Maybe, Mika Zibanejad said, already seeing the highlights of Artemi Panarin wearing a Kings jersey would help Monday night. He played against Panarin previously, too, when the former Rangers star was with the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets. But so much has changed since then.
Panarin arrived on Broadway in free agency seven years ago, collected 642 points across regular-season and playoff games and became a focal point — alongside so many other core Blueshirts — of deep playoff runs.
So it was “still gonna be weird,” Zibanejad told The Post after the Rangers’ morning skate, before they hosted Panarin and the Kings for the first time since he was sent to Los Angeles last month. “It’s so fresh still.”
Panarin was the first major domino of The Letter 2.0, when president and general manager Chris Drury informed him that he wouldn’t get a contract extension and then traded him. And as Panarin made his return, the Rangers were left reflecting on how the dynamic winger shaped their games while simultaneously trying to replace his production, ushering in a new era of roles and chances.
“You learn a lot from him in how he slows the game down and how he’s not the fastest guy in the world, but he’s able to just, with his eyes, control the play and how he’s able to slow the game down through the neutral zone,” Vincent Trocheck told The Post. “When he gets in the zone, guys back off, even though he’s not coming [with] 30 miles-an-hour speed.”
Head coach Mike Sullivan said Panarin is the type of player who challenges coaches because “they’re not always gonna play the game plan to the letter of the law, so to speak.” He could go off the grid, stray from the script and trust his own instincts while also being two steps ahead of everyone else on the ice.
Trocheck experienced Panarin’s style while on a line with him throughout the last three-plus seasons, in addition to the time they spent together on the power play, and watched as Panarin sent passes to linemates in order to set up the next pass to the next Rangers player.
Alexis Lafrenière, Trocheck said, learned a lot from Panarin, too, as typically the third member of their line. Zibanejad became the primary beneficiary of Panarin’s instincts on the power play, getting set up for shot after shot that led to goal after goal. Gabe Perreault, the 20-year-old winger who grew up in Chicago watching Panarin, witnessed how he’d create just enough time to make a play.
“That’s where you’ve got to understand how he wanted to play the game,” Zibanejad said. “For me, playing with him, the way he sets me up, a lot for me was for the shot, right, but he also sets it up in a way where if I don’t have the shot, he gives me an opportunity to make a next play. Or, if he doesn’t give it to me, then there’s another reason behind it. … He doesn’t try putting you in bad spots.”
After his departure, the Rangers needed to rely on their younger talent to fill the void. Perreault has thrived on the first line. Lafrenière has flourished with 15 points across 13 games and keeps extending one of the best stretches of his career.
Sullivan didn’t bite at the notion that Panarin’s exit has provided a chance for others to operate with more assertiveness, but added “what it does do is it will allow other players opportunities to play a more prominent role.”
The Rangers strung together four consecutive wins entering Panarin’s return, their longest streak since October of last season.
Their next era will look different without Panarin, though. His skill set made him a critical piece for so long. It allowed him to finish fifth in the Hart Trophy voting after a 120-point season in 2023-24, and it will be so difficult for the Blueshirts to replace, too.
“We still have some offensive people that are gonna act on their instincts and they’re gonna go off the grid a little bit,” Sullivan said. “Maybe not quite as much as a guy like [Panarin], but I think we still have offensive people that have the ability to produce or create out there just through their own offensive instincts — and we’re trying to allow for that as well.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
