It was a tale of two Gardens: Less than 24 hours after the Knicks missed out on the top NBA free agents, the Rangers landed the biggest name on the NHL free agent market on Monday when they agreed to terms with Russian forward Artemi Panarin.
The Rangers beat out several teams, including the Islanders and Florida Panthers, for Panarin, a 27-year-old, right-handed-shooting left wing who scored 28 goals and 87 points last season for the Columbus Blue Jackets. According to reports, Panarin took less money to sign with the Rangers; he reportedly agreed to a seven-year contract worth $81.5 million, turning down offers of more than $12 million per year that he had received from the Islanders and Colorado Avalanche. Columbus also made a late push on Sunday to get him to come back, offering over $12 million per year over eight years.
Panarin had long ago made it clear that he wanted out of small-market Columbus to play on a bigger stage, in a bigger city, making the Rangers an early favorite to land him. But Florida had the advantage of playing where there is no state income tax, meaning he would keep more of his salary there than he could in New York. The Panthers also seemed attractive _ as did the Islanders _ because they had an opening in goal and the ability to sign Panarin and his former Columbus teammate Serge Bobrovsky.
Earlier in the day, the Rangers opened up some space under their salary cap by trading left wing Jimmy Vesey to Buffalo for a third-round pick in 2021. Vesey, 26, had played 240 games in three years for the Rangers, scoring 50 goals and 40 assists, including 17 goals and a career-high 18 assists in 81 games last season. Later in the afternoon, the club announced it had agreed to terms two other free agents, forwards Greg McKegg and Danny O'Regan.
The question of what Panarin's addition means for Chris Kreider remains to be answered. Kreider will be a free agent next summer, and reports say the Rangers haven't had substantive talks with Kreider's agent on a contract extension, suggesting he is likely to be traded. Moving Kreider would clear $4.6 million under the cap for the Rangers, money the club will need to re-sign its own restricted free agents, defensemen Jacob Trouba and Tony DeAngelo and forwards Pavel Buchnevich and Brendan Lemieux.
Moving Vesey gave the Rangers a projected $20.4 million in cap space, according to Cap Friendly, and the Panarin deal leaves them with $8.8 million available. Trouba, a 25-year-old, right-handed-shooting No. 1 defenseman the Rangers acquired from Winnipeg two weeks ago, is expected to command a salary of between $7 million and $8 million per season.
Adding Panarin to the locker room should help some of the younger Rangers, in particular Vitali Kravtsov and Buchnevich, It also should take some pressure off first-round pick Kaapo Kakko and 2017 first-rounders Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson.
McKegg, 27, split 2018-19 with Carolina and the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. He played 41 games for Carolina, scoring six goals with five assists. He had two goals in 14 playoff games as Carolina advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. O'Regan, 25, played 70 games for Rochester of the AHL, scoring 20 goals with 28 assists.
