The New York Rangers rebuild is about to take another enormous step in the right direction on Monday afternoon.
Leading up to the NHL’s free-agency period opened on Monday afternoon, multiple reports revealed that the Rangers signed star winger Artemi Panarin. According to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, the deal is worth $81.2 million over seven years.
Panarin reportedly turned down a larger deal from the New York Islanders that would have paid him $12.5 million per year to make the move to Madison Square Garden.
The average annual salary $11.6 million still makes Panarin one of the highest-paid players in the NHL — a seemingly necessary price for a Rangers team that just made a huge statement.
Panarin is one of the league’s elite playmakers, coming off a 2018-19 season in which he posted a career-high 87 points behind 28 goals and 59 assists.
For a franchise that admitted that they would be rebuilding through its youth less than two years ago, the Rangers are suddenly a force in the East with Panarin now in its ranks.
The Rangers have been able to put together a promising young core of talents that already includes Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil, Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller, and Vitali Kravtsov. They also added defenseman Jacob Trouba in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets before drafting Kaapo Kakko with the No. 2 pick at the NHL Draft last month.
Panarin immediately gives the Rangers a bona fide, premier scorer to help nurture an exciting young core, but general manager Jeff Gorton’s work isn’t done. The Rangers have to clear enough cap space to sign Trouba while ensuring there’s enough room for Panarin.
They traded Jimmy Vesey to the Buffalo Sabres for a third-round pick in 2021 on Monday morning, but still have notable restricted free agents in Brendan Lemieux, Pavel Buchnevich, and Anthony DeAngelo.
