BFC managed to communicate most of my sentiment towards this proposal idea accurately enough
but I figured this tidbit should get addressed. The short version is that one more year of Panarin - and the potential playoff benefits, plus the opportunity for guys like PLD and Bjorkstrand and Milano and maybe other guys like Abramov to learn from him - is something that's highly valued up here. So "trade him for whatever you can get" isn't resonating up here. And from what we can tell from his quotes, Kekalainen feels the same way.
Putting my Preds hat back on... in any case, I don't think the Preds need Panarin, nor would he be
that much of an upgrade. He'd be the best winger on this team bar none, but Forsberg and Arvidsson are already pretty damn awesome, and Fiala is looking better and better. If this team was struggling I'd think differently (i.e. if I thought we needed a shakeup), but as it is we're coming off seasons of the Cup Finals and the President's Trophy, and meanwhile he seems pretty determined to see what the rest of the NHL looks like before he settles down and so it's probably not worth the risk, especially given what the cost would be.