Last year, it was easy to recap Artemi Panarin’s season. The Breadman proved he could succeed away from Patrick Kane, and quickly demonstrated he was the most talented forward Columbus had ever seen.
This time, however, it’s impossible to talk about his season without considering both the positive impact he had on the ice but also the negative impact his contract status had on the locker room (along with that of his countryman Sergei Bobrovsky).
We have spilled much digital ink on this topic since last June. First there was the breaking news ahead of the draft that Panarin was being shopped after informing the team he was not prepared to discuss a contract extension.