The Artemi Panarin trade has completely taken the rest of the intrigue and energy out of the Garden.
With the Panarin saga finally reaching a conclusion with his trade to the Kings, the Rangers played their final game before the NHL break for the Winter Olympics — and the corresponding league-wide roster freeze — with the knowledge that their devolving season eventually will resume with more work to do for GM Chris Drury to retool the roster for 2026-27 and beyond.
That pre-Olympic finale Thursday night only represented more of the same for the crashing Blueshirts, however, as they fell for the fourth straight game without Panarin with a sleepy 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes at the Garden.
It marked the ninth time they have been shut out this season, and inexplicably, the seventh time on home ice.
The last-place Rangers previously played without Panarin while their leading scorer was held out of the lineup in two defeats to the Islanders last week and another against the Penguins before Wednesday’s trade.
“Well, I just think the finality of it is finally here,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said when asked about Panarin’s official departure before the game. “Sometimes just the anxiety of the uncertainty is more difficult to deal with than the finality of it. Everybody can move on.”
Panarin, who inked a two-year contract extension worth $22 million with Los Angeles to bypass unrestricted free agency this summer, was dealt for junior forward prospect Liam Greentree and at least one conditional third-round draft pick, depending on Los Angeles’ postseason success.
Sullivan said he wished the 34-year-old Panarin “the very best” in a conversation after the trade was announced Wednesday night.
He added that he “already has addressed the circumstances” of potential additional trades with his squad, which is now mired in a 3-13-2 tailspin to sink to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings at 22-29-6 overall.
“It’s not [easy], because obviously we’re all in this thing to win,” Sullivan said. “We’re all wired to try to win. It’s a competitive league, it’s a competitive environment, and we’re all competitive and we want to win. So when you don’t have the ability to put one of your very best players in the lineup, it doesn’t help your chances.
“But I also understand that it’s just the reality of the circumstance, and it’s part of where we’re at right now. It’s my job to coach the guys that I have available each and every night, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
With the 20-year-old Greentree slated to finish out his current season with OHL Windsor, the Rangers will continue to plug the gaping hole left by Panarin, their leading scorer, from within. Will Cuylle mostly has skated in his spot the past several games alongside center Vincent Trocheck.
“You know that we’re not going to plug a player in, and he’s going to replace what Artemi does for this team,” Sullivan said. “I think what we’re trying to do is build a team game where we can replace it by committee, so to speak. I think we can do a better job at being harder to play against, giving up less opportunities on the defensive side, which should allow us an opportunity to create some offense off of that. But we’re not plugging anybody in and saying, ‘hey, you’re gonna go replace what Artemi’s brought to this group. That would be unfair.”
Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov gathered in a failed clearance attempt by Vladislav Gavrikov and opened the scoring with a wrister from the slot past Quick for a 1-0 lead 6:26 into the game.
Mika Zibanejad had a strong chance on the power play later in the period, but he rang the puck off the crossbar behind Carolina goalie Brandon Bussi (16 saves).
Quick made 42 stops overall to keep the Rangers within one despite a lopsided shot disparity, before Jordan Staal added an empty-netter in the final minute.
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