New Kings winger Artemi Panarin ‘never wanted to go anywhere else’

The Kings have long been a meat-and-potatoes team, but as their playoff hopes floundered, they reached out to “The Bread Man.”

Cerebral winger Artemi Panarin will make his Kings debut on Feb. 25 when they host the Vegas Golden Knights. He was acquired from the New York Rangers on Wednesday at the 11th hour, literally, before the NHL’s Olympic break trade freeze.

The Kings haven’t had a point-per-game scorer since Anže Kopitar in 2017-18 and have not boasted a 100-point producer since Wayne Gretzky in 1993-94.

Panarin, 34, is two years removed from a career-best 120-point campaign and is on track for his ninth consecutive point-per-contest effort thanks to 50 points in his past 40 games with the Blueshirts.

That’s welcome news to what feels like a perpetually congested offense that has also struggled to perform on the power play. Not only did the prolific numbers and readily apparent creativity of Panarin appeal to the Kings – Russian countryman Andrei Kuzmenko called him a “superstar” – but his desire to join the Kings and sign an extension also resonated with new teammates like Brandt Clarke.

Panarin played with former Kings Jonathan Quick and Vladislav Gavrikov in New York. He was also mentored early during his pro career in Russia by Ilya Kovalchuk, who joined the Kings with a role similar to Panarin’s in 2018 but underperformed. Despite interest from a multitude of teams in either renting or potentially re-signing him, Panarin zeroed in on the black and silver.

“I tried to find a team for myself where I want to be. It’s kind of about feeling,” Panarin said. “Obviously, you look at the players, and then I spoke with Gavrikov the last couple days a lot. He introduced L.A. as a great organization with great teammates and a great spot to live.”

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that one suitor was the Seattle Kraken, who beat the Kings on Wednesday night, and that the NHL’s newest expansion franchise might have offered four years and $60 million. That’s a heftier sum than the two-year, $22 million pact he signed with the Kings.

“I’m a guy who’s not thinking that much about money. Maybe it seems funny, but it’s not an important thing for me. I just want to play for the guys or I don’t want to play for the guys, or the organization,” Panarin said. “It’s a pretty short deal for me. That’s not what we were looking for, but because I wanted to play there only, for the Kings, I didn’t have many options.”

He added: “Other teams were on the list, too, but I actually never wanted to go anywhere else. I think if [Kings general manager Ken Holland] knew that, he’d give me five [million], probably.”

Panarin, often extemporaneous and playful in his remarks, also joked that “I probably would have gone back to Russia if L.A. didn’t give me anything.”

He said other players contacted him as he pondered his destination – his full no-movement clause afforded him complete autonomy – including the former yin to his yang in Chicago, Patrick Kane, now with the Detroit Red Wings.

“Patrick Kane was texting me like every day. I just told him I hated him, that’s why I’m not coming to Detroit,” Panarin poked.

More serious was the possibility of having to wait until after the pause for a resolution, which Panarin said he was prepared to do. With the trade freeze looming, intense discussions between Holland and the Rangers GM Chris Drury ran all the way down to the wire, similar to the talks with Montreal’s Kent Hughes surrounding Phillip Danault before the holiday trade pause.

Panarin said the Rangers had talked about a contract extension before the season and infrequently thereafter, stating that “I felt like their offer said ‘we’re not sure if we want you or not,’ so that’s why I didn’t sign.”

There wasn’t much choice, he said, when for a second consecutive season the Rangers careened into struggles that would engender considerable roster turnover. Before he was traded, the Rangers had lost 14 of 17 games.

“When we started losing, everything was possible. When we lost to Boston like 10-2 [on Jan. 10], I already understood that even if Chris wanted to give me a deal, he probably couldn’t,” Panarin said.

In parts of seven seasons with the Rangers, Panarin established himself as the most significant free agent signing in the Original Six franchise’s history. He helped propel them to two conference finals appearances. That was after starring in Columbus and Chicago, where he signed after going undrafted and becoming a superstar in Russia’s top pro league. There, he won a Gagarin Cup with SKA Saint Petersburg alongside Kovalchuk.

Panarin was reverent of his time with the Rangers and said he was working on a video to thank their fans. He spoke exclusively about the high points, not responding to the part of the question asking him about any regrets in New York.

Despite deep playoff runs in 2022 and 2024, the organization sunk into chaos and tumult. That led to wholesale changes that are now only resulting in more churn.

Among the many unfavorable developments was the revelation that civil claims against the Rangers and Panarin stemming from an alleged sexual assault of a former team employee were met with a pair of settlements. They came complete with non-disclosure agreements and no admission of wrongdoing, however the details of the incident were made public in an exposé by The Athletic’s Katie Strang.

There were prior allegations against Panarin for physically assaulting a woman in Latvia, though they not-so-coincidentally coincided with a 2021 social media post that supported Alexei Navalny, the since-deceased political rival of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.

Panarin differs from many prominent Russian players, such as Alex Ovechkin and Pavel Bure, in that he is not a personal friend of Putin’s. Moreover, Panarin made comments critical of the political corruption, repression and lawlessness of Putin’s Russia in a 2019 interview.

“He is a regular person, like us, and he is serving us,” Panarin told Alexander Golovin. “Yes, to be a president you have to be smart and enlightened, but our biggest mistake, among many, is thinking that we have nobody better than Vladimir (Putin). This is nonsense.”