Quinn and Strome on the Panarin situation

The New York Rangers held a practice today and predictably, the Artemi Panarin situation was the topic that consumed the team.  Although Coach David Quinn said that he was very pleased with the practice, it had to be  disruption.

Here is the team’s statement about the situation.

“Artemi vehemently and unequivocally denies any and all allegations in this fabricated story.  This is clearly an intimidation tactic being used against him for being outspoken on recent political events. Artemi is obviously shaken and concerned and will take some time away from the team. The Rangers fully support Artemi and will work with him to identify the source of these unfounded allegations.”

For some background, there was an excellent story in 2019 on the Sportsnet website about Panarin’s citicism of the Putin regime. Click here to read it.  

The piece points out that Panarin’s comments about Putin were absolutely unprecedented when it comes to Russian athletes.  He did the interview before he signed the big contract and released it after he became a Ranger.   The only question is why it took so long for the response.  It might have been prompted by a recent Panarin Instagram post.

The image of Russian dissident leader Alexei Navalny and his family was shared by Panarin along with the hashtag #freedomnavalny.  That  kind of social media sharing has to irritate the Putin supporters.

Quinn’s comments

After practice, Quinn and teammate Ryan Strome spoke to reporters and were obviously limited in what they could say, but they did address the issue.

Quinn talked about Panarin and the team’s response. “He’s someone we care an awful lot about and it goes way beyond hockey and we’re here to support him….we’re here as a team. These guys care for each other on and off the ice….we’re going to help Artemi through this difficult time.”

Quinn said that athletes are not immune to problems off the ice. He explained that “well before these guys are professional athletes, they’re human beings. Just because they play a professional sport doesn’t mean they are immune to life’s problems and life’s difficulties. ..people lose sight of that.”

For Quinn, while they are obviously going to support Panarin in any way possible, they still have games to play.  He said  “These guys are pros, we talked this morning about the situation. The fact that as sympathetic and as much as Artemi is in in our thoughts and that we’re going to be here for him, we have a job to do.”

That job continues Wednesday night against the Flyers.  Quinn said  “You have to continue to unite as a team  and it’s hard to overcome losing a player like Artemi, but w’eve got to find a way to do it.”

Strome on his teammate

Ryan Strome was the player the Rangers made available and his comments were similar to Quinn’s.   One thing was clear, they care for Artemi Panarin, their teammate.

Strome said “Bread knows that how much we love him , how much we care for him, how much we appreciate him.  You guys get a small glimpse of what he does on the ice, we see him behind closed doors everyday…the way he carries himself, his personality and his attitude.  He’s an unbelievable person.  We’ll give  him his time and give him his space. Whatever the time may be and we’ll welcome him back with open arms.

Strome was asked how the team reacted to this situation on the heels of other events, obviously referring to the Tony DeAngelo incident.  Strome said “It definitely feels like it’s par for the course the way things have been going the last little while…one crazy event after another…we’ll take our time with this and go day by day.  We have a job to do, but at the end of the day these are our teammates and brothers.”

Moving forward

Once the immediate shock wears off, Quinn and the team will have to figure out how they can win without Artemi Panarin in the lineup.  That’s something they have never done in the three games he has missed in his time in New York.

It will mean more shuffling of lines and with Kaapo Kakko still out with under the COVID protocol they will be down two important pieces of the top six.   Perhaps Ryan Strome put it best when he ended his comments after practice when he said “You can never replace an Artemi Panarin.”