The New York Rangers continued their rebuild effort with the signing of high scoring winger Artemi Panarin this past Monday. Panarin was deemed the prize of the 2019 NHL free agent class and reportedly received higher offers from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers and New York Islanders before accepting less money to play for the Rangers.
The announced contract of seven years carries an annual cap hit of $11,642,857 but gives the Rangers another bonafide scorer up front which lessens the pressure on first year players Vitali Kravtsov and number two overall pick Kaapo Kakko.
The excitement around the Panarin signing has quickly turned to Rangers cap crunch.