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First, the good news for the New York Rangers: they got their first goal at Madison Square Garden this season. Just 57 seconds into Monday night’s game, their fourth at home, Artemi Panarin put the puck in the net, marking the first horn blast in the 2025-26 campaign for the Garden faithful. With Panarin’s second goal of the season, the Rangers broke their run at NHL record futility and ended the shutout streak that had reached 180-plus minutes. But now, the bad news: it was New York’s only goal of the game. The Minnesota Wild would get three, including an empty-netter, and beat the Rangers 3-1. If not for an outstanding start in road games, New York would be starting the season in a pretty deep hole. The Rangers are 3-0-1, with 15 goals in four away games, but they have been the complete opposite at home, and NHL insider Frank Seravalli said that Rangers fans are not at all happy. “They’re up in arms about how this team has looked out of the gate, and they’re asking questions,” Seravalli said Tuesday on “Insider Notebook” for Bleacher Report. Rangers Fans Wonder About the Pending Free Agency of Artemi Panarin Some of those questions involve Panarin and his status as an unrestricted free agent after this season. Seravalli said he’s “bullish” on the Rangers and believes the defensive structure they have started to establish under new head coach Mike Sullivan could lead to long-term success. Seravalli said he is among the minority who think Panarin could “be part of that puzzle to solve for the Rangers,” but the overall success of the team heading toward the trade deadline could well tip the scales. “If you’re not helping, you’re hurting,” Seravalli said. “That’s sort of how the Rangers view it. “Do I think (team president and general manager) Chris Drury and company will be afraid to trade Artemi Panarin at the deadline if they’re going nowhere? No, I don’t. Not even in in the slightest.” An interesting proposal would send Panarin to the Dallas Stars in a deal involving Jason Robertson, and it makes a lot of sense. Robertson will be a restricted free agent next summer, and he’s going to command quite a haul. The 26-year-old left winger – who Seravalli called “a low-key name that’s going to be interesting to watch” in trade discussions – has been a point-per-game player since he entered the league, maxing out at 109 points (46 goals, 63 assists) in 2022-23. With the salary cap increasing over the next few seasons, several high-level free agents have recently cashed in with sizeable deals. Robertson, who is in the last year of a four-year deal that averages $7.75 million, could approach the $12 million neighborhood of Kyle Connor, Jack Eichel, and teammate Miko Rantanen. Dallas Stars Face Difficult Challenge of Resigning Jason Robertson Unfortunately for the Stars, they are already engaging in salary cap gymnastics, and it seems fairly unlikely that a deal can be reached. The two sides have kept it short and cordial, both stating that they will wait until the end of the season to engage in conversations, but from a smart business sense, trading Robertson would be a shrewd move. Particularly if it brought back what could be the piece they need to get over the postseason hump – whose free agency baggage will be easier for the Stars to let go. “That kind of is exactly along the lines of what I was thinking in terms of a team that could plug in someone like Panarin,” Seravalli said of Dallas as a potential landing spot for the Russian winger. “They’ve got some brawn and muscle there. They don’t need Panarin to be that guy in the playoffs. And if he’s not the guy driving things, if he’s this sort of secondary, complementary piece, I think he’d be perfectly suited for that.” Panarin, who enters the seventh season of his $81.5 million contract with the Rangers, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. He has been the team’s leading scorer since arriving in 2019, topping 90 points four times, with a career high of 120 (49, 71) in 2023-24. The consistent level of significant production throughout his career could entice a contract of nearly $10 million, according to AFP Analytics. New York reportedly asked Panarin if he would sign a team-friendly deal similar to the two-year, $14 million contract for LA Kings’ star Anze Kopitar, but Panarin turned them down. With this being his last decent bite at the apple, Panarin is likely seeking something in the 4-5 year range, but he turns 34 on Oct. 30. The Rangers seem to be at a place where it would be wise for them to pivot in a different direction. And with the salary cap savings, they could afford to sign Robertson to a contract that just might benefit both parties nicely for quite a while. Dallas might need to be enticed to part with a player still under team control for one more season, but Panarin and a third-round pick in the 2026 draft could do. Now that’s a hockey trade. “I would imagine that there’s got to be a way to make a deal there,” Seravalli said.
