Panarin 'going to be nervous' for New York return with Kings

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. -- Artemi Panarin is already thinking about Monday night, about being back at Madison Square Garden as a visitor, about playing against his former teammates, about the reaction he’ll get, about what will be on the video they show if one is shown.

“I wish it was going to be next year, but I’ve got to deal with that pretty soon,” Panarin said Thursday.

Panarin returns to the building he called home for 6 1/2 seasons on Monday when his new team, the Los Angeles Kings, plays his old team, the New York Rangers. His New York homecoming comes less than six weeks after the Rangers traded him to the Kings on Feb. 4.

He still has two games to play before he returns to MSG; against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Friday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNW, MSGSN) and against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Saturday. But Panarin is already trying to calm his nerves about the game against the Rangers.

“Probably try being more relaxed, but I’m sure I’m going to be nervous and that is going to affect my game,” Panarin said. “I’ll try to be smarter with that. Obviously, excited to see the fans.”

Panarin arrived in New York nearly seven years ago after signing a seven-year, $81.5 million contract on July 1, 2019.

He delivered on his big deal, leading the Rangers in scoring in each of his six full seasons with them, and he was their top scorer before the trade this season with 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 52 games.

Panarin is the Rangers’ ninth-leading scorer all time with 607 points (205 goals, 402 assists) in 482 games. He had 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists) in 46 playoff games and helped New York reach the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2024.

But Panarin and the Rangers could not agree on a new contract before the season and negotiations went quiet during the season.

He was traded because the Rangers decided they were not going to re-sign him, which was expressed to Panarin by general manager Chris Drury shortly before he released a letter to the fanbase stating the team was going to retool the roster and was prepared to say goodbye to popular players.

Panarin said the lack of contract talks prepared him for what inevitably happened, but he was still sad when Drury told him what the Rangers were going to do.

“You don’t believe that until they tell you,” Panarin said. “I thought I played pretty good too. In the beginning, yeah, I was thinking too much, but after I corrected my season. When you go back to your level you think, ‘Right now, let’s go.’ Then it’s not going to happen. It’s OK.”

Panarin, who had a no-movement clause in his contract, was given permission by the Rangers to seek out teams interested in him. He made it clear that he wanted to go to a team that would sign him to a new contract.

He chose the Kings, who signed him to a two-year, $22 million contract after giving the Rangers forward prospect Liam Greentree, who is playing in the Ontario Hockey League, and a conditional third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft in the trade.

“I think it’s better than what I expected,” Panarin said of being with the Kings. “The team is better than what I expected. We have pretty good forwards, defensemen, goalies. Looking forward, I’m pretty excited. Hopefully we can make the playoffs.”

The Kings are tied with the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

Panarin, who is playing regularly with Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar, leads the Kings with six assists and he’s second with eight points in the eight games he has played.

“He’s been great,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “He made our power play just absolutely more dangerous instantly. He’s a skilled player and he makes a lot of plays, but he is so under control with how he makes his plays. They are risky but he makes it so they aren’t. That’s what is really special about him. I mean, that line is on fire.”

Panarin said he doesn’t miss New York yet because he hasn’t been gone long enough yet.

“I’m sure I’m going to have nostalgia next year,” he said. “Now is too soon. It looks like I came from a road trip.”

However, he was thrilled to be able to sleep in his Manhattan apartment Wednesday night.

“It was so good,” he said.

Panarin also owns a house in Greenwich, Connecticut that is currently sitting unoccupied.

“If you want to buy it…,” he joked.

He actually stayed in Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov’s house in Los Angeles for the first three weeks after he and his family moved to the West Coast on Feb. 14. Gavrikov played the past two-plus seasons in LA before signing a seven-year contract with the Rangers on July 1.

Ironically, Gavrikov stayed in Panarin’s house in Greenwich at the start of this season before he and his family found their own home.

“He gave me just three weeks, I gave him three months,” Panarin said, laughing. “It’s OK.”

Panarin is now renting a house in Los Angeles for the time being, feeling more and more settled by the day.

He said he thought that would have happened earlier for him because he moved during the NHL’s break for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, but it was the opposite.

“I was thinking too much and it take me probably two or three games to relax a bit,” Panarin said. “Sometimes playing the next day is just a little bit better because you’re in the work already. Here it was wait three weeks thinking. I have trouble when I start thinking.”

Well, he’s already thinking about Monday night. It’ll be strange and nerve-wracking all at once for Panarin, but he returns happy and feeling good about his decision to land in Los Angeles, and in a playoff race.

“The deal, extension and feeling -- do you want to play for that organization or not,” Panarin said. “I just know myself if I want to be somewhere, especially in my situation at 34, I should live a few years if I want it. I don’t want to put myself in the position where I get home from the hockey rink being sad about city, about team, or something. Now I’m sad about taxes only.”