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: Latest 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 which may very well 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 assume 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 type of progressed over the past week or so, especially in the times leading as much as the freeze today. There have been other teams in the combination, and there have been teams like Carolina and Tampa, Florida, Washington, Anaheim, et cetera, et cetera, that attempted to be a part of this.
And the list began to get shorter and shorter, and narrowed down that way more. And as things began to turn out to be a bit clearer, we began to get word that Washington, despite a fairly decent trade offer, the that he wasn’t willing to sign an extension there or with Detroit or with Anaheim, narrowing the list much more.
NHL Rumors: Rangers, Sharks, Capitals, Panthers, Lightning, and Blue Jackets
And it got here all the way down to, by the sounds of things, an extension with either Carolina or LA, otherwise 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 thought of probably the, if not probably the greatest, or one in every of, if not the perfect, prospect that was offered from a few of the other teams as well. Plus a few conditional draft picks. So we get to place this one for bed with this now happening.
But actually, Los Angeles was able for some time now to where they desired to add an offensive player to the lineup. They get probably the greatest immediately. He’s on pace for over 90 points. They lock him right into a two-year extension at $11 million per. I should note, there have been other teams that were low to go much higher, around $12 million on a lengthier deal, somewhere within the three- to four-year range. But when the choices became clearer, it also became clear that LA was the popular selection.”
NHLRumors.com Note: Increasingly more information is coming concerning the final hours or half hour of the Panarin trade. While the Rangers are performing some damage control over the return for Panarin, other teams were involved. Each 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 Latest York Rangers Move Artemi Panarin Before the Olympic Trade Freeze?
The Kings were out and in of the method from the beginning. Panarin likes big-city life, and based on sources near NHLRumors.com, he was not going to Seattle or Utah whatever the money on the table. With the Kings deep in negotiations for Panarin, GM Ken Holland circled back yet one more time once he knew Panarin preferred to play there over other destinations.
Other teams just like the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning couldn’t make the cash work. Colorado and Dallas needed him as rentals. The identical goes for Vegas. While Carolina could extend the contract, how much money was the owner willing to pay him?
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