Artemi Panarin trade: Ken Holland can say (a big) thank you to Kent Hughes

Marc-Olivier Cook
Artemi Panarin trade: Ken Holland can say (a big) thank you to Kent Hughes
Credit: Getty Images

This afternoon, one of the big stories in the National League was settled.

Artemi Panarin was traded to Los Angeles: this is a major deal that will immediately help the Kings. The club needed to find a way to score more goals, and acquiring the Russian will certainly help in that regard.

That said, this trade would never have been possible without the help of Kent Hughes. Why do I say that?

Because by acquiring Phillip Danault last December, Kent Hughes allowed the Kings to free up space on their payroll. The Canadiens acquired Danault without a salary cap hit ($5.5 million per season), which meant that Los Angeles was able to work a little magic today.

It's ironic, isn't it?

The Danault trade takes on even more significance when you consider that the Rangers are retaining 50% of Panarin's salary in the deal.

In terms of payroll, Los Angeles has “reversed” Danault's $5.5 million for Panarin's $5,821,429 in the team's books.

Ken Holland played his cards right. 

(Credit: Screenshot / PuckPedia)

On the other side of the coin, in New York…

The club's fans are (really) unhappy with how things have turned out. And that's understandable: Chris Drury traded a 90- to 100-point player for a late first-round prospect (Liam Greentree), a third-round pick, and another fourth-round pick.

Got 30 seconds to kill? Check out the comments under this Rangers post… : 

Ken Holland made a good move… and Chris Drury is getting slammed all over social media, even though he didn't have the upper hand in the negotiations.

At the same time, it's normal for Rangers fans to be pissed off. Getting that kind of return for a player of Artemi Panarin's caliber isn't great… 


Overtime

– Josh squared!

– I'd like that.

– Lol. With today's news about McKenna…

– Worth reading.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!