I could see about 5 trades out of all those that could potentially work out. Of those 5, 3 don't have the cap space. One team is rebuilding and Panarin likely wouldn't waive to. The last is Detroit and really we aren't trading a guy we just signed as a free agent an di doubt Panarin waives.

Boston is accepting that and running.

He is old and expensive and we are still rebuilding

Can’t see Buffalo doing that at all, without retention added. Can’t see them doing Peterka 1-1 at full cost honestly. They already have a bead man named Skinner.

At this point in time Mercer carries more value than Panarin alone, and making the cap work from a Devils POV with your suggested trade wouldn't even work if the Rangers retained 50% on Panarin's deal.

Breadman isnt gonna get traded until maybe his final year at the deadline depending on how Rangers are doing. No matter how good the player you're trading is 11.5m is a tough cap hit to take on and there's no denying that his play has been declining. So it's very hard to gauge what his value is right now, but if he's not too picky about his team at the 25-26 deadline and Rangers are a team thats selling, then his haul would probably be huge.

NYR decline some of these.

Dallas --- Is Shesterkin basically a throw in here? I wouldn't trade him alone for that entire package. One of the few trades including Shesterkin would be with Buffalo if Levi+ comes back
Seattle --- Is Zibanejad a throw in here?

Not even though, the leafs are trying to get bigger and play a more playoff style game, and Panarin just isn't it... Yeah, the 1st is nice, but I'd bet the Leafs would rather Trouba @50%+ for Nylander than Panarin @50%+ for Nylander... But doesn't matter, I don't think either waives

Sens say no

- Panarin doesn't fit the Sens salary cap structure. No way he makes that much more than Stutzle, Tkachuk and co.

- Sens can't fit him, Tarasenko for Panarin is a 6.0 ADD. Sens need to clear 1.5 AAV already

- Detroit's 1st round pick is like 80% of the value obtained in the DeBrincat trade to Detroit... So this is like DeBrincat + Tarasenko for 11 M$ Panarin

The deal that would make sense for Ottawa is :

Panarin

for

Tarasenko
Kubalik

But it wouldn't happen anyway since Tank just signed in Ottawa...

This is homerism. No offense. Unless you're talking about how Mercer has more years left in him than Panarin, that I could see. But Panarin is a perennial 90+ point guy. Mercer has a CAREER TOTAL of 98 points. So no, he is not more valuable

Tarasenko and Kubalik? Absolutely. For taking on Panarin we will accept any cap dump you want. Give us your worst contract and we will accept it with open arms. I think if Ottawa isn't making playoffs Tarasenko goes at deadline anyways. It's not like he signed a long term deal

Value =/= better player overall
Clearly this isn't something you have thought about properly but that is very much the case.
Panarin is definitely the better player between the two, yes. Though not by very much however.
Panarin is a lower end 1st line FWD at this point in time whereas Mercer is an average 2nd line FWD and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Mercer became the outright better player between the two for the 24-25 season given how aging curves work (Panarin is declining, Mercer is developing / getting better). This is a big part of why Mercer is a way more VALUABLE asset than Panarin at this point in time.

Then there's also the cap implications of Mercer vs. Panarin.
Panarin is one of the highest cap players in the league and not really worth a cap hit of 11.6m at this point in time (he's closer to a 10m dollar player right now) whereas Mercer is still rocking his ELC.
Top 6 FWDs still on ELCs are among the most VALUABLE assets in the league given that pretty much every team is capped out.

Mercer is a young stud, Panarin is declining.
Rangers window of contention is maybe this year and one year further down the line.
The Devils are contending for another ten years.
With all that in mind, if the trade suggested was even was something like Mercer + Palat (due to cap reasons) for Panarin at 50% retained, I wouldn't want the Devils to go anywhere near that trade.

Yeah, teams don't usually trade a guy they just signed as a UFA (Tarasenko) so this wouldn't happen ITR, but I like the idea.

That said, problem is the 2 years left on Panarin's deal, which also doesn't work for Ottawa

This is just not possible, you'd need 50% retention to make it work but in that case, Rangers should just keep him

I actually don't agree that Panarin is declining. His regular season performances have been good. He's just a playoff ghost, his lackluster postseason performance has nothing to do with age related decline and everything to do with the fact that he doesn't give a **** about anything besides chasing a paycheck.

The Rangers have more than 2 years of contention left. With the vet core of people like Zibanejad and Panarin as major roles, yes I give that specifically 2-3 years. But as long as the Rangers hold onto their picks and hold onto people like Chytil, Kakko, Lafreniere, Schneider, and KAM they'll be in decent shape. I think it was a poor idea to sign Panarin 18 months after announcing a rebuild, the Rangers should have just tanked for a couple more years and stocked up on way more picks/young pieces, but the team is currently designed so that 72, 24, 13, 4, and 79 slot into 93, 10, 20, 8's roles when the latter guys retire/leave/decline. I don't agree with that structure but there is a structure nonetheless.