Artemi Panarin is a Los Angeles King now, and the New York Rangers spent this offseason trying to answer a question that might not have an answer.
New York missed the playoffs last season, a genuinely painful year for a fan base used to better.
Replacing what Panarin brought this roster isn't realistic, at least not through one signing or one breakout season.
Panarin posted 28 goals and 56 assists for 84 points in 78 games this past season, the kind of playmaking that doesn't just walk in the door with a new addition.
New York also lost Vincent Trocheck from that group, adding to the offseason talent drain up front.
They didn't stand pat though. Pavel Dorofeyev arrives as a pure finisher, and Gabe Perreault is emerging as a real building block after a strong finish to last season.
Perreault flashed real upside late last season, finishing with 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 49 games as a 21-year-old rookie.
-
J.T. Miller's bounce-back season is the swing factor
Dorofeyev put up 37 goals and 27 assists for 64 points in 82 games with his previous club, exactly the kind of finishing touch this roster wants.
But finishing touch means little without service. Dorofeyev drives fewer plays than he finishes, and he needs a playmaker setting him up the way Panarin used to for this roster.
That's the exact role New York hasn't clearly replaced since Panarin's departure.
J.T. Miller becomes the swing piece in that equation. He posted 17 goals and 36 assists for 53 points in 68 games last season, a step back from his peak form.
A bounce-back year from Miller is realistically what keeps this team in playoff contention this season.
New York also retooled its blue line, adding Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi to a group already anchored by Adam Fox.
Fox posted 9 goals and 44 assists for 53 points in just 55 games, still one of the league's premier offensive defensemen when healthy.
Durzi managed 5 goals and 22 assists for 27 points in 60 games, while Pettersson brought more of a shutdown presence with just 18 points across a full season.
New York finished 34-39-9 for 77 points last season, 29th overall, a number this front office is clearly betting won't repeat.
Whether Dorofeyev can hit 30 or 40 goals depends entirely on the centers around him spreading the puck the way Panarin once did.
Can the Rangers make the playoffs without Artemi Panarin in the lineup?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Connor McDavid's former teammate emerges as surprise Oilers target
