from Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post,

The prevailing thought in the NHL is that the prize of the free-agent market, winger Artemi Panarin, has narrowed his choices to the Rangers, Islanders and Panthers. Florida is believed to be the leading contender for Panarin because there are no state taxes and the Panthers have hired his former coach with the Blackhawks, Joel Quenneville, but the Rangers and Islanders cannot be ruled out.

No offers can formally be made until the opening of the market on Monday but it is believed Panarin and his camp will finish this week-long courting period that began Sunday having met with at least all three teams to get a feeling of what might work best....

The Rangers are surely interested in Panarin, but the demand of a seven-year deal worth somewhere between $11 million-$12 million per year might be too pricey. It also wouldn’t match the value the Panthers would be able to offer because of Florida’s lack of income tax. That is a similarly attractive selling point for free-agent goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, a fellow Russian who played with Panarin in Columbus.

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