The Seattle Kraken beat the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night, marking their fourth win in five games. But in the trade market on Wednesday, LA beat Seattle in a big move. The Kings made a trade for Artemi Panarin, but the Kraken made a serious contract offer to Panarin to try to lure him to Seattle. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman has the latest on Seattle's push for Panarin.
“One major suspect for the big bidder: Seattle, who beat the Kings Wednesday night and are third in the Pacific,” Friedman reported. “Several sources indicated the Kraken offered a four-year extension ‘with an AAV higher than Leon Draisaitl’s.' The Edmonton cornerstone is at $14 million. That’s … just wow … but I’m not surprised they’d do it. It’s bold, and it fits what they’re looking to do.”
Friedman then included this quote from Seattle GM Jason Botterill. “We had discussions with Paul Theofanous…just like numerous other teams. We will continue to be aggressive at improving our team. But we won't comment on discussions with agents/players.”
The Kraken are in a playoff spot but are looking to add a scorer to push them over the edge. Before the trade, Friedman reported that they could use Shane Wright in a trade package for Panarin. They offered him a better contract than the Kings did, which was two years at $11 million per year. But Panarin flexed his no-movement clause to pick his spot.
Friedman also reported that Panarin was willing to go to the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. But both teams could not clear the cap space and were not able to sign an extension for cap reasons. The list of teams that wanted Panarin and Panarin wanted to go to was one: the Kings. That's how Panarin ends up out west for an underwhelming trade package.
