Artemi Panarin Reportedly Asking For 6 Years And $36 Million From The Blackhawks
(source)–“Obviously, Artemi is a big part of our team. We’re excited for the season he had. We’re looking forward to him building on that as well. And then the negotiations will be what they are between his agent and myself. I respect Tom, he’s a very knowledgeable guy and I know Artemi put a lot of faith in him. Tom and I will work to get something done.”
A source said Panarin is seeking a six-year deal worth more than $6 million per season, a figure that could be problematic for a Hawks team that already has eight players with caps hits of more than $4 million per season, including Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane each at $10.5 million.
If the NHL rookie of the year, magic man, and Patrick Kane soulmate wants to sign a deal at 6 million AAV then you do it and worry about everything else later. Panarin is in his prime and will be for the duration of that proposed 6 year contract. Do it, Stan.
Now, as always the Blackhawks play in a fascist league that has a salary cap and will be right up against it. This is the main reason why the Blackhawks had to let Andrew Shaw walk. They couldn’t commit big money long term to a role player like Shaw when they had an offensive dynamo needing a contract.
Now, if you leave the salary cap flat at $73M and take all of the UFA contracts off the books, and combine it with the approximate $1.8M the Blackhawks have in my estimated Cap Space(don’t jump on me for that number, roster below), then the Blackhawks come up just a little shy of $6m in cap space. Obviously if the Cap goes a bit with the 5% escalator NHLPA option + maybe a recovering Canadian Dollar the Hawks might be able to make it work by moving Kruger.
Stan Bowman will have to be creative again next summer, but 6 years and 36 million for Panarin is certainly reasonable.
PS: I will be doing a Blackhawks preseason preview of sorts tomorrow, but here is just a little something to wet your beak. This is my best guess at the Blackhawks lines/roster heading into the season. If you want to remove Hartman and replace him with Rasmussen then I won’t argue with you.