Artemi Panarin didn’t suddenly turn into a different player last season. He’s been an elite forward in the NHL since he arrived to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2016 as a soon-to-be 25-year-old who’d already played six seasons in the KHL, the last two of which he became the sort of playmaking forward that made NHL teams take notice.
From that Calder Trophy-winning 2016-17 season with the Hawks up through 2022-23 with the Rangers, Panarin’s 584 points were fourth-most in the league. His 1.15 points per game were tied for seventh. This was a player who made teammates better and was earning the seven-year, $81.5 million deal he signed with the Rangers in 2019.
And then, somehow, he got better. Last season, Panarin’s production jumped 28 points in his age 32 season. The only other high-end scorer who had a similar production boost from 2022-23 to 2023-24 was the Panthers’ Sam Reinhart, who popped from 67 to 94 points in a contract year at age 28.
The only other player in the past several decades of the NHL who broke such a high production plateau for the first time past age 30 was Ron Francis, who posted 119 points for the Penguins in 1995-96 at age 32 after having cracked the 100-point barrier a couple of times before in his long NHL career. And Francis was on a team with Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.
Panarin has elite teammates with the Rangers, but not two of the best 10 players in NHL history.
After his 120-point season, Panarin is showing no signs of cooling off, either. He was tied for the NHL lead with 12 points in five games heading into Monday. Between last season and the first two weeks of this season, he’s fourth in total points since the start of 2023-24, but now he’s right in the mix with Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov instead of trailing them by triple digits in total points.
Panarin turns 33 next week. He’s a bit of a unicorn to have turned up his production so high into his 30s, so we polled three pro scouts who see the Rangers often and asked a simple question: What’s behind this incredible run from Panarin?
All three scouts were granted anonymity to speak freely about a player not in their organization. Here’s what they’ve seen and what they said.
The chemistry
Panarin has played for three teams in his 10 NHL seasons, but if you drill down, it’s been a bit more chaotic than that. Peter Laviolette is Panarin’s third coach in five-plus years, and his current linemates, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière, weren’t Rangers when Panarin signed here. Even now, Natural Stat Trick has Ryan Strome as Panarin’s most frequent five-on-five linemate over his time in New York, and Strome left the Rangers three years ago.
The scouts we polled see a player in Panarin who has found linemates that work well with him and, of course, that elite power-play unit — which hasn’t changed much at all, save for swapping Strome for Trocheck, since Panarin arrived.
“Trocheck is exactly what he needs,” one scout said. “A guy who goes up and down the ice, does a lot of the dirty work. That allows (Panarin) and Lafrenière to use their skill to make plays, and they’ve connected well too. Panarin’s skilled enough to find room to make plays when he’s got Trocheck clearing the path for him.”
“That whole group has grown together the last few years,” another scout said. “Obviously the power play is deadly and he’s a big part of that. But the team has gotten better with him around, and that elevates him and the whole group.”
The deception
Panarin’s best quality over the years has been his ability to get everyone — teammates and opponents — playing at his pace. He’s used it mostly to distribute over the years, though last season he made a clear effort to catch goalies thinking pass and shoot more, to the tune of 303 shots on goal, ninth-most in the league, along with 651 shot attempts. That’s 221 more attempts on net than Panarin had in 2022-23.
Slowing the play down is something that might actually get better with age, if you could say such a thing about a high-level talent like him.
“Maybe it makes sense that a guy who can slow things down the way he can would get better at it later in his career,” one of the scouts said. “He’s got such incredible offensive sense and IQ — that doesn’t just go away when you turn 30.”
“Maybe I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have when I watched him earlier in his career, but I really think you notice the deception in his game more right now,” another of the scouts said. “I think he’s playing smarter now. He’s like Kucherov in that way, the ability to continue evolving his game. That ability to not have to skate 100 mph but to play with pace when you need to. They both can get in the offensive zone and make guys miss.”
The aggressiveness
Like a rarefied few players, Panarin put his mind to something last season — becoming more of a scoring threat — and followed through to incredible success. His 49 goals were just two shy of his goal total the previous two seasons combined, and his 11 power-play goals were a career high.
Chris Kreider developed a connection with Panarin, who plays the right side of the 1-3-1 power-play setup, shooting off the left post for a Kreider no-look deflection. It produced a couple of goals early last season, and Kreider helpfully pointed out scoring a couple that way would force goalies to cheat off their angle to protect against the Kreider tip, opening up more room for Panarin to shoot far side.
He’s taken advantage. But even with that power-play look, Panarin’s 38 even-strength goals last season were fourth in the league, up there behind Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Zach Hyman. Panarin already has three power-play goals this season, tied for the league lead; his six total goals are one off the league leader, who happens to be Kucherov.
Kucherov is two years younger and has been an elite goal-scorer along with all his other elite skills for years. But as one scout observed, Panarin adding a bit of goal hunger to his game has brought those two wingers closer together than ever in terms of skill level and production.
“They both now have those deceptive wristers from distance,” the scout said. “You catch the goalie leaning and they both can just throw it through traffic. The goalie has no clue it’s coming because he’s either looking pass from two of the best passers in the game or he just can’t see it.”
“Panarin’s become excellent at finding space to let his shot go,” another scout said. “He’s just very shifty in his release.”
The contract
Panarin’s $11.642 million average annual value has been bandied about plenty during his first five seasons in New York. He’s received Hart Trophy consideration in two of them — first in 2019-20 and last year. He’s also had some disappointing playoff appearances to go with being the most consistent elite scorer pretty much in franchise history.
Among Rangers with at least 200 games in the red, white and blue, it’s Panarin at 1.33 points per game and then Jagr (1.15), Wayne Gretzky (1.06) and Andy Bathgate (1.01). There isn’t really a debate.
His contract is up after the 2025-26 season. If the Rangers don’t break through to win a Stanley Cup or at least reach a Final, the decision to sign Panarin may be debated for a long time. But the results are there and continuing to pile up.
“Oh yeah, I’d take him on my team at that number,” one scout said. “He’s like a fine wine. Better with age.”
“When you sign guys for seven years at that much, your biggest worry is the last couple seasons of it looking awful and weighing down your cap,” another scout said. “(Panarin) is making it look like a bargain now.”
(Top photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
