Reports: Kings acquire F Artemi Panarin from Rangers
The Los Angeles Kings acquired superstar forward Artemi Panarin in a trade with the New York Rangers, ESPN reported Wednesday.
New York will receive prospect Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round draft pick, per the report.
The Rangers opted to ship out the 34-year-old Panarin, their leading scorer and a pending unrestricted free agent, after slipping to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 50 points through 56 games.
Panarin tallied 19 goals and 57 points in 52 games before being scratched toward the end of January to guard against injury.
A four-time All-Star, Panarin was a cornerstone player for the Rangers for six-plus seasons and has 927 career points (321 goals, 606 assists) in 804 regular-season games with New York, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks.
An undrafted free agent out of Russia, Panarin signed his current seven-year, $81.5 million contract with the Rangers in 2019. It contained a full no-movement clause that he had to waive to facilitate the reported move to Los Angeles, which entered Wednesday as the Western Conference's ninth-place club and sat one point out of the West's second wild-card spot.
The Kings were the only team Panarin wanted to join, according to the New York Post, which reported the conditional third-round pick will become a second-rounder if Los Angeles wins a playoff round this season.
The Rangers are retaining 50% of Panarin's remaining cap hit, according to The Athletic.
Greentree, a 20-year-old forward, was the No. 26 overall draft pick in 2024. He has 45 points (23 goals, 22 assists) in 34 games this season with the Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires. Last season, he posted 119 points (49 goals, 70 assists) in 64 games.
A league-wide roster freeze kicked in Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET for the duration of the Winter Olympics.
Trade activity can resume Feb. 23 ahead of the March 6 deadline.