Artemi Panarin’s skill set was observed up close by John Davidson during their time together with the Columbus Blue Jackets. They will now meet again in New York.
NEW YORK — Artemi Panarin’s skill set was observed up close by John Davidson during their time together with the Columbus Blue Jackets. They will now meet again in New York.
Some six weeks after Davidson returned to the Rangers as team president following seven seasons in the same capacity with the Blue Jackets, Panarin — the best free agent available this off-season — is following his former boss to Madison Square Garden.
It makes Davidson very happy.
“There’s something special about Panarin and the way he plays the game, the way he looks at the game, and the way he things about the game.” On Monday, Davidson stated. “I’m ecstatic about getting Panarin here to join this group.”
Panarin and the Rangers agreed to a seven-year, $81.5 million contract.
The Rangers, who signed 27-year-old Panarin as their top rookie, won the Calder Trophy with Chicago and has 116 goals and 204 assists in 322 games over four seasons with the Blue Jackets and Blackhawks. “He was obviously a player we liked,” said head coach Mike Babcock. “The rival Islanders were also busy, re-signing captain Anders Lee to a seven-year, $49 million deal and bringing in veteran goalie Semyon Varlamov on a four-year contract while letting fan favorite and Vezina Trophy finalist Robin Lehner leave.”
East for a second consecutive year, but since the end of the season, the Rangers have been busy strengthening the defense, adding Adam Fox, acquiring the rights to Winnipeg’s restricted free agent Jacob Trouba, and selecting Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick in the draft. “The idea of a (rebuild) is to get picks and Jeff did a good job,” Davidson said. “Then you go through the draft and you go through the development. As you do this you try your best to find ways to try to make it all happen even quicker and better…. It’s all falling into place.” New York has also signed two Russians they drafted in prior years: forward Vitali Kravtsov (first round, 2018) and goalie Igor
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