With Artemi Panarin both not willing to negotiate an extension now and also not willing to negotiate an extension after September 13, the Blue Jackets are suddenly under a huge crunch for a decision – trade him now to a team that can extend him for maximum value, or hold onto him and make a run.
With traditional wisdom holding that moving a to-be extended Panarin would return maximum value, hockey insider Elliotte Friedman brought up the possibility of a non-extended Panarin going to a contender and still returning value that would appeal to Columbus. The two teams he brought up: Toronto and San Jose.
Where will Erik Karlsson end up? @FriedgeHNIC has the latest rumors. #NHLTonight pic.twitter.com/lyufXIGobJ
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) July 20, 2018
Toronto, of course, made the biggest splash of the offseason by bringing in John Tavares – and it'd be perhaps a bit ironic if Panarin ended up on his wing – while the Sharks have a strong roster and have been known to make bold moves.
Here's what Friedman had to say.
Columbus is checked into the market, they’re seeing who’s really interested and who’s serious and what the market is, and I do think Columbus is going to see right now if there’s any rejuvenation on any team’s part of trying to make a deal at this particular time. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I do think they are again serious about looking into it.
This is just me kind of guessing as opposed to saying that I hear they’re involved, but I wonder if teams that are investing big into next year like San Jose and Toronto could be into this. Toronto, for example, they can’t extend Panarin – I just don’t see how they could do it – but I wonder if they would take a shot for a year, and we’ve already seen San Jose sign Evander Kane after trading for him, I wonder if they’d be involved too.
So, while this isn't necessarily him having an inside source on teams that are in the running, he's one of the most respected hockey insiders out there, so this could certainly be read as an informed guess.
