Krup - You were the first person I thought of when I learned the news earlier. The biggest positive about the trade is saying farewell to Sammy "no goals" Blais.
I was super angry at first because I was fearing the return, but it's not nearly as bad as I was worried about. Hunter isn't much and is very undersized, and the first is what you'd expect. I don't like Tarasenko as a LT player, given his game and injury history, but being on contract year and for time frame, I could get it. It's absurd you need to find players to mesh with an $11M forward, but it is what it is.
the whole narrative that Panarin isn't good is so absurd. He is easily one of the single best free agent signing in Rangers history. Lets lay out his laundry list of accomplishments
- fastest ranger to 100 points
- most points in first 100 games as a ranger
- Fastest to 300 points in NYR history (faster than jagr, messier, esposito)
- He has 302 points in 237 career regular season games with NYR
- 18 points in 23 playoff games (Even though he played hurt all last postseason!)
And I get it, it's frustrating because his mind wanders at times but he is an ELITE talent. He just makes things look to easy and when he gets bored he really fvcks around but make no mistake, he is arguably the best free agent signing in franchise history.