“I never wanted to go anywhere else.”
Artemi Panarin was one of the rare players with full control over his destination via trade. Most times, players are traded to the team that makes the best offer and that’s that. For Panarin, who had a full no movement clause, he was in the driver’s seat. On Wednesday, he got what he was looking for, as he was traded from the New York Rangers to the Los Angeles Kings, signing a two-year contract extension in the process.
“I tried to find a team for myself, where I want to be, so it was kind of about feeling,” Panarin said of his decision to come to Los Angeles. “Obviously, you look at the players, and then I spoke with Gavrikov the last couple days a lot. He introduced me to a great organization, great teammates in there and obviously a great spot to live. I just want to play for these guys, for that organization. Other teams were on the list too, but I actually never wanted to go anywhere else.”
So how badly did Panarin really want to come to Los Angeles?
“I think if Kenny [Holland] knew that, he would have gave me five [million] probably,” he said with a laugh.
Panarin later joked…..I think…….that he would’ve returned to play in Russia if the Kings didn’t want him. Thankfully, they did want him. They really wanted him.
As he noted above, a reason he felt so comfortable coming to the Kings was through talking with former Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who was his teammate this season in New York. After the Kings traded for Gavrikov back in 2023, he spoke publicly about how well he and his family were treated by the organization upon his arrival. Certainly sounds like he relayed quite a bit of that to Panarin, when the latter was presented with the opportunity to move on.
At the end of the day, Los Angeles didn’t seem to be the longest term or the most money on the table for Panarin. But he wasn’t concerned. He found the fit he was looking for and as of Wednesday morning, he is an LA King.
“I’m a guy who is not thinking that much about money,” he said. “Maybe it seems funny, but it’s not an important thing for me, because like I said before, I just want to play for the guys and I just want to play for the organization. It’s a pretty short deal for me, that’s not what I’m looking for but also, like I said, because I wanted to play there only, for the Kings, I didn’t have much options.
In a perfect world, Panarin might’ve signed a longer-term deal, but the two-year term was what really seemed to work for the Kings. All goes well, I’d have to imagine that both sides would be very keen on extending the relationship beyond 2028, when Panarin is now signed through.
In talking with him yesterday, he really wasn’t all that interested in a trade that did not come with a contract extension. The extension was something that was also paramount to the Kings, who aren’t really in a position to trade a top prospect for a player with no term.
“I didn’t want to be rented for a couple months and then go somewhere else, I just looked for a team who wants me, who can sign me right away, because they’re just not renting me for a couple months.”
