Artemi Panarin

BIOGRAPHY

Artemi Panarin was born October 30, 1991 in Korkino, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. He is a left wing in the National Hockey League. 

Originally an undrafted player, Panarin began his professional career playing in the Kontinental Hockey League in his native Russia. He made his NHL debut in 2015 after signing an entry-level contract with the Blackhawks. On 29 April 2015, Panarin signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. He scored his first career NHL goal on 7 October 2015 against Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, the first goal scored by the Blackhawks in their first game of the 2015–16 season. On 17 February 2016, in another game against the Rangers, Panarin scored his first career NHL hat-trick. He appeared in 80 games for the Blackhawks during the 2015–16 season and recorded 30 goals and 47 assists for 77 points, which led all NHL rookies and ranked within the top-ten amongst all NHL skaters. Panarin scored his first Stanley Cup playoff goal on 15 April in Game 2 of the 2016 playoffs against the St. Louis Blues. During the playoffs, he registered seven points. Panarin won the Calder Memorial Trophy in the 2015–16 season as the league's top rookie. In the 2016–17 season, Panarin built upon his rookie season, continuing his offensive role playing alongside Kane. On 9 November 2016 in a game against the St. Louis Blues, Panarin recorded his first career Gordie Howe hat-trick. On 26 December, Panarin signed a new two-year, $12 million contract with Chicago effective for the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons. He completed his second North American season scoring a career-best 31 goals in collecting 74 points in 82 games and was named to the NHL's Second All-Star Team.

On 23 June 2017, Panarin was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Panarin had a record-tying achievement of picking up five primary assists in one game on 8 December 2017 to help Columbus defeat the New Jersey Devils 5–3. On 20 March 2018, Panarin scored his second career hat-trick (and added an assist) to clinch a 5–3 Columbus win over the New York Rangers. On 3 April, Panarin surpassed the Blue Jackets' franchise points record after scoring 80 points in 80 games, finishing the season with 82. The following season, Panarin would break his own record, setting a new Blue Jackets-franchise point-scoring record with 87 points.

On 1 July 2019, Panarin signed a seven-year, $81.5 million contract with the New York Rangers, worth an annual average of $11.642 million. Panarin scored his first goal as a Ranger on a power play during the 2019–20 season opener against the Winnipeg Jets on 3 October, and also notched an assist on Jacob Trouba's first goal with the team. As of 5 October 2019, Panarin had the third-most assists and was tied for second in the NHL in points on the road since starting the start of his NHL career. On 9 January 2020, Panarin became the first player in Rangers history to have 60 points in the first 43 career games as a Ranger, edging out Wayne Gretzky who had 59. Later, on 13 January, Panarin made Rangers history three times during the game. He became the first Ranger to record six three-point games in a nine-game span (six goals, 16 assists). He also became the second Ranger to record nine plus points in four consecutive games, and the second Ranger in last 40 seasons with 67 points through the team's first 45 games. Panarin concluded the shortened 2019–20 regular season by recording a career-high 95 points from 32 goals and 63 assists. He finished tied with David Pastrňák for third overall in scoring among all NHL skaters. He was also a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's most valuable player. On December 7, during a game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Panarin recorded his 600th career point. He became only the fifth fastest player to do so in 536 games.