shorter, and narrowed down that much more. And as things started to become a little clearer, we started to get word that Washington, despite a pretty decent trade offer, the that he wasn’t willing to sign an extension there or with Detroit or with Anaheim, narrowing the list even more.
NHL Rumors: Rangers, Sharks, Capitals, Panthers, Lightning, and Blue Jackets
And it came down to, by the sounds of things, an extension with either Carolina or LA, or you go the rental route in a Tampa or Dallas environment. And ultimately, with the extension in place, his preference was LA over Carolina, and that’s when things focused exclusively on the Kings. And there you go.
He’s an LA King. Greentree, former first-round pick, definitely a prospect that the Rangers are very high on and considered probably the, if not one of the best, or one of, if not the best, prospect that was offered from some of the other teams as well. Plus a couple of conditional draft picks. So we get to put this one for bed with this now happening.
But certainly, Los Angeles was in a position for a while now to where they wanted to add an offensive player to the lineup. They get one of the best right now. He’s on pace for over 90 points. They lock him into a two-year extension at $11 million per. I should note, there were other teams that were low to go much higher, around $12 million on a lengthier deal, somewhere in the three- to four-year range. But when the options became clearer, it also became clear that LA was the preferred choice.”
NHLRumors.com Note: More and more information is coming about the final hours or half hour of the Panarin trade. While the Rangers are doing some damage control over the return for Panarin, other teams were involved. Both Dave Pagnotta and Elliotte Friedman reported that the Seattle Kraken went over $12 million in AAV on a four-year deal. Friedman, via Kraken GM Jason Botterill, says the offer was over $14 million for a four-year deal.
NHL Rumors: Can the New York Rangers Move Artemi Panarin Before the Olympic Trade Freeze?
The Kings were in and out of the process from the start. Panarin likes big-city life, and according to sources close to NHLRumors.com, he was not going to Seattle or Utah regardless of the money on the table. With the Kings deep in negotiations for Panarin, GM Ken Holland circled back one more time once he knew Panarin preferred to play there over other destinations.
Other teams like the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning couldn’t make the money work. Colorado and Dallas needed him as rentals. The same goes for Vegas. While Carolina could extend the contract, how much money was the owner willing to pay him?
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