If Panarin was gong to sign where hes buddy is at...it would be in St Louis with Tarasenko. Thats his best bud in the NHL and from back in Russia

I wouldn't be shocked to see Ilya try to get out of LA before the end of this season. This is not what he signed up for, playing 3rd line minutes with some scrubs

There is zero incentive for Panarin to sign in LA on the worst team in the league AND take a pay cut just because he wants to be in a major city. NYR, CHI, and FLA have better chances.

they just announced that Kovalchuk is on the 4th line tonight.

He is going to 100% request a trade out of there. If the Kings were smart..which I have doubts they are...would retain as much salary as they can on him and try to gain a good ELC player. They will still get cap relief even if they retain 50% when you take in the fact you re replacing kid on 925k plus retained vs full Kovy contract.

Teams would trade for him at 3.25m range over 6.25m range

Kovy is 4th among forwards in ATOI? Not sure how that equates to 3rd line minutes. Sure he's been away from his usual spot with Carter and Toff, but at the same time I wouldn't call Kempe 'some scrub' either. Kids pretty decent.

If the Panarin camp is really looking for a paycheck of 10-10.5 million after this season, I'm not 100% sure St. Louis would be able to fit that, though crazier things have happened lately in the NHL lol. It's really gonna be a wait and see kind of thing with that. There's a number of markets out there that match his wants.

I agree 100%, LA needs a blow up. The core is so old, and their youngest, truest, impact forward is Toffoli and he's 26. Vilardi, Kempe, and Iafallo are not close to being fully developed.

LA is done I agree, they have no hope or future of quickly fixing things. Team is flawed and it wont turn around quickly. They had a nice run but they didnt Hawks it by having to make some hard trades throughout the years to try to keep the team competitive.

They need to accumulate picks the rangers did last season with three 1st rounders and they'll be fine in two seasons.

He is played 13 mins last game...8th in TOI of forwards, the game before that he was 7th in TOI out of forwards...so yeah he is playing 3rd line minutes now. Trying to use early season minutes before you had a coaching change and applying it to current situations is flawed. They are treating him as a bottom 6 forward now...linemates tonight Amadio & Thompson....scrubs

Look at this TOI for the month of November...right before they fired the HC, he was 4th in TOI among forwards...2 weeks later hes 6 among forwards...1 week after that, hes 8th among forwards. Willie is reducing his time and role and he cant be happy

He is now starting on the 4th line. Thats jus the reality of the situation while the kings spiral out of control

If for some crazy reason Panarin did want to play in LA, why not just wait until July 1 and sign him as a free agent? Then you can keep Kupari and trade all of those other valuable trade chips for quality prospects and draft picks? You're giving up a ton of stuff for no reason.

Still has an ATOI of roughly 16 1/4 minutes since Desjardins came in, which isn't to the point where he's asking for a trade imo, but it's honestly less than I expected given Willie's reputation of playing vets. This at least is a sigh of relief with Willie as interm, that the young kids aren't gonna suffer while he's coach.

I wouldn't mind selling Kovy tbh. Didn't give up anything to get him, and gives us the assets in the future. Honestly it's a win-win for us if we do so.

I edited my response showing how week by week his ice time has been diminished. Thats the point.

Wouldn't say he'd have zero incentive given where we are in the standings. We all saw how the Rags did last year yet he was still considering them as an option. Panarin is gonna be a hard person to predict at this point, given the broad wants in a destination he's given (that I at least know of).

Don't worry I get it! I'm not too concerned about it at this point. Whether he wants out or not, nothing changes this season for us. At least if he gets out, we get the assets in the long run.

Kings do need to sell, there is no point of holding onto guys anymore. The west is too fast and competitive so a blow up would be the best thing they could do

Only thing I'm looking forward to is the organization (hopefully) realizing Kempe isn't a center. Kid would do so much more on the wing.

Panarin isnt gonna go to the worst team and no knock to him but I dont think LAK should take him. They should sell for young good players and head for a rebuild. Also, not sure about Forbert bug I'm not sure Martinez and him are more valuable to CBJ than Nutivaara. Plus nutis my favorite, stay away ?