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How Artemi Panarin stacks up with Jaromir Jagr in Rangers history
By John Kreiser,
17 hours ago
They own the two highest-scoring seasons in New York Rangers history, and six of the top 16, despite playing a combined total of eight seasons in New York. One is still playing pro hockey at age 52, 18 years after setting the Rangers single-season scoring record; the other is soon to be 33, coming off his best NHL season as he enters his sixth year with the Blueshirts.
Jaromir Jagr and Artemi Panarin are the only players in Rangers history who’ve had at least 120 points in a single season. Five other players reached 100, but only Jagr and Panarin have topped Jean Ratelle’s 109 points in 1971-72. Jagr owns the team record with 123, a mark set when he came in second in the NHL scoring race in 2005-06. Panarin came close to matching Jagr last season before ending up with 120, fourth in the League.
Each could end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame one day. Jagr, the second-leading scorer all-time in the NHL, should be a first-ballot selection once he finally hangs up the skates back home in Czechia. Panarin still has long runway ahead of him before he calls it quits. But he’s on a Hall of Fame track, too.
Breaking down Rangers tenures of Jaromir Jagr, Artemi Panarin
Photo By John Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Here’s a look at the two greatest single-season scorers in Rangers history.
How Jaromir Jagr, Artemi Panarin arrived in New York
Ironically, the Rangers were the third NHL team for both Jagr and Panarin.
Jagr, taken by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1990 NHL Draft, was already a lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame when he arrived in New York via trade from the Washington Capitals on Jan. 23, 2004. He helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 1991 (his rookie season) and 1992, then won five NHL scoring titles, one Hart Trophy (league MVP) and two Ted Lindsay Awards (outstanding player as voted by his fellow NHL players, then known as the Lester B. Pearson Trophy). He was a six-time NHL First-Team All-Star and played in the All-Star Game nine times. Money, not lack of talent, led the Penguins to trade him to the Capitals in the summer of 2001, and the same was true when the Caps sent him to the Rangers.
In contrast, Panarin was never drafted by an NHL team. He began playing in the KHL in 2008-09 and developed into a star with SKA St. Petersburg, leading the team to the Gagarin Cup in 2015 and being named a First-Team All-Star. The Chicago Blackhawks signed Panarin and he was an immediate success, winning the Calder Trophy as the League’s top rookie in 2015-16 and being named to the Second All-Star Team the following season. However, the Blackhawks traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets in June 2017. He piled up 82 and 87 points in two seasons with the Blue Jackets before signing a massive seven-year contract with the Rangers as a free agent on July 1, 2019.
The NHL lists Jagr at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, though he was probably at least 240 during his time in New York. Not surprisingly, Jagr was difficult to move from the slot, with his broad shoulders and tree-trunk legs. His skating style and strength made it almost impossible to stop him in 1-on-1 situations. He used his long reach to tremendous advantage, much more than many other “big guys,” had the strength to keep the puck away from opponents, and his desire to dominate often made him unstoppable.
Panarin is listed as 6-feet and 175 pounds, definitely small by today’s NHL standards. But the lack of size hasn’t prevented him from piling up points. He has the kind of hockey vision few others have, enabling him to find openings in the defense and create opportunities for himself and his teammates. Panarin has shown the ability to know when to shoot and when to pass. His hockey smarts and off-the-chart skills have enabled him to succeed in spite of his size.
One thing they have in common is their love of the big stage. Both have excelled in hockey’s biggest market.
Their big seasons with Rangers
The Rangers had missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons when they took the ice in October 2005, after the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season. Little was expected from them in 2005-06, but Jagr promised the Rangers would surprise everyone and make the Stanley Cup Playoffs — then set about making it happen. He scored twice on opening night in Philadelphia, and a hat trick against the Islanders on Oct. 20 gave him 10 goals in his first nine games, only the fourth player in NHL history to do so. Playing on the right side of a line with Michael Nylander in the middle and Martin Straka on the left, Jagr kept piling up goals and points. He went without a point in back-to-back games just once, broke Ratelle’s team record for points in a four-assist night against the Islanders on March 29 and surpassed Adam Graves’ team mark for goals in a season by scoring his 53rd against the Boston Bruins on April 8.
Only a late-season surge (17 points in a six-game stretch in April) by Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks cost Jagr the scoring title — and likely the Hart Trophy, though he did win the Ted Lindsay Award for the third time and was selected to the NHL First All-Star Team. Jagr kept his promise by helping the Rangers return to the playoffs, though a shoulder injury in Game 1 kept him out of the rest of the first-round sweep by the New Jersey Devils.
Panarin also got off to a hot start in his big season — he broke Rod Gilbert’s team record by getting at least one point in each of the Rangers’ first 15 games last season. On Jan. 13, he reached the 400-point mark with the Rangers in his 310th game, faster than anyone in team history. He also closed strong; beginning with a hat trick against Boston on March 26, he piled up 26 points during a 13-game season-ending point streak.
Panarin came up one goal short of joining Jagr, Graves, Chris Kreider and Vic Hadfield in the 50-goal club and three shy of Jagr’s record-setting season. He did fare better than Jagr in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, scoring five goals, four of which were game winners, and 15 points in 16 games before the Rangers were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. His regular-season performance was acknowledged when he was voted to the First All-Star Team for the second time in five seasons with the Rangers.
Jagr lasted just two more seasons with the Rangers, finishing with 96 points in 2006-07 and 71 the next season. He was a free agent in the summer of 2008 and went to the KHL for three seasons before returning to the NHL and playing with six different teams. Then it was back home to Czechia, where he’s still playing for Kladno, his hometown team. His 1,921 points are more than anyone in NHL history not named Wayne Gretzky, but he never came close to the offensive numbers he posted with the Rangers.
Panarin’s 2023-24 season showing might have been a career year, but it didn’t come out of the blue. He’s averaged more than a point per game in each of his five seasons with the Rangers and broken the 90-point mark four times, more than anyone in team history. Panarin had 95 points in 69 games in 2019-20, his first season with the Rangers, but saw his shot at a 100-point season ended by the coronavirus pandemic. He was a First-Team All-Star that season as well, and a finalist for the Hart Trophy.
“The Breadman” doesn’t figure to catch Jagr’s NHL career scoring numbers . But he does outrank him in one stat: Panarin’s average of 1.32 points per game is the most by anyone in Rangers history (minimum 200 games); Jagr is second with 1.15. He needs 35 goals for 300 in his career and is 219 points away from 1,000. Rangers fans hope Panarin will reach that mark while still calling the Garden home — he has two seasons left on the deal he signed in 2019 and will have the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026.
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