The Eastern Conference Finals Pit Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky Against One Another, And Some Blue Jacket Fans Are Conflicted

The Eastern Conference Finals have a lot of people who follow the Columbus Blue Jackets on edge. The New York Rangers will take on the Florida Panthers in can what only be described as some CBJ fan's worst nightmare. One of the two players who spurned Columbus in 2019 will play for a Stanley Cup. For Sergei Bobrovsky, it would mean back-to-back years playing for a championship.

Almost five years after Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky took their talents elsewhere, some Columbus fans still hold a grudge against the two Russian superstars. 

Sergei Bobrovsky let the team know a full year before he left that he had no intentions of re-signing in Columbus. In an interview with NBC Sports, Bobrovsky said the team "didn't act." He went on to say “On the contrary, they started to speak about a contract extension more frequently. I am that type of person. I made my plans known and didn’t play any games (with the organization). It would be much harder for me to look at the mirror in case I’d say to everyone that I’m staying and then leave.” However, according to John Davidson, the CBJ did try to act. In an interview back in March, Davidson said "I know that with Bobrovsky, he didn't want to waive his no-trade, so we couldn't trade him. And I get that, he had every right in the world. That's nobody's fault. It's just what it is." So it seems the Jackets were forced to go "All In" that season. 

Fans were left conflicted. Should they be mad at the Jackets front office, or Sergei Bobrovsky? Seems like it was, and still is 50/50. With the revelation that Bobrovsky refused to accept a trade, does that change any opinions five years later?

It was a different story with Artemi Panarin. The worst-kept secret in the NHL was that Panarin always wanted to play for the New York Rangers. The Jackets acquired him on June 23, 2017, and sent Brandon Saad back to Chicago. All the Rangers had to do was sit back and wait for free agency of 2019. 

Panarin went on to break several Columbus records including most points in a single season. But again much like Bobrovsky, Panarin had no designs on signing long-term in Columbus. 

Columbus tried and tried to make Panarin the highest-paid player in Jackets history, offering him $12 million a season to stay for eight years. He refused and took less money and term to play for a rebuilding Ranger team. Jarmo Kekäläinen did everything in his power to keep Panarin, but the bright lights of Greenwich, Connecticut were too much to keep him in Columbus. 

For Panarin though, he was always making "jokes" about Columbus, and leaving and many fans could see through what he was saying. He thought it was funny, but for people from Columbus, cracking jokes about "having" to live here for seven or eight years didn't sit right with a lot of people. 

There were even rumors that his wife wanted New York more than he did, but in a Russian interview the summer he left, he admitted that both his wife and agent urged him to take the money in Columbus. There was just no swaying the talented Russian into staying. 

Five years later, fans are still conflicted. And now, they're a little itchy having to watch two superstar players who used to play for their team play for a chance to win a Stanley Cup. For a lot of people I've talked to about this subject, they will be rooting hard for either the Dallas Stars or Edmonton Oilers to take down the Eastern Conference representative in the Cup Final. But some fans refuse to not root for them, saying that the past is the past. 

Where do you stand on this? 

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