On Friday, Rangers GM Chris Drury shared an open message stating that the Rangers will undergo a retool but not a total rebuild. Although certain players were not mentioned in his message, Elliotte Friedman reported that the Rangers will not offer Artemi Panarin a contract extension, instead opting to work with Panarin and his agent to trade the star winger.

On a fantasy level, a Panarin trade could be a positive or a negative for him both in the short-term (rest of the season) and the long-term (next season and beyond). I won't try to predict which team he could be traded to, but instead look at some variables that could change his value as a result of a trade.

Icetime: Panarin has averaged 20:49 per game this season, which is representative of a top-line forward. That could potentially drop with a new and deeper team than the Rangers, with a proportionate reduction in points. The icetime and scoring may not fall that much, though, as players with a similar amount of points range between around 19-22 minutes per game.

Power-play time: You probably can't name a team with four forwards that are better than Panarin, so he would very likely be on another team's PP1. The exception would be with a team with a very strong top power play, one in which the coach does not want to break up the unit. He is probably safe for power-play time.

Fit with new team: That is more difficult to gauge, and it may take some time for Panarin to click with new teammates… if he does at all. For all we know, Panarin may even be a rental, so an acquiring team may not even be his permanent home anyway. However, Panarin has a no-movement clause, which means he may only allow a trade to a team that he would consider signing with. Regardless, who the acquiring team is will matter for the fantasy playoffs. His learning curve may not satisfy fantasy teams, as the trade deadline is on March 6, while the fantasy playoffs in many leagues starts on March 16. (On a side note, for leagues that start their playoffs on that date, that’s only five more scoring periods of regular-season fantasy hockey after this one! You’ve got the Olympics to thank for that.)

All in all, Panarin's value could shift one way or the other with a trade. While he is an established point-per-game scorer, his rest-of-season value becomes more uncertain with a trade appearing likely. If/when Panarin is traded, look out for the Fantasy Take article breaking down his potential value with his new team as well as how the Rangers could be affected.

–

I saw someone on X mention the Carolina Hurricanes as a potential Panarin destination. Yet in scoring nine goals on Friday, perhaps the Canes players made a statement that they don't need Panarin. In the 9-1 win over Florida, Nikolaj Ehlers led the way with a hat trick, one assist, and seven shots on goal. Ehlers needed a bit of time to adjust to Carolina with just four points in his first 11 games before picking it up with 34 points over his last 37 games. He is being used on the top power play, for those who have been waiting long enough for that to happen.

Mark Jankowski scored a goal and added two assists, while Taylor Hall scored two goals. Hall has been hot and cold this season, but he has eight points over his last eight games.

Sergei Bobrovsky was between the pipes for all nine Carolina goals, facing 35 shots in total. I had Bobrovsky in net on two of my fantasy teams. Lucky me. A look at Bob's season stats shows a concerning save percentage of .874. Among the 37 goalies with at least 20 games played, only Jordan Binnington has a worse save percentage. Jacob Markstrom and Linus Ullmark, who are goalies with more well-documented struggles, even have slightly better save percentages than Bobrovsky. The Panthers might be better served to give Daniil Tarasov more work to keep Bobrovsky fresh for another playoff run… although they have to get to the playoffs first. 

–

Late on Friday, the Ducks announced that Leo Carlsson is expected to miss the next 3-5 weeks after undergoing a procedure to treat a lesion in his left thigh. This injury issue could have been slowing Carlsson, who was in a 10-game point drought before registering two points against Buffalo on Saturday – his final game before being sidelined. Prior to his slump, Carlsson exploded out of the gate with 41 points in his first 33 games. Carlsson's status for Sweden at the Olympics next month is now in doubt.

Without Carlsson, Troy Terry, or Chris Kreider, the Ducks were able to pull off a 3-2 shootout win over their SoCal rivals in LA. Beckett Sennecke led all Ducks forwards in icetime with 23:59 over the 65-minute game, also assisting on both Anaheim goals while taking six shots. Only Ivan Demidov has more points among rookies than Sennecke (37 PTS), who also has nine points over his last 10 games. Fantasy teams are taking notice, as Sennecke is now rostered in about a third of Yahoo leagues. He's a must-add at least while fellow right wing Terry is out.

Not fantasy-hockey related, but NHL teams need to do this more often. Having two non-white contrasting colors really pops. Hockey can be set in its ways sometimes, so I'm glad to see it trying something different.

We've got ourselves a color rush game as the @LAKings host the @AnaheimDucks 😎 pic.twitter.com/DTJVwsJBjB

📢 advertisement:

— NHL (@NHL) January 17, 2026

–

It is late on January 16, and the Colorado Avalanche finally have a home regulation loss. It came at the hands of the Nashville Predators, who defeated the Avalanche 7-3. The game was a little closer than it appeared, with the Preds scoring two empty-net goals late in the third period.

Ryan O'Reilly filled the statsheet against the team that drafted him: 3 G, 1 A, +4, 6 SOG, and 15-for-18 in faceoffs. O'Reilly now has six points over his last four games. With the Predators having won four of their last five games and suddenly in the playoff race, they may be having second thoughts about trading ROR – if they were having thoughts about it at all.

Filip Forsberg scored a goal and added two assists, while Roman Josi contributed three assists. Josi has gotten his season back on track with three consecutive multipoint games with eight total points over that span.

Despite the loss, Colorado took 42 shots on Juuse Saros. The Nashville goalie has seen better seasons, but he at least has three wins and four quality starts over his last four games.

Brock Nelson scored two of the Avalanche's goals in their loss. Nelson has 15 points over his last 10 games and has been scoring goals with more frequency before that.

NHL goal leaders since Nov. 29:

1. Connor McDavid, 20
2. Brock Nelson, 18
3. Nathan MacKinnon, 17
4. Zach Hyman, 16

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) January 17, 2026

I added Nelson to my team back on November 16 as a streamer, and I haven't dropped him since. Nelson scored six goals and had six assists in his first 24 games before he went on a run starting in late November. He's obviously not the number one center in Colorado with Nathan MacKinnon there, but he's an ideal second-line center.

–

The Blues ended Tampa Bay's 11-game winning streak with a 3-2 shootout win. Joel Hofer stopped 34 of 36 shots he faced in earning his second win in as many starts this week. Hofer earned a shutout on Tuesday over Carolina. As mentioned above, Binnington has struggled mightily this season, so the Blues might decide to give Hofer a run of starts in an attempt to get back above the playoff bar.

–

In the Red Wings' 4-2 win over San Jose, Lucas Raymond registered three assists. Raymond has eight points over his last six games and is above the point-per-game mark (52 PTS in 47 GP) for the season.

Will Smith returned to the Sharks lineup from an upper-body injury. Smith scored a goal, which was his first goal in seven games. With the injury, that dates back to December 1.

–

Need to re-rank your top players? Looking to make a major deal in your single-season league? The Top 100 Roto Rankings have been updated for January. Feel free to leave feedback as well, and I'll consider it for February's rankings.

–

I'll finish up with a bit of information on the weekend schedule.

Teams with games both Saturday and Sunday: Edmonton, Ottawa

Connor Ingram has started three of the past four games for the Oilers, and he has quality starts in each of his last four games. His AHL numbers were abysmal (4.04 GAA, .856 SV% in 11 GP), but the Bakersfield roster is a very inexperienced one. Ingram looks like he could take a real run at the starting job given his recent play. Tristan Jarry recently returned from IR, so a true goaltending battle could really benefit the Oilers. Ingram is rostered in less than a third of both Yahoo and Fantrax leagues, and he is projected to face a weaker opponent whether he starts Saturday night in Vancouver or Sunday against St. Louis.  

Teams with games on neither Saturday nor Sunday: Colorado, San Jose

After he was the waiver-wire add of the week in late December, Igor Chernyshov has just one point over his last seven games. Even though he was on the Macklin Celebrini line until very recently, Chernyshov was bound to cool off. He might be droppable if you cannot afford to have a player with no games this weekend sitting on your bench.

–

Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Bluesky @goodsfantasyhockey.bsky.social