The Colorado Avalanche were rumored to be interested in acquiring star forward Artemi Panarin. With the fleece of a trade happening, sending Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings, it put all of the rumors to bed.
Panarin quickly agreed to terms on a new contract extension with the Kings for $11 million AAV over two years. It puts Panarin under contract through the 2027-28 season. It was also reported that the Kings were the only team that Panarin wanted to go to. The Avalanche were linked to him, but they put into the category of teams that were not going to sign him to an extension.
That situation shows that the Avalanche didn’t have a chance at landing Panarin. It’s sometimes tough to decide on a player’s future with a club when he reaches his mid-30s. You don’t want to overspend for someone who potentially might fall off faster than expected. It can play out in one of two ways: Either the player will thrive in your system or he ends up not being a true fit. Then what do you do? The Avs don’t have much of a prospect pool to offer, and I believe they will want to keep their draft picks, too.
It wouldn’t have been impossible to convince Panarin to change his mind, but he had a full no-movement clause in his previous contract, meaning that he had full say in where he was going to be traded to had something gone down.
The Avalanche signed defenseman Brent Burns to a 1-year, $1 million contract this past offseason. I’m not sure that they were that interested in adding another mid-30 player despite being in a win-now window. They are in contention for a Stanley Cup this year and while they could still make some low-key trade at some point, getting Panarin didn’t make the most logical sense.