Let's go get some Bread: why Panarin is leaving the Rangers

One of the strongest Russian foreign players in the NHL, Artemy Panarin, may change clubs this year. Over the years, he became the leader of the New York Rangers, but the team's managers started rebuilding and are not going to renew the contract with the striker, which caused harsh criticism from fans and in the North American media. We talk about the options for continuing Panarin's career, as well as the successes of other Russians in the league.

Not a rebuild, but a reboot

For the second year now, the Rangers have been experiencing difficulties in terms of playing and selection. From the main contender for the Cup, which reached the conference finals twice in three years and won the regular season, the team turned into an average player fighting for a place in the playoffs. The New Yorkers were not helped by the change of coach, the team is not playing well at home — and all the problems led to the fact that the Blue Shirts fell to the last line of the East.

Expectations for the centennial of the franchise were very different. The Rangers were seriously preparing for the big anniversary, but at the start of the season they failed miserably and broke a large number of club records.

Chris Drury, in the wake of a serious barrage of hate from fans, said that the club was really assessing the current situation. The general manager started the process of parting with the leaders a year ago, and now he has promised to continue updating the Rangers squad, but not to go into perestroika.

— Considering our position in the standings and injuries to key players this season, we must be honest and really assess the situation. We are not going to stand still — the changes will give us the opportunity to act wisely and use the opportunities to reboot the team. This is not perestroika. This is a reboot around our backbone and avenues. We are targeting hockey players who possess perseverance, skill, speed and winning experience, focusing on attracting young players, draft picks and a place under the salary cap in order to move forward flexibly. This may mean saying goodbye to the hockey players who have given us and our fans great moments over the years. These players represented the Rangers with pride and high standards, and they will forever remain a part of our family," Drury said.

After this message, an authoritative North American insider Elliott Friedman from Sportsnet reported that the Rangers would not renew the contract with Artem Panarin.

Where to go

By such actions, the management showed that there is nothing to catch this season, so the team will try to focus on developing talented prospects and staffing the squad for the future. It is very important for Chris Drury to get at least something for Panarin. Artemy has a clause in his contract prohibiting any exchange without his consent, and he and his agent can quite calmly start looking for a new club, bypassing the Rangers, with the option to immediately agree on an extension of the agreement.

There's still a month and a half left before the NHL deadline, so Drury has plenty of time to try to find a new club for the Russian forward. It is clear that Artemy wants to play in a team that will claim victory in the Stanley Cup, but there are very few options for continuing his career that can really grow together.

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Of the realistically possible teams that can accommodate Panarin's contract, given that the Rangers will retain 50% of the player's salary, there are Carolina, Detroit, Edmonton and Washington. The main contender in the fight for Bread is considered to be the Red Wings, which is trying to strengthen itself as an extreme striker. It is difficult to call the team from the city of motors a serious contender for the Stanley Cup now, but Panarin, along with his old friend Patrick Kane, can revive the team and make serious competition.

Bobrovsky's Fight

The game day in the NHL on the night of January 20 turned out to be quite eventful, but no one expected that the main event would be a goalie fight, in which Sergey Bobrovsky would take part.

This season, the Russian goalkeeper is not performing at his level. His percentage of deflected shots does not reach 90%. Florida is outside the playoff zone, and in a recent match, it completely lost to Carolina with a score of 1.:9. It seems that in the last game against San Jose, Bob's nervous system couldn't stand it, and he decided to fight with Sharks goalkeeper Alex Nedelkovich. Sergei could not stand the attack on his teammates, ran across the entire court and stood up for his teammates. It turned out to be very epic, and after the fight, the audience greeted the Russian with an ovation.

The Russian link of Minnesota

One of the main sensations of this season can be called "Minnesota". Before the start of the season, many expected that the club would compete for the playoffs, but now the "savages" are in second place in the West, and the Russians play a key role. The appearance of the Russian link led to this. John Hines managed to correctly integrate Danila Yurov into the top three with Yakov Trenin and Vladimir Tarasenko. The Russian Tank has changed several teams in recent seasons, but it was in Minnesota that it found stability.

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In the match against Toronto, Vladimir had an amazing match and could have scored a hat-trick. However, Tarasenko refused this for the sake of his partner, Marcus Foligno, who also had a double in the asset by that time. As a result, it was the American who scored the third goal in the game, and the Russian earned respect and respect from his teammates.

Chernyshov's Extravaganza

Many promising Russians joined the NHL this summer, many expected tough matches from Gritsyuk and Demidov, but no one could have imagined that Igor Chernyshov, who played in the Ontario Junior League last season, would show serious progress. Injuries to the Sharks leaders allowed the Russian to be called up to the main team, and he takes full advantage of the chance.

At first, Chernyshov played with the main star of the team, Maclean Celebrini, and scored points quite simply, but after the return of Will Smith, he was sent to the third link with Michael Misa and Pavol Regenda. Igor looked pretty good, scored two assists and became one of the main stars in the game against the defending champions. If he continues to play at this level, he will be able to return to the top 6 of the team.