Signing Panarin to a seven year contract, hardly forces him to go through many years of rebuilds. Rebuilds can happen quickly with good cap management. Not saying you should sign Panarin, but is he 6m better than Ferland?

I mean I would say yes definitely. He’s a elite winger, the likes we haven’t seen since Jagr, whereas Ferland is a solid middle six guy. He def be worth it but I’m not sure HE would sign here. He could probably make more money and compete sooner somewhere else...

I look at the Atlantic. Pens are aging with big cap issue, CBJ will have cap space but a lot guys leaving via UFA. Gee, I think the Rangers are in good position to be good and very soon. There aren't many "contenders" that have the cap space to sign 9m or more player like Panarin. I think the Rangers just might be a very good spot for him. And you're going to sign Adam Fox in August.

We can get more out of georgiev alone. He is 22 and A solid backup goalie already he can easily be a starter within a few short years no thanks on the carolina deal. But Panarin is a must have if he is avaliable like Tavares its rare when players of that calibre get onto FA and over the last 2 Drafts we have built up a considerable prospect pool while retaining certain key players like Ziba and Krieder. Now with 2 more 1st gurenteed this year and maybe a 3rd we can Jump start this rebuild by being playoff by even next year. Im not saying a favorite but even just growing the team with signing some key players like panarin maybe another top 6 forward if they enter FA and maybe a top 4 Defenceman. We are not as far off as people think.

lol no argument from me and won't disagree with anything here.....just one question, is it still considered "low-key tanking" or can we all agree that winning is not priority?

I'm not saying that we are clearly and blatantly tanking. But instead I'd argue that winning is less important and instead we are trading guys to get more valuable assets that aid a quicker rebuild while getting our young and inexperienced players more playing time with the goal of getting them used to pro hockey so that they are ready in the next 2ish years. Either way, all of this adds up to losing more in the near-term which has the obvious benefit of increasing the chances of higher draft picks, which in the most general sense possible = tanking.

Yeah I’m all for signing Panarin. I’m really just playing Devil’s advocate, because Panarin does have to choose where he goes. I think he’ll either end up here or back in Colombus. We’ll see and Id love to have him. Would you play him with Zib and Kravstov or Chytil and Buch? I’m not so sure I d want to break up Kreider and Zibby, they’ve been an elite pair...

Oh absolutely agree. And I think that’s the mindset off the FO. I just think Quinn, and this isn’t a bad thing, Will push and get a lot out of these meh rosters coming up soon that won’t allow us to get a Matthews, McDavid, Hughes type player. But honestly we don’t need one. If we stay the course and draft in the top 10 the next few years and make some smart UFA signings were well on our way...

CBJ is stacked with good young prospects though. They will have an easy chance of bouncing up after this year. Especially if they can get 1 or 2 players to resign.

The deal with Panarin and the reason he's worth 9 mil a season is he controls the game with the puck on his stick. He's a center who doesn't take faceoffs. You can see this easy if you see CBJ in overtime on 3v3 hockey. The offense runs through Panarin. He's dynamic. You can't do that with a Ferland.

I think the rangers would benefit from him, as many teams would. He's in his prime. It's worth it.