The New York Rangers have traded standout forward Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for prospect Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round pick, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Emily Kaplan on Wednesday.
The Kings and Panarin have agreed to a two-year, $11 million extension, sources said.
The deal happened just as the NHL Olympic roster freeze, which runs through Feb. 22, began.
For the conditional pick, if the Kings win one playoff round this year, the third-round pick becomes a second-rounder; if they don’t win a playoff round, the pick will be the better of their two-third rounders, sources said. If L.A. wins two playoff rounds this year, the Rangers also receive a fourth-round pick in 2028.
The Rangers are retaining 50% of Panarin’s salary this year, which was $11.6 million total.
Even though the Rangers didn’t have leverage, sources say they felt they got the best prospect in the Kings’ organization.
The Rangers announced last month that they were entering a retool after their disappointing first half of the season. The same day, general manager Chris Drury met with Panarin and told him the team would not be extending a new contract when the 34-year-old becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. Panarin has a full no-movement clause, and the Rangers told the star winger they would work with him and his agent to facilitate a deal to a preferred destination.
Several teams were circling at the end — including Carolina, Tampa Bay and Washington. Sources said Panarin told the Rangers that L.A. was where he wanted to go.
Panarin is considered one of the Rangers’ greatest free agency signings of all time as he wraps up the seventh year of an $81.5 million contract he signed in July 2019. The crafty winger has been the Rangers’ leading scorer in five of the past six seasons.
