Artemi Panarin ranked 8th best winger by NHL Network
Panarin makes the NHL Network’s Top 10 for the second consecutive year
Last night the NHL Network ranked its Top 20 Wingers Right Now and Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers finished eighth in the rankings. Jamison Coyle and former Ranger Mike Rupp broke down each of the wingers who cracked the list, starting with Phil Kessel at the 20 spot. Unsurprisingly, Panarin was the only Rangers winger to make the cut. The Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, and Colorado Avalanche all have two wingers who appear inside of the Top 20.
Panarin actually moved up two spots from where he was ranked by the NHL Network last year. He is now behind Johnny Gaudreau and ahead of Mikko Rantanen in the rankings. If we look strictly at the boxcar stats, Panarin was tied for 10th with Rantanen in points (86) last season among the players the NHL Network designated as wingers for this year’s list. As you might have expected, the players who finished ahead of the Rangers highest-paid winger on the Top 20 Wingers Right Now are a pretty elite group.
- Nikita Kucherov
- Patrick Kane
- Alex Ovechkin
- Brad Marchand
- Mitch Marner
- Leon Draisaitl
- Johnny Gaudreau
- Artemi Panarin
- Mikko Rantanen
- David Pastrnak
- Blake Wheeler
- Claude Giroux
- Mark Stone
- Vladimir Tarasenko
- Taylor Hall
- Jonathan Huberdeau
- Matthew Tkachuk
- Gabriel Landeskog
- Patrik Laine
- Phil Kessel
Panarin is one of four wingers playing in the Metropolitan Division who made the cut and he has the most years remaining on his contract of that group. Taylor Hall of the rival New Jersey Devils is the only winger of that group who is younger than the Russian winger — he was born two weeks after the Bread Man in 1991.
The NHL Network will announce its Top 20 Defenseman Right Now on Aug. 18 at 6:00 p.m. ET and its Top 10 Goalies Right Now on Aug. 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
So, what do you think? Was this ranking too high for Panarin? Too low? Where do you think Chris Kreider ranks? How long will it take before we start talking about Kaapo Kakko being a candidate for this list? Let us know what you think in the comments.
