Artemi Panarin's comments suggest major rift in the New York Rangers locker room
Photo credit: Newsday
Rangers star Artemi Panarin's recent comments appear to be an indirect shot at the coaching style of coach Peter Laviolette, especially concerning young players.
The New York Rangers earned a 5-4 OT win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night in Manhattan, but comments from Russian sniper Artemi Panarin have drawn attention.
In Panarin's mind, the younger players on the Rangers aren't getting the ice time that he feels they should.
The younger generation now, they all bring 1,000 skills. The young players have confidence, they skate, they work for it. I know I am not a coach but I think that players have to play. You can't expect them to grow if they are playing three minutes a night. If a younger player can show he can contribute, he needs that chance.
It helps everybody, it helps the team.
It helps everybody, it helps the team.
Panarin may be referring to 22 year old Brennan Othmann getting barely 11 minutes of ice time against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday or 19 year old Gabe Perreault getting barely 13 minutes of ice time.
Then again, this isn't the 1st time that the veteran Rangers coach has come into question concerning his use of younger players.
Russian Machine Never Breaks had the following to say about Laviolette's time with the Washington Capitals in 2023:
During this past season, Laviolette essentially forced top center prospect Connor McMichael to Hershey in November after refusing to play him despite him making the Opening Night roster and needing consistent game time for development purposes. Later in the season, defense prospect Alex Alexeyev found himself benched in favor of names like Matt Irwin and Dylan McIlrath. Aliaksei Protas suffered a similar fate as a healthy scratch for almost 30 percent of the schedule despite being one of the team's best process players at five-on-five.
With such a high profile player like Panarin seemingly calling out his head coach, it runs the risk of causing a rift in the dressing room.
This would be the last thing that Rangers forward JT Miller, acquired from the Canucks following a reported rift with former teammate Elias Pettersson, would want to experience in his new home.
Previously on HawksInsider
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AVRIL 4 | 423 ANSWERS Artemi Panarin's comments suggest major rift in the New York Rangers locker room Were Artemi Panarin's comments a dig at coach Peter Laviolette? | ||
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