The New York Rangers are committed to developing a team through a true rebuild. Instead of trading for Artemi Panarin, the front office should wait for free agency next summer.
A franchise starting over is a dramatic decision and one that should not be taken lightly. However, this does mean that the front office needs to mitigate risk as much as possible. In hockey terms, this means maximizing the potential of prospects in a variety of ways. In a nut shell, this boils down to trying to get as many high quality prospects as possible in hopes one is an elite player.
The Rangers have created a respectable prospect pool for the first time in several years. The front office’s decision to punt on this past season and the 2018-2019 season will pay off in the long run. By trading away Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash and Michael Grabner instead of extending them, Jeff Gorton gave the organization ample opportunities to contend in the future.
However, waiting for prospects to develop does take time. Being that the organization is relying on nearly a dozen prospects for the future, it is inevitable that not all of them will pan out. The simple law of averages means that some of these prospects will never develop for the team. That being said, the team needs to maximize their chances of one panning out.
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The Rangers should not give up assets for Panarin when they could get him next summer when they have a clearer picture of the future.
The learning process
This upcoming season will be a learning process at every single level of the Rangers organization. First, head coach David Quinn will acclimate himself to coaching at the NHL level. Managing professional athletes requires a slightly different approach than college players. In addition to simply figuring out the personalities, he will also be implementing a new system.
The system will likely provide the biggest speed bump for next season. Players will do new things on the ice, while simultaneously trying to prove they belong at the NHL level. In addition to those on the NHL roster, those still playing abroad or in junior hockey have a ways to go in their development.
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This means that those players are still works in progress that the team should not give up on yet. The most successful NHL franchises are those that manage to bring along multiple elite talents at the same time from within. Importing elite talents often saps a roster of its depth and makes a team worse.
Panarin and the fit
According to Elliot Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada, Panarin has a desire to play in a large market. In Friedman’s “31 Thoughts,” column, he wrote that the Russian forward has a preference to play in Los Angeles, New York or Florida. Obviously, the Rangers have more than enough in the way of prospects or roster players to land Panarin.
However, the team choosing to strip off parts from the future makes little sense. In reality, it is unlikely that Panarin would agree to an extension before at least testing the free agent market. The prevailing thought was that New York Islanders forward John Tavares would re-sign with his team. Yet, the forward has met with seven teams during the meeting period and his fate is much more up in the air.
Panarin’s agent would be negligent in his duty if he did not encourage his client to at least take a meeting during after next season. Therefore, the Rangers would be unwise to give up assets for the forward bent on reaching free agency. So, New York should wait it out and hope that Panarin reaches free agency.
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The Rangers have a promising group of players for the future. The team should wait and then, should Panarin be available, throw the bag at him. On the free agent market, New York would have plenty of cap space to offer the Russian a top of the line contract.