DENVER – The San Jose Sharks’ path toward their first postseason appearance in seven years might have just become a bit more challenging.
The Los Angeles Kings, one of the Sharks’ chief competitors for a precious Western Conference playoff spot, made a significant splash on Wednesday, acquiring high-scoring winger Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers for prospect forward Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round draft choice.
Soon after the trade was completed — mere minutes before the NHL’s roster freeze at noon (PST) on Wednesday — the Kings signed the 34-year-old Panarin to a two-year, $22 million contract extension. Panarin’s contract had a full no-movement clause, allowing him to dictate where he wanted to play.
This likely doesn’t change anything for the Sharks, who already dipped into the trade market last month by acquiring forward Kiefer Sherwood from the Vancouver Canucks for two second-round draft picks and minor league defenseman Cole Clayton. Sherwood made his Sharks debut on Wednesday night against the Colorado Avalanche.
But with Panarin now in L.A., an already tight playoff race in the West just became a bit more intriguing.
Make no mistake: While the Kings still have some roster issues to sort out, namely at the center position, they’re a better team now – and seemingly a harder team for the Sharks to pass in the standings — with Panarin than they were at the start of the week.
With Panarin, the Kings get a winger they can immediately thrust onto their top line. He had led the Rangers in scoring each of the last seven seasons, including this year with 57 points in 52 games with New York, with his last game coming on Jan. 26.
The Kings, coming into Wednesday, ranked 28th in the NHL with an average of 2.57 goals per game.
The Sharks, with 58 points, entered Wednesday three points back of the Seattle Kraken for the Western Conference’s second and final wild card spot. The Kings were one point behind the Kraken.
It’s also a wide-open race for the Pacific Division lead, with the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers each with 64 points before Wednesday, and the Anaheim Ducks one point back. The top three teams in each division automatically qualify for the playoffs.
As of Wednesday, the Sharks’ remaining strength of schedule, per Tankathon.com, was the third-easiest in the NHL. Sounds good if you’re a Sharks fan, until you see that the Ducks and Kings have easier remaining schedules, based on their opponents’ combined points percentage.
Still, the Sharks, who had lost three straight games coming into Wednesday, needed to start worrying about their process instead of what’s going on around them.
“We’re in a unique position right now because of how well we’ve played,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Tuesday. “Now that we’re here, we’re gripping it. We want to go out and play this perfect game and just win the game. Your process helps you win the game.
“We’ve got to get back to just playing a little bit fast, a little bit loose, a little bit more connected. These guys have been playing since they were three or four years old. Let’s have some fun. Let’s play and just loosen up a little bit.”
The Rangers announced last month that they would not re-sign Panarin, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent, and began scratching him from games to help prevent a serious injury.
The Sharks were one of the many teams that reached out to the Rangers about Panarin, who was reportedly open to coming to San Jose and signing an extension with the team. The Sharks probably could have offered a similar contract extension to Panarin and perhaps a more lucrative trade package.
Subsequent reports on Wednesday, though, indicated that the Kings were the only team Panarin was interested in joining.
Having a young, exciting group of players to build around should help make San Jose a more attractive place to play for pending UFAs. But when? That wasn’t the case with Panarin, and one wonders if other high-profile players are like-minded in that respect.
Panarin coming to the Sharks would have been fun to watch. Now the focus shifts to the stretch run, and what Mike Grier and the Sharks do before the NHL trade deadline on March 6, if anything, considering their competition just got better.
The Mercury News
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