Kraken’s Insane Offer to Artemi Panarin Revealed

Los Angeles Kings forward our Artemi Panarin

How badly do the Seattle Kraken want to make a splash at this deadline, specifically to upgrade their offense? We know that they were in on the Artemi Panarin sweepstakes with the New York Rangers. But we've just learned how insane their extension offer to Panarin was.

The Kraken are firmly in the playoff race, currently holding down the second Wild Card spot, going into Friday's play. But they remain near the bottom of the league in goals per game. Their 2.81 mark places them 25th. They have just two goals in two games since returning from the Olympic break.

According to insider Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast, they wanted Panarin so bad, they put an extension on the table for him, if he would accept a trade there, that would have made him the second-highest paid player in the NHL.

I heard this, and another player told me he heard it, too. I was in the mix zone (athlete interview area for media at the Olympics) with one of the players and he says, 'Did you hear what the Kraken offered Panarin?' And I said, 'I heard a number.' And he goes, 'What did you hear?' And I told him, and he said, 'That's what we heard, too.'
It was three years at $14.25M per. The Kraken are serious, man... I think they are serious about getting a player who can electrify them offensively.

That's some major dough the Bread Man could have had. That $14.25M AAV would have put him just above Leon Draisaitl's $14M on the payscale for 2026-27, behind only Kirill Kaprizov's outrageous $17M with the Minnesota Wild.

Panarin essentially left over $20M on the table to go to LA

The Kings ultimately became the only team that Panarin wanted to go to, where he accepted a two-year, $11 million AAV deal. That means he left $20.75M on the table to go to LA over Seattle.

Panarin is wrapping up a seven-year, $81.5 million contract ($11.642M AAV) this season.

His first two games with the Kings might have him wondering, 'What have I done?', as LA was blasted by the Edmonton Oilers 8-1 Thursday night, one day after losing 6-4 to the Vegas Golden Knights. Panarin registered two assists and a minus-1 rating over those two contests in his new threads, playing 19:38 average ice time per game.