Artemi Panarin trade a tale of two rebuilds with similar paths and different solutions

The New York Rangers have conceded their rebuild has not worked. The Los Angeles Kings are trying to convince themselves their rebuild still can work.

The inevitable Artemi Panarin trade finally happened on Wednesday, with the New York Rangers trading the star winger to the Los Angeles Kings for prospect Liam Greentree, a conditional 2026 third-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2028.

The Kings then worked quickly to get Panarin signed to a two-year, $22 million contract extension through the end of the 2027-28 season, keeping him off the unrestricted free agent market this summer.

There are a lot of layers to pull back from this, ranging from the Kings addition of a top-line scorer to the return going back to the Rangers.

Let’s start with the return.

It is underwhelming. Even by rental standards, and even when you take into account Panarin had full control over where he went given his no-trade clause and really handcuffed the Rangers with options.

Greentree is a fine prospect, but he is far from a sure thing to be a high-level NHL player (or even an NHL player at all). He has also seen his production drop significantly this season, which might be a bit of a red-flag given it is his fourth year in the OHL and at age 20 is one of the older players in the league.

Regardless of what his junior level production is (good or underwhelming), it is still going to come down to how the Rangers player development people bring him along when he gets into their organization.

Recent Rangers history does not exactly paint a promising picture for that. But that is a concern with the Rangers organization, not necessarily the trade itself. That concern would exist with any prospect they add into the organization.

The bigger issue for Rangers general manager Chris Drury is that he put himself in this position by simply building a bad team around Panarin, and putting the organization into a position where it had to trade its most dynamic forward for pennies on the dollar in what has become a clearly lost season.

Then we have the Kings.

After mostly ignoring an offense that had plenty of concerns and shortcomings a year ago, general manager Ken Holland was finally able to land a legitimate impact player and also get him signed for a couple of more years. It is a big deal. With Anze Kopitar playing in his last season and the Kings facing pressure to not only make the playoffs, but also advance, it makes sense that they would take a mighty swing.

It is also a fascinating swing given the current place of the two franchises and the state of their recent rebuild attempts.

One team, the Rangers, is acknowledging that it failed, has run its course, and that it needs to hit the reset button.

The other team, the Kings, is trying to convince itself that it has not failed and is doubling down on its current path.

Let’s talk about it.