While Artemi Panarin may have only had his sights set on the Los Angeles Kings, that reportedly didn’t stop the Washington Capitals from trying hard to acquire the star winger from the New York Rangers.
Before Panarin was ultimately dealt to the Kings on Wednesday, the Capitals seemingly made a serious effort to land the Russian forward. The latest Caps-related reporting, before Panarin’s move west, came via TSN’s Chris Johnston on Wednesday’s episode of Insider Trading.
“There’s been a lot of teams involved here,” Johnston said. “The Washington Capitals have put forward a big offer for Panarin. The Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, they both have shown interest to some degree. There’s a lot of attention on the perennial buyers, the Florida Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars. And I think the contract is a little more complicated for teams in that pool. I’ve even heard a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs has at least kicked some tires on Panarin.”
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan later corroborated the “offer” made to Panarin from the Capitals in a now-deleted tweet. All reports over the past few weeks have described Panarin’s contract demands as upwards of $50 million spread across multiple seasons.
After Los Angeles and New York completed Wednesday’s trade, the Kings signed the 34-year-old winger to a 2-year, $22 million extension, which far undershot the previous projections. According to hockey insider Frank Seravalli, a significant factor in that was Panarin handpicking the Kings as the only team he would waive his full no-movement clause for.
“[The Kings] are closing in on a 2-year extension with newly acquired Artemi Panarin at $11 million per season,” Seravalli tweeted. “Other teams had been prepared to offer in the neighborhood of 4-years x $11.75m, which is how you know Los Angeles was his preferred destination.”
The Capitals were likely one of the teams able to offer Panarin a longer and more expensive deal, as they are projected to have $34.83 million in cap space during the 2026 offseason. However, they may not have even gotten the chance to do so if the Rangers stuck to what they reportedly first asked for from the Capitals in a Panarin trade: 21-year-old winger Ryan Leonard.
“I heard Will Smith from the Sharks, and [Sharks GM] Mike Grier said no, and then Ryan Leonard from the Capitals, and they said no on him,” a source told RG’s James Murphy.
Leonard, the team’s top young player and 2023 first-round pick, is thought to be untouchable in any trade from the Capitals, let alone one for a player not signed past this season at the time of the deal. The Rangers ended up receiving prospect Liam Greentree from the Kings, who is also a former first-round pick but of a much lesser pedigree than Leonard.
While they didn’t land Panarin, the Capitals, barring a change of plans, should still be in the market for “the best offensive player” that they can find before the trade deadline. After not making a move ahead of the NHL’s Olympic roster freeze, general manager Chris Patrick will now have to wait at least until February 23 to shake up the team’s roster.
