Islanders Podcast: What If Artemi Panarin signed with Isles

On our Patreon, we what if’ed Artemi Panarin joining the New York Islanders?

We know what happened with Artemi Panarin. He joined the New York Rangers after toying with the idea of signing with the New York Islanders in the 2019 free agency period.

For a hours between June 30 to the late morning on July 1, we thought that Artemi Panarin had decided on joining the New York Islanders. And then the worst possible turn of events happened when he chose the Rangers for less money.

But what if Panarin decided to take the money and chose the Islanders over the Rangers?

You can get the podcast on our Patreon page here.

What Else You Get on the Patreon

By signing up for our Patreon you get the following every week:

• Two long-form discussions on various Islanders topics.
• A mailbag podcast where you can ask us anything. Isles related or not.
• Two live streams. Currently, we’re all rebuilding the Isles via GM Mode.
• A weekly newscast going over the Isles news from the past week.
• Regular discussion topics

What’s the Pod About

So what if Artemi Panarin did decide to take the $12 to $12.5 million the New York Islanders were apparently offering him? What would the team look like with him in the fold and what would we predict happens with the Islanders in 2019-20?

We not only just talked about the concept of having Panarin on this roster and what it would mean. We also looked at the roster itself. If the Isles get Panarin on July 1 what moves do they or don’t they make?

Do we re-sign Anders Lee? Do we re-sign him for the same seven-year $49 million deal?

What about Semyon Varlamov and his four-year $20 million deal? Do the Islanders chase him or do they double back on Robin Lehner and hope he takes a bit less?

What about some of the other guys like Tom Kuhnhackl or Derick Brassard? If Brassard isn’t re-signed who then comes in to play as the third-line center?

Finally, we try to place everyone in the roster. With Panarin what do the New York Islanders lines look like? If he’s with Barzal then what does the rest of the forward core look like?

We tackle that’s more on our most recent Patreon podcast.