Panarin is a very good player, my argument is not against that notion, my argument is simply based on timing and cap space.
Even if we use a pretty optimistic timeline, most of these prospects they have who are 18-19-20 years old will probably not be in their prime until they are 21-22. Panarin will be ~9 -10 years older.
If we also use an optimistic end of prime age of 33 years old, the two parties would share approximately a 1-2 year period where they are both in their primes.
Primes meaning where the player is putting up the most points per game they will in their careers.
If one wants to debate that Panarin will still be good, by all means that I think is somewhat plausible, if one wants to say he'll be in his prime still, I think that is kind of far fetched.
That does not seem to leave a ton of room for the pessimistic scenario's to not come into play.
I don't think I need to go over the cap space, Rangers have like 12 prospects and some RFAs who will all need bigger contacts all while Panarin would still be on their books. All the optimistic cap growth predictions over the years have proven to never quite match up to reality.
