Winners and Losers of the Rangers-Kings Artemi Panarin Trade

The Artemi Panarin sweepstakes officially ended just before the Olympic roster freeze buzzer on Wednesday, and it turns out it was never a sweepstakes to begin with.

The Rangers dealt Panarin to the L.A. Kings at 50 percent of his $11.6 million AAV in exchange for prospect Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round pick. The Kings promptly signed the pending free agent to a two-year extension with an $11 million cap hit.

Scratching your head at that return? Thanks to Panarin's no-movement clause, he had almost full-control of the situation. For reasons that don't have to make sense to us, the 34-year-old had his heart set on the Kings.

This is the most cut-and-dry winners and losers trade situation the NHL has seen in recent memory, so let's jump right into the Kings' serendipitous dub and the Rangers' hapless L.

Winner: Artemi Panarin

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Congrats Artemi Panarin, you are...a Los Angeles King? Hey, no matter what we, the people, think about the destination, this is exactly what the player wanted.

According to The Athletic, Panarin had full control over his situation, with a no-movement clause: "The Kings were his desired destination after talking to teams, a league source said, so there was not a chance for a bidding war."

Panarin did get a two-year contract extension at an average annual value of $11 million out of this. He also gets the chance to join a team that's in the playoff race and could desperately use a high-octane player just like him.

While we may not understand all the reasons Panarin chose the Kings, the fact that he was in the driver's seat of this decision makes him a winner regardless.

Loser: Rangers GM Chris Drury

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Realizing how much control Panarin had in this situation, your first instinct is to cut the Rangers a little slack for the underwhelming return, as egregious as it is.

Then you start to remember "this situation" was largely the outcome of all of the Rangers' decisions from the past two seasons. If they hadn't fallen from grace so suddenly and so drastically, they wouldn't have felt the need to trade a star for scraps.

Current GM Chris Drury isn't to blame for the no-movement clause in Panarin's current contract, but he's taking the enormous L for it. On top of the weak return, it was almost unbelievable to hear the Rangers are retaining 50 percent of Panarin's salary.

Most of the time, after a lopsided trade, you're baffled by the "losers" decision in a way that makes you sort of mad at the GM, or angry for fans of the team. You know it's one of the worst Ls in recent memory when you actually feel sorry for the loser.

Losers: Eastern Conference Contenders

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Brayden Point and Jaccob Slavin

At least Drury can hang his hat on the fact that none of the Rangers' Eastern Conference foes got Panarin.

According to ESPN, Tampa Bay, Washington, and Carolina were among the teams inquiring about Panarin up until the end, but Panarin got final say and chose the Kings.

The Olympic trade freeze has officially begun, so we won't see anything else for at least 21 days. Who will all of these playoff-contending Eastern Conference teams start targeting, though, now that Quinn Hughes, Rasmus Andersson, Kiefer Sherwood, and Panarin are off the board?

Maybe Drury will have better luck with dealing center Vincent Trocheck. Out West, Blake Coleman, Robert Thomas, and Jordan Kyrou are all names to watch in the forward department.

Winners: Los Angeles Kings

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Adrian Kempe

Imagine your team is one point out of a playoff spot, ranked in the bottom five league-wide in both power play percentage and five-on-five goals. Your team is in desperate need of a goal-scorer, a bit more star power up front, and frankly, a morale boost.

Then imagine your team could receive this without surrendering a roster player. Then imagine it's coming at 50 percent off.

If you're a Kings fan, this is now your reality.

What else can you say about this deal? Sure, Panarin doesn't automatically make the Kings a Cup contender in the brutal West, but he gives them a chance to be interesting. It's rare for something like this to fall into a playoff bubble team's lap, and with the retained salary, the Kings could go in even harder at the trade deadline now.

Loser: NHL Trade Deadline Drama

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Steven Stamkos

Seriously? Talk of the town, Panarin, went for a non-top 10 prospect still playing in the OHL and a third-round pick? Yes, he was a pending UFA, and yes, he had his eyes on L.A. for whatever reason.

Still, this was a dud for the rest of us expecting more one-for-one type hockey trades this deadline. We shouldn't lose hope on that front just yet, as this was clearly an anomaly of a situation born out of the Rangers' desperation and Panarin's no-movement clause.

Panarin being dealt before the Olympic roster freeze could bode well for future trade-deadline drama—teams know he's off the board and will have more time to concoct other deals.

It does still sting a little knowing we drama-lovers wasted our time opining on this when Panarin was planning on hopping off the plane at LAX with a dream and his cardigan this entire time.