This may seem like an odd moment to praise Artemi Panarin and urge others to appreciate him as the greatest free-agent signing in New York Rangers history. After all, the Rangers are on life support, and their top offensive player didn’t exactly stand out Monday in a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
In fact, it was an all-around rough night for Panarin. He logged more ice time (21:18) than any other Rangers forward not named Vincent Trocheck, and simply didn’t get a whole heck of a lot done out there. He simply wasn’t very noticeable, managing a single shot on goal on his five attempts.