TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — When the pictures spread across the internet this summer of Artemi Panarin with a shaved head, Igor Shesterkin’s first reaction was a bit of shock.
“I cried,” Shesterkin said with a sly grin. He couldn’t text Panarin to find out whether the picture was legit. “His Nokia (flip phone) doesn’t work in Russia. But I text (former New York Ranger) Pavel Buchnevich, we laugh about it.”
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Panarin dismissed the idea that shaving his head was all about changing the bad energy from last season’s playoff disappointment, when he followed up yet another highly productive regular season with just two points in the seven-game loss to the New Jersey Devils.
“If it was that easy (to get rid of the bad feelings), I will shave everything, even these,” he said, pointing to his eyebrows. “Just a good time to try it. Next 10 years I try to keep all my hair, so now was good time.”
Whether he’s going bald for the whole season or his flowing locks will return at some point, Panarin is at least trying to change the narrative around his game — that he’s one of the greats in the NHL in the regular season but can’t adapt to the postseason. If he cracks the 90-point barrier in 2023-24, he’ll be the first player in Rangers history to have four 90-point seasons. Right now, it’s Panarin, Jean Ratelle and Mark Messier with three.
Last season was seemingly set up for Panarin to succeed in the playoffs. Chris Drury went out and acquired Vladimir Tarasenko, who’d played with Panarin on national teams in Russia since they were kids; a month later, Drury traded for Patrick Kane, who Panarin always said was his favorite teammate during his first two NHL seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks.
But the playoffs were a dud for Panarin and the Rangers. And no amount of hair loss could change that.
Business trip. 👜 pic.twitter.com/IoZ95sBlJA
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 4, 2023
“I can’t forget,” he said. “Maybe someone can forget. At same time, I don’t want to say I’m the saddest guy in the summer. Life is good still. I still have lots of goals in my head. When you’re thinking about that (last playoff), it’s straight to a bad mood. Regular season can help for that. Get back to your routine, have some success.”
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And he’s back to the Rangers with a new coach. Panarin and Gerard Gallant didn’t see eye to eye much during Gallant’s two seasons behind the bench, especially during the playoffs. Peter Laviolette is here now and Panarin is excited, even with Laviolette’s reputation as a bit more of a stern taskmaster than Gallant.
“If you need some help, nothing against coach, (he) sometimes tell you, motivate you, wake you up a little bit,” Panarin said. “Sometimes if you have success in regular season, maybe you can be too relaxed. He have lots of experience, so he knows what to do.”
The Rangers have likely heard from Laviolette plenty during this training camp and preseason. They were again slow out of the gate and disjointed in all three zones at the start of Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Devils in Newark, with Panarin taking shifts on the left side with Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko. Laviolette’s system install has not led him to any consistent lines among the top nine, a task made more difficult with Filip Chytil’s absence for over a week with an upper-body injury.
Chytil might have been Panarin’s most likely center to start the season. Losing that time to develop a rhythm on the ice won’t help Panarin or the team, which needs to find its offensive footing soon. This is preseason, of course, but the Rangers needed Shesterkin to bail them out repeatedly in the first six weeks of Gallant’s tenure two years ago, and that was after the team won four of six preseason games and scored 15 goals in the final three preseason games.
This preseason hasn’t featured a full NHL lineup as of yet, even with the Rangers down to 25 players in camp. After Thursday’s preseason finale against the Boston Bruins, the team has a full week until the season opener in Buffalo, so all is likely yet to be revealed in terms of lines. And as meh as Panarin, Zibanejad and any number of other veteran forwards have looked, these guys have been good players for a long time.
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Panarin isn’t fazed by anything that’s happened yet.
“I just try to do what I can, practice hard in the summer. Be honest with God about my game, give everything I can,” he said. “Stop thinking about different things. I can play better, for sure. Regular season was good. Playoff was terrible, of course. Just try not thinking, stay away from people who want to talk about what I need to do on the ice.”
He still has his flip phone to try to avoid reading too much, too. But why couldn’t Shesterkin reach him this summer?
“Different Nokia,” Panarin said. “U.S. Nokia stays here.”
(Photo of Rangers linemates, from left, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko during Wednesday’s game in New Jersey: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
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