![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-1248579215-640x427.jpg\" "\\"Pittsburgh")
<\/p>\n\u201cI never wanted to go anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artemi Panarin was one of the rare players with full control over his destination via trade. Most times, players are traded to the team that makes the best offer and that\u2019s that. For Panarin, who had a full no movement clause, he was in the driver\u2019s seat. On Wednesday, he got what he was looking for, as he was traded from the New York Rangers to the Los Angeles Kings, signing a two-year contract extension in the process. <\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to find a team for myself, where I want to be, so it was kind of about feeling,\u201d Panarin said of his decision to come to Los Angeles. \u201cObviously, you look at the players, and then I spoke with Gavrikov the last couple days a lot. He introduced me to a great organization, great teammates in there and obviously a great spot to live. I just want to play for these guys, for that organization. Other teams were on the list too, but I actually never wanted to go anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
So how badly did Panarin really want to come to Los Angeles?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if Kenny [Holland] knew that, he would have gave me five [million] probably,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Panarin later joked\u2026..I think\u2026\u2026.that he would\u2019ve returned to play in Russia if the Kings didn\u2019t want him. Thankfully, they did want him. They really wanted him. <\/p>\n
As he noted above, a reason he felt so comfortable coming to the Kings was through talking with former Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who was his teammate this season in New York. After the Kings traded for Gavrikov back in 2023, he spoke publicly about how well he and his family was treated by the organization upon his arrival. Certainly sounds like he relayed quite a bit of that to Panarin, when the latter was presented with the opportunity to move on.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, Los Angeles didn\u2019t seem to be the longest term or the most money on the table for Panarin. But he wasn\u2019t concerned. He found the fit he was looking for and as of Wednesday morning, he is an LA King. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a guy who is not thinking that much about money,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe it seems funny, but it\u2019s not an important thing for me, because like I said before, I just want to play for the guys and I just want to play for the organization. It\u2019s a pretty short deal for me, that\u2019s not what I\u2019m looking for but also, like I said, because I wanted to play there only, for the Kings, I didn\u2019t have much options.<\/p>\n
In a perfect world, Panarin might\u2019ve signed a longer-term deal, but the two-year term was what really seemed to work for the Kings. All goes well, I\u2019d have to imagine that both sides would be very keen on extending the relationship beyond 2028, when Panarin is now signed through.<\/p>\n
In talking with him yesterday, he really wasn\u2019t all that interested in a trade that did not come with a contract extension. The extension was something that was also paramount to the Kings, who aren\u2019t really in a position to trade a top prospect for a player with no term. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be rented for a couple months and then go somewhere else, I just looked for a team who wants me, who can sign me right away, because they\u2019re just not renting me for a couple months.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo by Jared Silber\/NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
As for connections to the current team, Panarin knows Andrei Kuzmenko a bit and said the two players grabbed dinner a few times when Kuzmenko played in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Having someone he knows in Los Angeles was a bonus and having that player be a fellow Russian, who can help him to settle in with a few things, was also important. Panarin said that several members of the Kings organization had reached out via text, but he prefers phone calls and was waiting to call them back out of respect for their game in Vegas. He said he plans to do that here over the next few days to connect with some of his new teammates before he gets to Los Angeles closer to the team\u2019s return to practice.<\/p>\n
Jim Hiller was one of those people and he told us just a few hours after Panarin\u2019s media availability that he was able to connect with Panarin that afternoon on what he described as a very enjoyable phone call. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a really good conversation [yesterday] afternoon before the game, I really enjoyed the conversation,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cWe got into it right away, didn\u2019t take long, and he\u2019s excited, that\u2019s the most important part. He\u2019s really excited. He\u2019s had good conversations with Gavy, kind of knows what to expect from the area, the team, the organization, he\u2019s just ready to be an LA King. That\u2019s what I got from him. Not just get in here and play, but to be an LA King and really help the team, push the team forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Push the team forward.<\/p>\n
I like that line. <\/p>\n
The Kings have long needed a player like Panarin to help push the team forward. I mean, these last two games alone have shown that. The Kings limped into the Olympic break, without a ton of punch in losses to Vegas and Seattle. Panarin is the kind of guy who is capable of changing that. And he needs to be allowed to do so. <\/p>\n
Ken Holland said yesterday that the Kings aren\u2019t going to overhaul their system, midseason, around Panarin. He\u2019ll play within the way the Kings play the game, but with that will come freedom on the offensive zone to try and make plays. It needs to, because this is a special player who needs to be embraced, not changed. <\/p>\n
I think it\u2019ll be a bit of a test for everyone here to make Panarin work as well as he can. He needs to be given the freedom to operate offensively in order to be successful. Both Holland and Hiller said that Panarin was brought here to help the Kings score more goals than they have. There seems to be an understanding that he\u2019s a player who needs some of that freedom to do his thing offensively. He also understands that he can\u2019t just freewheel, but he wants to be that offensive difference maker too. Kings need him to be that and I think the onus falls on the team and those at the top to make that work. <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I\u2019ve got to work in the system, they have some systems like that and I\u2019ve got to find some open space in that system, that\u2019s probably how it will work,\u201d Panarin said. I don\u2019t see it like I just can probably come there and then just play how I want to play, but I also know the Kings signed me because I can do offensive stuff, so I don\u2019t want to lose that stuff too. I\u2019ve just got to find balance. I\u2019m sure we can find balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Panarin\u2019s focus is forward.<\/p>\n
The Kings need a late-season push and Panarin is hoping to help in that area. The organization certainly believes that he can. Coming out of the break in a couple of weeks, we\u2019ll get our first look at Panarin in a Kings practice uniform when he takes the ice at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo on February 18. With the break to gear up for all the changes coming his way, he\u2019s ready to go in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe it\u2019s probably the perfect timing, because Olympics break is pretty long this year and it gives to get used to a new team,\u201d he added. Like I said before, I want to play for the team and win with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Certainly feels like a breath of fresh air for a team that needs one. The Artemi Panarin era begins in a couple of weeks. Excited to see where he fits in and how he can help to transform this group on an important stretch run. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI never wanted to go anywhere else.\u201d Artemi Panarin was one of the rare players with full control…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-454373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}