One of the biggest possible myths in all of sports is that you can never rebuild in New York, which carries into the Rangers win now desires. That the fans will not allow it to happen. New York fans can be irrational and emotional at points but they’re also savvy and in touch with their teams and all they want to know is if their team is doing enough to deliver a championship. This has been a major complaint with the current window, and how the Rangers win now preference is balanced with figuring out what to do with Artemi Panarin.
Rangers fans showed patience when Jeff Gorton sent out a letter to the fans announcing that they were going to go into a rebuild. Fans understood that it would take some time to become a contender again and were okay with it because the franchise was being transparent and open about their intentions.
I’m not going to open up old wounds and explain how the Rangers hot-shotted the rebuild and it became a re-tool on the fly. That’s been discussed and there’s no reason to talk about it again.
Now fast forward to present day and it seems like the front office hasn’t learned from its mistakes of the past and they’re facing a real issue moving past 2025. While the Rangers might have oodles of cap space for the summer of 2026, even though the hope of landing a big ticket free agent evaporated in front of Drury and company, the Rangers are still faced with a huge question.
What to do with Artemi Panarin?
Chris Drury has made a series of moves in the last eighteen months that would signal that he wants the Rangers to win now rather than look to build to the future. Adding J.T. Miller, re-signing Igor Shesterkin to a massive extension, bringing in Vincent Trocheck, not shipping out Mika Zibanejad, and extending Adam Fox to a massive extension as well all signal that the GM is looking to contend for a Cup right now rather than waiting.
With Miller, Trocheck, and Zibanejad all over 30 years of age and some of their better hockey behind them, the Rangers window to contend isn’t as wide open as most fans would like it to be. Not to mention Fox is 27 and coming off of a knee injury that slowed him down severely last season and Shesterkin will be turning 30 right as 2025 comes to a close. Not to mention the Rangers prize in free agency of Vlad Gavrikov will also turn 30 right before Thanksgiving.
So what does all this have to do with Panarin?
We know that Drury went to Panarin’s camp and asked them to take a deal similar to Anze Kopitar’s team friendly deal, which gave the Kings flexibility to add to the roster. Panarin’s camp wasn’t interested in taking a lower AAV, but now all of that moot considering the fact that none of the prized free agents that Drury would’ve liked to team with Panarin are all off the market.
Meanwhile, the 2025 campaign hasn’t gotten off to the start that Panarin, the Rangers, or the fans would like to see. It’s still a fact that this team is much better and closer to a Cup contender with Panarin on the roster than without him, which is the focal point of this conundrum. Extend Panarin and keep the window open, or trade him for either futures or younger NHL ready roster players with potential.
Extending Panarin on a 3 year deal with an AAV around $11.5-$12 million a year should be something palatable for both sides. Especially considering that the Rangers will have over $20 million in cap space to play with this summer. If it truly is about winning now for Chris Drury and the New York Rangers, then locking up their superstar forward is a move that trends in that direction and helps keep open a championship window for New York.
It’s hard to justify as a GM trading a player who puts up 30 goals and over 100 points a year routinely as a move that helps makes the team better when you’ve already signaled that you’re trying to win right now. But the real question is when do both Drury and Mike Sullivan see this team as a true Cup contender. That drives all their moves.
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