Mere hours before the New York Rangers‘ preseason opener, they may have lost one of their most important players.
Forward Artemi Panarin left practice early Friday and did not return after sustaining a lower-body injury.
Panarin led the Rangers in goals (37) and points (89) in 2024-25 while playing 80 games last season. He has averaged 0.43 goals and 1.28 points per game over his 550-game tenure with the Rangers, helping them reach the Eastern Conference Final twice (2022, 2024).
The star forward is also lobbying for a new contract, since he is set to enter the final season of his seven-year, $81.5 million contract he signed with New York in 2019.
The Rangers will open their preseason slate Sunday against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center at 1 p.m.
How Bad Is Artemi Panarin’s Injury?
This was just the second day of on-ice drills for the Rangers, so the fact Panarin did not complete it was alarming.
Still, first-year New York coach Mike Sullivan did not seem worried about Panarin.
“He’s just day-to-day with a lower-body injury,” Sullivan said, according to The Hockey News. “It’s more precautionary than anything. It’s so early in training camp, we just want to make sure we get ahead on anything that could potentially be on the radar.”
Why Is Artemi Panarin So Important To The Rangers?
Panarin may not have been slated to go across the Hudson to face the Devils on Sunday, but this injury could throw a wrench into the Rangers’ early season, which is just 2.5 weeks away from starting.
Panarin has played at least 80 games in three straight seasons, including all 82 games in 2023-24 in his career-best, 49-goal, 120-point year where he helped the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final.
Sullivan, who of course coached the Pittsburgh Penguins for 10 seasons before taking over the Rangers, appreciates how important his left wing is.
“What I can tell you is every time we played the Rangers and had our pre-scout conversations that he was on the film for a fair amount of it,” Sullivan said of Panarin, according to The Hockey News. “I mean that with all due respect because of how talented he is and his ability to change a game. He’s a game-breaker in so many ways. There’s a number of players across the league that probably fall into that category, but there’s not a lot of them and he’s one of them.”
But Panarin’s efforts could be even more essential in 2025-26, since he is one of the longest-tenured player on the roster — in spite of J.T. Miller, who was drafted by the team in 2011 but was traded then re-acquired from the Vancouver Canucks midseason in 2024-25.
Chris Kreider — whose leadership and goal scoring had been counted on for more than a decade — is, of course, gone to the Anaheim Ducks. Mika Zibanejad is on the wrong side of 30, and his goal total has dropped three straight seasons, plus there is a dearth of young players in the pipeline — outside of Alexis Lafreniere and Will Cuylle — after general manager Chris Drury traded Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil last season.
That leaves Panarin and Miller pretty much as the only known entities on the Rangers roster going into the year.
Rangers Get Bad News With Injury To Star Forward Panarin