Adam Proteau analyzes Panarin's hot start for the New York Rangers, Shayne Gostisbehere's trade value and the Canucks' ominous start.
This is a Screen Shots column – a regular THN.com feature in which we analyze a handful of hockey topics in shorter order. Mini-columns, essentially. With that said, let’s move right into matters:
– The New York Rangers have shown early this season they possess one of the NHL’s best offenses, generating 17 goals in their first four games. And one of the biggest reasons why is the standout play of superstar forward Artemi Panarin.
The 30-year-old leads the league in assists (eight) and points (10) thus far this year, a pace that, while unsustainable at the 2.5 points-per-game level, still could power him to match or top the career-best numbers he posted in assists (74) and points (96) last season.
The expectations on Panarin are enormous, in no small part because of the fact he’s the third-highest-paid player in the NHL at an average annual salary cap hit of $11.642 million. But he’s now in his fourth year with the Blueshirts, and if he can get his shooting percentage up from the 12.4 percent number he had in 2021-22 – his career average is 14.3 percent – Panarin can nudge his goal-total numbers near the 30-goal plateau, which he’s reached three times in seven NHL seasons.
That will take the heat off teammate Chris Kreider to replicate his 52-goal performance last year, as well as the pressure on star goalie Igor Shesterkin to steal as many games as he did last season.
Panarin’s young teammates can make his life easier by raising their games on offense this year and bumping up his assist totals, but at the moment, he’s showing he can shoulder the load in Manhattan.
– His Arizona Coyotes team has had a rough start this season – besides a 4-2 win against Toronto that had Leafs fans booing their team – but veteran defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere leads the team with five points in three games this year.
The 29-year-old is also averaging a solid 23:40 of ice time, but his most important statistic remains the one year left on his contract until he becomes an unrestricted free agent. He carries a manageable cap hit of $4.5 million this year, making him an affordable pickup on the trade market, either as a strict rental the rest of the season or as someone a team would want to commit, say, four years and $25 million on a contract extension.
The focus in Arizona is on D-man Jakob Chychrun, but teams that need a D-man with great instincts on offense could have a decent-enough consolation prize in Gostisbehere if they don’t land Chychrun. Arizona GM Bill Armstrong is being tasked with cultivating a solid market for both veteran defensemen, and for that reason, he may choose to wait on moving Gostisbehere until he’s shipped out Chychrun.
– Finally, while they aren’t the league’s worst team, the Vancouver Canucks are giving off an unfortunate vibe right now. Losers of their first three games – all in regulation time – the Canucks are one of six NHL teams still seeking their first win of the year.
Making matters worse is the fact that their current coach, Bruce Boudreau, was not hired by their current GM Patrik Allvin. And that has led to speculation about Boudreau’s job security in the event Vancouver stumbles again out of the gate, the same way they did in 2021-22, when they dropped 12 of their first 17 games and 16 of their first 22 games.
That slump led to the Canucks cleaning house on the coaching and management fronts, and while Allvin should be fine – he’s still only operating in his first full NHL regular season – Boudreau is another matter entirely.
He is not bound at the hip with Allvin, and the pressure is already ratcheting up on him. Vancouver has some winnable games through the end of this month – in their next seven games, they’ve got winnable showdowns with Columbus, Buffalo, Seattle and New Jersey – and while no one game is a must-win, they have an acute need to demonstrate ownership was wise to double down on most of the lineup from last season rather than tearing things all apart.
As the Canucks found out last season, the old hockey bromide that you can’t win a Stanley Cup at the start of the year, but you can position yourself out of the race for it that soon, is a very real thing. For Boudreau’s sake, and the sake of its long-suffering fan base, Vancouver has to turn things around, and quickly.