Artemi Panarin Traded to Kings from Rangers, Latest Contract Extension Rumors

Artemi Panarin is heading to Los Angeles after six and a half seasons with the New York Rangers.

The Rangers traded Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for forward Liam Greentree, a conditional 3rd-round pick in 2026 and conditional 4th-round pick in 2028. The Kings and Panarin subsequently agreed to a two-year extension with an average annual value of $11 million, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Half of Panarin's $11.64 million salary was retained by the Rangers as part of the deal, per NHL insider Frank Seravalli.

ESPN's Adam Schefter and Emily Kaplan first reported the news.

Panarin turned 34 in October. He was previously set to hit unrestricted free agency after his seven-year, $81.5 million contract expired this spring.

The Florida Panthers were previously identified by The Athletic's Vince Z. Mercogliano as Panarin's preferred trade destination.

Kaplan reported that the Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals were "circling at the end" of negotiations.

Kaplan also wrote the Rangers "feel they got the best prospect" from Los Angeles in Greentree, 20, who was a first-round pick in the 2024 draft.

He has spent the last three seasons as captain of the OHL's Windsor Spitfires, where he has recorded 45 points (23 goals, 22 assists) in 34 games this season.

He's coming off an 119-point OHL season in 2024-25, so Greentree will hope another strong OHL season could make him a candidate to make his NHL debut with the Rangers in the near future.

The Panarin trade came after Rangers general manager Chris Drury said in a Jan. 16 letter to fans he was planning a "retool built around our core players and prospects."

According to Friedman, Drury met with Panarin prior to sharing the letter in order to inform the winger his expiring contract would not be extended by the Rangers.

So far in the 2025-26 campaign, Panarin had led the Rangers with 57 points in 52 games.

Panarin has been the Rangers' most consistent producer for the last six seasons, during which he scored at a 1.28 point-per-game pace.

The 550 points he recorded for the franchise between 2019 and 2025 ranked fourth only to Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon over that span.

Panarin is also just two seasons removed from finishing the 2023-24 campaign as one of the NHL's top producers with 49 goals and 120 points in 82 games.

The Rangers made Panarin the NHL's highest-paid winger at $11.64 million AAV back in 2019, when the franchise signed him to his previous deal amid a rebuild.

The move came shortly after the Rangers drafted Kaapo Kakko with the No. 2 pick of the 2019 draft and acquired defenseman Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets.

Adding those players helped the Rangers make it to the Eastern Conference Finals twice in a three-year span between 2022 and 2024.

But the rebuild wasn't enough to get the Rangers back to the Stanley Cup Final. After a poor start to the 2024-25 season, the franchise parted ways with players including Kakko and Trouba while entering another retooling phase.

Bringing in center J.T. Miller and head coach Mike Sullivan wasn't enough to turn things around in 2025-26, especially with the team missing star goaltender Igor Shesterkin and top defender Adam Fox to injuries.

The Rangers will now look to try and build a more competitive team with help from the return for Panarin.

Panarin joined the NHL in 2015 as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, where he developed into a star while playing alongside Patrick Kane. The Hawks traded him in 2017 to the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he spent two seasons before signing with the Rangers in 2019.