Montreal Canadiens: Free agency makes more sense for Artemi Panarin
By Omar L
Artemi Panarin will be a top name ahead of the Trade Deadline, and if the Montreal Canadiens were to pursue him, it only makes sense to do it on July 1st.
TSN put out their latest trade bait list on Wednesday. There haven’t been many additions, and surprisingly there aren’t any Montreal Canadiens on it, but several players have jumped up to new heights. One of which being Artemi Panarin who has had his situation with the Columbus Blue Jackets underneath the microscope all season.
To sum it up quickly, Panarin is a pending unrestricted free agent, and his camp let general manager Jarmo Kekalainen know they didn’t want to resign and would instead test the open market. That lightened up a bit after the 27-year-old set a pre-season deadline to negotiate, but things have gotten dark once again.
To trade Panarin or not to trade Panarin, that has been the question for Columbus since the season started. It also doesn’t help that star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is singing the same tune. So when Kekalainen held a press conference on Monday and said:
"We’ve said all along we’re going to make hard decisions if we have to. But our focus is on getting our team better, making it as competitive as possible, for this spring but also into the future, obviously. If we have to make a hard decision, we will. We like Artemi and would like to keep him. It’s his right to go to free agency, and if he chooses to do so we’ll be knocking on his door July 1."
The consensus around the NHL transitioned to the idea that the Blue Jackets were most likely going to trade him.
According to the article by TSN’s Frank Seravalli, Kekalainen has been fielding calls the entire week. Anytime team would be foolish not to check in and see what it would cost to acquire Panarin, and that includes the Montreal Canadiens. However, given the bidding war that will take place from now until February 25th, the Habs are better off staying out of it.