The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta has revealed a proposed trade between the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks involving Rangers superstar Artemi Panarin.![New York Rangers Artemi Panarin #nhl #rangers]()
Panarin was an undrafted player who began his career with the Blackhawks may be finding his way back to the Windy City as the Rangers prepare for major change during their offseason.
Blackhawks looking for stars for accelerating their rebuild
Panarin's NHL career started in Chicago with the Blackhawks, and while that happened toward the end of their dynastic run, wouldn't it be fun to see him rejoin Chicago as it gears up to try to return with Connor Bedard?
Chicago tried to speed up the process to get back to the playoffs last summer by surrounding Bedard and other young prospects with veteran players and out of all of them, only Ryan Donato seemed to really work out well. He wound up being their only 30-goal scorer while three other Chicago players had 20-or-more. In short, they need offense badly and Panarin would help address that. - David Pagnotta
Chicago tried to speed up the process to get back to the playoffs last summer by surrounding Bedard and other young prospects with veteran players and out of all of them, only Ryan Donato seemed to really work out well. He wound up being their only 30-goal scorer while three other Chicago players had 20-or-more. In short, they need offense badly and Panarin would help address that. - David Pagnotta
The Blackhawks currently have $29.2 million in cap space going into the offseason and the team has made several overtures throughout the league stating that they will be looking at high-priced free agents.
Panarin has one year remaining on his deal which holds a cap value of $11.6 million per season.
The Blackhawks also have several prospects and many draft picks to offer the Rangers if the Rangers want to move off of Panarin to give the team a different look and help replenish their cupboards.
Drury will look at all options this summer
Rangers general manager Chris Drury along with head coach Mike Sullivan will be working together to help realign this lineup.
The Rangers have reached a crossroads when it comes to what the team will do next season as they had missed the playoffs for the first time in many years after being the President's Trophy winner a year before and going to the conference finals against the Florida Panthers.
With only one year remaining, Panarin does hold a no movement clause where he would need to approve the trade for it to occur.
In the meantime, Rangers fans will need to sit and wait until the playoffs come to an end for the real offseason to begin as the Stanley Cup are set with the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers in a rematch from last year.
