New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin would reportedly "love to play for Florida," but the Florida Panthers would likely be unable to pull off a trade.
The New York Rangers are entering a rebuild/retool, and have already confirmed that Artemi Panarin won’t be on their roster come the start of the 2026-27 season.
It’s all but confirmed that they’ll trade him prior to the trade deadline, and he’s currently the best player available on the trade market. Plenty of teams are lining up to acquire the 34-year-old Russian winger, but he may have his eyes set on one team, the Florida Panthers.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Panarin would love to play in Florida, but Friedman doesn’t believe it’s possible. The Panthers are already hard-pressed against the salary cap, and things will become even trickier when Aleksander Barkov returns to the Panthers’ lineup.
Nevertheless, the interest is there, and with the way GM Bill Zito and the Panthers operate, nothing is impossible. Panarin carries an $11.6 million cap hit, which would make him the highest-paid player on the Panthers roster. The Rangers would likely retain part of Panarin’s salary in most trades; the most they could retain is 50 percent, which would still leave Panarin costing them $5.8 million against the salary cap.
Plenty of moves would be needed to free up the space. A likelier scenario, though still hard to envision, is the Panthers going after him in free agency if he doesn’t sign an extension with the team he is traded to beforehand. Panarin is seeking a contract that can bring him into his 40s, and there will likely be teams with more cap space to offer Panarin the contract he seeks at an enticing dollar amount.
Sam Bennett and Artemi Panarin (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)The price the Panthers would need to pay for Panarin has also been revealed, as Friedman mentioned on his ‘Saturday Headlines’ segment that a trade for Panarin would need to start at the price the Colorado Avalanche paid for Brock Nelson. That deal saw the Avalanche send Calum Ritchie, Oliver Kylington, a 2026 first-round pick, and a conditional 2028 third-round pick to the New York Islanders.
There are plenty of reasons why Panarin wants to play for the Panthers. The first is that the Panthers are the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, who, despite injuries, have kept their roster together.
The other reason is his connection to goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The pair of Russian internationals are long-time friends, and their wives are close friends as well. The opportunity to play with an old teammate and a friend on a cup-contending team is what every NHL player wants.
To reiterate, a trade involving the Panthers and the 2016 Calder Trophy winner is a pipe dream, but the interest is there, and it will be interesting to see what formulates.
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