CapFriendly has just released the details of Artemi Panarin’s contract and it indeed shows the Rangers took the Nuclear Option to land him.
Late Sunday night, in the mayhem of all the rumors from top insiders that Panarin was likely to go to the Panthers or Islanders, I wrote the following:
Just like the Leafs last year, they can front load the contract. Are the Islanders going to come up with $70M up front? I don’t think so. This is also what you call lock out proofing the contract, which it looks like we are steam rolling to one in the summer of 2020.