New York Rangers: Artemi Panarin could complete rebuild next summer

The Blue Jackets superstar reportedly wants to come to the New York Rangers via free agency next summer. How would this effect the rebuild?

The New York Rangers are fully entrenched in their rebuild right now. They started the asset acquisition phase last February when they shipped out 25 percent of their team at the deadline. Then the team had 10 picks at June’s NHL Entry Draft.

The team now has a loaded farm system. They will probably be bad this year; very bad. Honestly, that’s probably for the best, as it will allow them to get another high draft pick in hopes to select another player they think could be a game changer.

And then once July 1 comes, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic thinks Artemi Panarin will join the Blueshirts, which would effectively end the first portion of the rebuild. The team is projected to have about $21 million in cap space next summer so they’ll be able to make it work, too.

Panarin is already a Superstar and will only be 27 next summer. He has at least three or four more years in his prime. The Rangers prospect pool may be deep, but not on the wing and Panarin, along with Vitali Kravtsov and maybe the team’s 2019 first round pick, would make that weakness seem more like a strength.

You couple Panarin with Kravtsov, Filip Chytil, Lias Andersson, Brett Howden, K’Andre Miller and the rest of the Rangers’ future core and even if just a handful of those players work out the way they should, the Rangers could be back in Stanley Cup contention within the next two or three years.

The money situation

Panarin only makes $6 million a season on his current deal. That number will probably skyrocket next summer. John Tavares just signed a contract that’ll pay him $11 million annually. Since Panarin is a wing, he has slightly less value to a team then a center like Tavares has as far as cap space goes.

With that said, Panarin has been the better point producer of the two through his three NHL seasons (Tavares has scored at a .93 PPG clip while Panarin’s scored at a .96 PPG clip). The point  is, the Rangers, or any team interested in signing him, is going to have to be willing to dedicate between $10-11 million to his yearly salary. That’s a lot of money (nearly 14 percent of the salary cap, as a matter of fact).

But for the Rangers, who’ll be working with lots of rookie scale contracts over the next three to five years, it would be a worthwhile investment.

It’s a risk, but if it pans out the way it should, the Rangers would put themselves in a great position for a Stanley Cup championship down the road.