How will Artemi Panarin impact the Kings?

The Los Angeles Kings swung for the fences on Wednesday ahead of the Olympic break roster freeze when they landed star winger Artemi Panarin in a blockbuster deal with the New York Rangers.

After a contract extension, the Kings will have Panarin for the rest of this year and the next two seasons as they look to get over the hump they’ve faced in the first round of the playoffs.

Panarin’s talent is self-evident but when he eventually makes his Hollywood debut, how will he fit in on a Kings team that is stout defensively but often struggles to create consistent offense?

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Irfaan Gaffar and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed how Panarin’s presence will affect the team’s incumbent top forwards as everybody sees their roles adjusted.

Irfaan Gaffar: Kings just set three points out behind the Anaheim Ducks for the final wild card spot. There’s going to be some question marks. They’re going to have to address the center-ice position after Anze Kopitar finishes his career in Los Angeles. But immediate impact, when you look at what Artemi Panarin can bring to the LA Kings, whoever plays in that center position [on the first line], it’s going to be Kempe. You put whoever it is, probably Kopitar, and now Panarin, that’s a pretty good line, is not?

Carter Hutton: I think it is too. And again, I think it just lightens the load a little bit when you look at what they’ve expected from Quinton Byfield too, right? I think he’s been underwhelming in the sense of where he thought he could be. And maybe that changes the plan of this, where his offensive upside hasn’t been up to par where they thought he could go. Panarin is a proven player, and I do think that there is a little bit of that luster throughout the team, a vote of confidence that we believe in this group, and we think we can be better. That’s going to show you when you get a player like that in your lineup. You know, for Adrian Kempe, for Fiala, for Byfield, for the guys that are producing those points, this is going to be a big shot in the arm. We’ve seen it how many times with teams? When a superstar comes in, it raises everybody else. I think this is going to be powerful for the LA Kings.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…