Artemi Panarin is face of NHL’s explosive trade deadline

It is officially February, the best month of the regular season for the NHL. Most of the time.

Despite a couple of dud trade deadlines over the past few years, the league is primed for a great one coming on Feb. 25. And it all goes through Columbus.

That is where two of the biggest pieces are — for now. It starts with electric winger Artemi Panarin, who is set to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. His agent Dan Milstein has already declared that Panarin won’t sign an extension with anyone until the end of the season, the Blue Jackets included, and he will likely hit the open market on July 1. That means Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is a bit restricted in what he can do. Almost assuredly, any deal will include a provision that if the 27-year-old Panarin signs a contract with that team, there will be more compensation going back to the Jackets.

But what seems obvious is that Panarin wants out of Columbus. Not in a malicious way, just that he wants to go play in a bigger market. So that’s looking at you, Jeff Gorton, as the Rangers are surely in the mix once he hits the market. And wouldn’t that accelerate the rebuild on Broadway?

Kekalainen is not just shopping Panarin to stockpile assets, like most sellers at the deadline. He also wants to buy for this year’s team, which has shown moments of promise under John Tortorella and is in good position to make the playoffs. So that means selling Panarin to a contender — who likely will send picks and prospects rather than roster players — and then taking those picks and prospects and flipping them to add current roster players. Got that?

This is the chaotic machinations that Kekalainen will deal with over the next few weeks, and he already said his phone “has been ringing off the hook.”

“I can only answer one at a time,” he told reporters, “but I’m pretty good at returning phone calls.”

It was also nice to see Kekalainen be so candid about the situation. Although he’s not willing to take pennies on the dollar for his return, he also doesn’t want to see Panarin walk out the door on July 1 with nothing in return. Unlike situations from this past season — when Kekalainen kept two UFA’s in Jack Johnson and Matt Calvert — this time he is going to get a handful of good offers for Panarin. Then he’s going to take one and move on.

“We’ve said all along we’re going to make hard decisions if we have to,” Kekalainen said. “But our focus is on getting our team better, making it as competitive as possible for this spring, but also into the future, obviously. If we have to make a hard decision, we will. We like Artemi and would like to keep him. It’s his right to go to free agency, and if he chooses to do so, we’ll be knocking on his door July 1.”

Next on Kekalainen’s list is goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who already has had his fair share of drama this season. The 30-year-old Russian left the bench and went straight to shower after being pulled from a game on Jan. 8, and that got him suspended for a little while. He, too, is going to be an UFA, but his substandard postseason record might not make him the best deadline rental. It’s not easy to move goaltenders for playoff pushes, either.

But if Kekalainen thinks Bobrovsky is going to leave anyway come July 1 — and he believes enough in backup Joonas Korpisalo, who has been steady thus far — then he’ll have to take whatever return comes his way.

The market has already started to move with defenseman Jake Muzzin going from the Kings to the Maple Leafs, giving Toronto some much-needed help on the blueline. They are back now in the conversation for challenging Tampa Bay in the East.

But still, all trade roads go through Columbus this next month. Should be fun to watch.

McGuire misstep

OK, so maybe it was a silly thing for Pierre McGuire to say to Kendall Coyne-Schofield during the NBCSN broadcast on Wednesday night. It sure sounded like mansplaining when he told her which team was on which bench, but it was really just a bad joke between two people who have known each other a long time. Coyne-Schofield said she didn’t even notice in the moment, but would probably have been upset if she saw the exchange with another woman on TV. Really, it was just more of McGuire being over-the-top.

What should be more duly noted was that Coyne-Schofield had a great All-Star weekend in San Jose, and the league said they’re considering incorporating women into those festivities every year. That’s a brilliant idea.

It’s also great to hear women’s voices on telecasts, as long as they’re well-informed and articulate. Which, not many people seem to notice, is exactly what the Islanders broadcasts are like. Everyone was congratulating Coyne-Schofield for her national television debut, but MSG has three women — Shannon Hogan as host, AJ Mleczko as an analyst in the studio, and Jennifer Botterill in between the benches. All three do a good job, and MSG should be commended for hiring them.

Oil Leak Overload

What a mess in Edmonton, and what a shame for the league that the best player in Connor McDavid is toiling out there — and will be during what surely will be a long clean-up.

Finally, general manager Peter Chiarelli was fired after so many mishaps its hard to keep track. Funny enough, he did build a first-place team: The Islanders. His moves allowed the Islanders to obtain Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome, and to eventually get Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier (as picks) for first-round bust Griffin Reinhart.

Wilson whacked

John Tavares isn’t exactly known for playing with a physical edge, but he sure made a lot of people happy when he sent Tom Wilson onto his backside before the All-Star break.

Stay tuned . . .

. . . to player and puck tracking in the NHL that starts next season, and specifically to the bets that are going to be available. According to ESPN, those include where on the ice the next goal is going to come from, what portion of the net it will go into, the velocity of the next goal, and head-to-head players for who skates the most in the game.

Boy, we are a long distance away from picking up the paper to see some silly Super Bowl prop bets to make with your friends.

Parting shot

The answer is yes, this is the celebration of the year.