Kings acquire Rangers’ Artemi Panarin, agree to 2-year contract extension

General manager Ken Holland and the Kings reeled in a huge fish Wednesday, landing winger Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers in the club’s most significant trade acquisition since Marian Gaborik in 2014.

Perhaps not coincidentally, that was the last time the Kings won a playoff series, a goal they seemed to drift further from in the first four months of this season.

Now, at the relatively modest cost of the Kings’ top prospect Liam Greentree and a third-round draft selection, the Kings acquired a player who was arguably the top forward on the trade market. Panarin’s trade value was suppressed by his full no-movement clause, which gave him near total control of his destination as he was in the final year of a seven-year, $81.5 million deal.

Panarin, 34, is currently enjoying the ninth campaign of his career in which he has scored over a point per game, including a 120-point explosion in 2023-24. Where the Kings had reportedly been of little interest to other trade targets with significant protection in recent years and had rather limited luck in free agency, here the veteran executive Holland proved his mettle in a major way in his first season at the helm.

Not only did Panarin approve a deal with the Kings, there appeared to be few if any other preferred destinations. The Rangers also retained 50% of Panarin’s $11 million cap hit, leaving Holland room to explore more additions ahead of March’s trade deadline. Panarin was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, but signed a two-year extension with the Kings at the same $11 million annual average value.

Panarin burst onto the NHL scene as a 23-year-old undrafted free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015-16, with his departure via trade being a misstep that might have cut short Chicago’s dynasty in the 2010s.

Then, he was part of a Columbus Blue Jackets club that pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in sports history by sweeping the record-setting Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.

After he signed with the Rangers as a free agent, he was a Hart Trophy finalist and the offensive engine of a roster that made two conference finals, including during his prolific 2023-24 effort.

The high-pedigree veteran will now join – and hopefully jolt – a rapidly aging roster with a social-security eligible GM, a captain on the cusp of retirement and 35-and-over players at the top of each layer of its lineup.

The Kings have limited opponents to the third-fewest goals per game this season, but have scored the fifth-fewest goals per game in the league this year and the second-fewest at home. They have the fourth-least effective power play and the second-least potent on home ice.

While the Rangers’ struggles have mirrored those deficiencies in large measure, it hasn’t been because of Panarin, who leads the Blueshirts in points and assists while placing second in goals and power-play points.

His numbers would top the Kings in scoring and power-play output comfortably – he has 12 more points than pace car Adrian Kempe and two more than Kevin Fiala has registered with the extra man.

Holland will address the media this evening before the Kings host the Seattle Kraken in their final home game before the Olympic break and penultimate match overall prior to a pause that will last until Feb. 25.