Carolina nearly landed Artemi Panarin, reportedly making a significant offer and extension willingness. Ultimately, his no-move clause dictated his LA destination.
Wednesday afternoon saw yet another superstar traded midseason as Russian winger Artemi Panarin was dealt from the New York Rangers to the LA Kings.
Trade talks had been brewing for a while, Panarin was even held out of the Rangers' lineup for a few games, and it became clear that there were a few teams with legitimate interest all the way toward the end.
One of those teams reportedly was the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Canes are a team that's well aware of how good Artemi Panarin is, being that his Rangers eliminated them twice in the last four postseason runs, and also whenever a superstar is on the market, they're a team that's always in the mix.
According to multiple insiders, Carolina was a team that made a significant offer for Panarin and were also willing to offer him an extension as well, a big hurdle for a few of the other teams poking around on Panarin.
Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman stated that he heard rumors that Panarin's agent, Paul Theofanous, was telling teams that he was going to go to Carolina, which seems to have just been posturing to try and get others to up their offers.
However, in the end, with Panarin holding a full no-movement clause on his contract, he was going to be able to pick and choose where he wanted to go and it was reported by multiple sources that he honed in on the Kings as pretty much his only option.
So even though the Hurricanes were reportedly a top contender and were willing to even extend the Russian winger, Panarin ultimately only wanted to play in LA.
The Hurricanes continue to be aggressive on the trade market and perhaps we'll see something else materialize for Eric Tulsky and Co. once the league's trade freeze lifts.
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