New York Rangers: With John Davidson here, how does Artemi Panarin fit?

John Davidson‘s arrival to the New York Rangers will bring the attention of one of the league’s most elite wingers, and other free agents.

With John Davidson leaving Columbus to become the president of the New York Rangers, new doors have opened for the off-season.

Davidson, who led the Jackets to four playoff appearances, is expected make the Rangers a more attractive destination. Artemi Panarin, who is one of the league’s most elite forwards, has been linked to the Rangers for quite some time. San Jose’s Erik Karlsson has also been linked for some time as well.

In 2018-19, Panarin scored 28 goals and 59 assists in 79 games and had 11 points in the playoffs.

So, is Artemi headed our way?

Panarin’s salary in 2018-19 was at $6 million, per CapFriendly. The Rangers currently have about $19 million in cap space.

Should the Rangers acquire Panarin, and sign the winger to a three-year deal, for example, with his cap at the expected $9-$10 million that is being reported, trades would have to be made if the Rangers want to sign more free agents like Karlsson. That’s assuming Jeff Gorton and the front office want to sign more free agents, which they probably do.

Any free agent who scored 87 points the year before will have some eyes on him from many general managers in the league. But the Rangers do have one intriguing factor on their side, which is that the rebuild that they are experiencing has been going very well.

The team has signed Vitali Kravtsov and Igor Shesterkin, acquired Adam Fox from the Carolina Hurricanes, and acquired the second overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

One would think a team with this good of a rebuilding phase and this bright of a future would attract free agents like Panarin.

Does Davidson’s departure and joining of the Rangers mean Panarin is coming in as well? No.

Does it make their chances of landing him better? Yes.

Where would he fit in the lineup?

There is no doubt that Panarin would play on the first forward line, and since he is a designated left winger, that means that Chris Kreider would be bumped down a line to make room for Panarin. The improvement on the first forward line would be tremendous.

The Mika Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Kreider trio totaled 164 points this season. Buchvenich also only played in 64 games. Zibanejad led the team in points with 74, still behind Panarin. His 87 points on the year was almost half of that 164 scored by the Rangers’ entire top line.

How about the power play?

The Rangers were switching up their top power play unit a lot this year, mainly placing Ryan Strome at center instead of Zibanejad. Panarin was consistently playing on Columbus first power play unit, and recorded six power play goals in the regular season and one in the playoffs.

Six power play goals may not seem to impressive since Brayden Point on Tampa Bay led the league with 20 of them, but it will still be a boost to a Blueshirts power play that was 17th-best in the league in 2018-19. Columbus was 28th-worst.

Panarin will easily play in the Rangers’ top power play unit, and will most likely bump Kreider down to the second unit.

Who should the Rangers give up to make cap space?

Kevin Shattenkirk just hasn’t lived up to what the team thought he would when they scooped him in free agency. Last season alone, he only had two goals and 26 assists, which is not terrible for the type of defenseman he is, but his play did decline, as he put up his second-highest giveaway total (55).

Shattenklirk’s $6.65 million salary cap hit doesn’t help the team either. He will become a free agent at the end if the 2020-21 season, which means he has two more seasons on his contract with the Rangers. He has until 2020 to give the team his ten-team no-trade list, according to his modified no-trade clause. If the Rangers want to lure in Panarin, they need to clean out their cap, and unfortunately for Shattenkirk, he might just have to go.