Johnny Gaudreau & Artemi Panarin: Similar Paths to Success?

Why Johnny why? That seems to be the question that is revolving around the hockey world over the last several days after one of the league’s best players, Johnny Gaudreau, decided to take his talents to the small market of Columbus.

“Johnny Hockey” was viewed by everybody as the top free agent available this off-season and had many suitors in the Eastern Conference going after him including the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, and his hometown Philadelphia Flyers.

Ultimately, Gaudreau decided to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets on a seven-year contract worth $68 million with an AAV of $9.8 million per season.

Gaudreau and Panarin have many similarities between their two signings.

While listening to “The Steve Dangle Podcast” over the course of free agency week, I heard Jesse Blake, an analyst on the show, bring up that this signing reminded him of another signing that took place a few seasons ago that also confused some fans and media members.

” I liken this deal to sort of when New York signed Panarin in the middle of their “rebuild” and it kinda expedited everything. Now we saw a team this season over perform all expectations and jump ahead of schedule and make the Eastern Conference Finals. Columbus I see a similar situation with this signing.” – Jesse Blake

After listening to that podcast and letting it marinate for a minute, the more I really liked the concept and idea of that point that he made.

So, I figured I would compare the two signings, the two rosters, and the two players to try to go in-depth as to why these situations are so similar.

Both players were among the best available at the time of their signings, and both franchises that went out and scooped them up were coming off of a string of lackluster seasons.

I’m also looking at how Gaudreau and the Blue Jackets could see their rebuild timeline sped up by a couple of seasons with this one massive free agency signing this off-season.

Here is an exploration and comparison of the Artemi Panarin to the New York Rangers signing and the much more recent Johnny Gaudreau to the Columbus Blue Jackets signing.

Similar to the Rangers when they signed Panarin, the Blue Jackets are coming off a few seasons of missing the playoffs and having some pretty rough off-seasons.

Since 2019, the team has lost Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cam Atkinson, and Seth Jones all via trade or free agency.

They have been widely regarded by many as the team that cannot ever get or retain top-level talent, and while the Rangers didn’t necessarily lose that many key pieces, just like the Jackets, they lacked superstar power.

For Columbus, that all changed this past week when Johnny Gaudreau decided to sign with the team. But how does this relate to the Rangers signing Panarin?

Let’s take a look at the Blue Jackets right now and compare the roster construction to the Rangers heading into the 2019 regular season before they signed Panarin.

The Rangers, as stated on the previous slide, had a few players in their early-mid 20s that were already good NHL players in Zibanejad and Strome who just needed a number one option and facilitator to maximize their potential.

The Blue Jackets also have that in Oliver Bjorkstrand and Patrik Laine. Bjorkstrand has developed into a solid 40-50 point player the last two seasons and could benefit from playing with Johnny Gaudreau to help set him up for opportunities.

Laine, on the other hand, has showcased he has superstar potential but could also benefit from having a go-to top-20 player in the league alongside him.

The Blue Jackets also have Zach Werenski on the back end who is locked up long-term and will be the leader of the blue line for many seasons to come, similarly to how the Rangers view Adam Fox.

Both Fox and Werenski are 24 years of age and are locked up under contract with their respective teams until their age 31 seasons.

The one question many asked themselves with both the Panarin and Gaudreau signings was the state of the roster.

When Panarin signed with the Rangers the roster still was not viewed as competitive or playoff material, and now the same questions are being asked with Gaudreau going to Columbus. The two signings are similar in this regard as well.

Just like the Rangers in 2019, the Jackets are probably a year or two away from being serious playoff threats in the Eastern Conference, but they have the prospect pool that will help shape the roster and core of this team up sooner than later.

While New York had Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, K’Andre Miller, and Ryan Lindgren all in their prospect pool ready to take the next step at the NHL level, the Blue Jackets also have several top-tier prospects that will be playing significant NHL minutes as early as this upcoming season.

Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson, both first-round picks in the 2021 NHL Draft,  will surely be full-time NHL players this season, with there being a real possibility that Sillinger is centering the top line with Gaudreau and Laine by the mid-season point.

The Blue Jackets also had two first-round picks in this year’s draft that turned into defensemen David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk, both of whom could be NHL players at the start of next season to help sure up the blue line.

The Blue Jackets might not have all the pieces to be significant contenders this season, but adding a player like Gaudreau while the opportunity was there to bring him in, knowing the prospects that are on their way up to the NHL, was the right decision.

We very well could see the Columbus Blue Jackets take that next step a lot sooner than anticipated, just like the Rangers did this past season.