Artemi Panarin’s skill is elite but his fit in Detroit would be complicated

When general manager Chris Drury told New York Rangers fans last week that the team is embarking on a “retool,” it was a quiet thunderclap across the NHL.

“Retool” is the kind of word that sounds gentle but often precedes something loud — a fire sale, a philosophical reset, a star player suddenly becoming “available.” And if the Rangers truly go that route, one name will hover at the top of every GM’s whiteboard: Artemi Panarin.

Panarin is still elite. At 34, he remains one of the most creative, dynamic offensive forces in hockey — a winger who bends defensive structure with his vision, manipulates space with his patience, and tilts the ice every shift. He’s the kind of player who changes the geometry of a power play. The kind who can single-handedly turn a playoff series.

Any team with ambition will make the call. That includes the Detroit Red Wings.

But “should” is a far more complicated question than “could.” And in Detroit, that complication has a name: the Yzerplan.

Artemi Panarin is a star, but his fit in Detroit could break the Yzerplan

Steve Yzerman’s rebuild has always been about timing. About layers. About building a roster that crests together rather than borrowing stardom from the end of someone else’s arc. Panarin’s brilliance is unquestioned — but his fit in that philosophy is murky.

Panarin has two years left at an $11.64 million cap hit. He’ll be 36 when that contract expires. He doesn’t kill penalties. He isn’t a physical driver of forecheck culture. His value is overwhelmingly in what he creates with the puck.

The Red Wings are still a team defined more by trajectory than by arrival. Lucas Raymond is 23. Moritz Seider is 24. Simon Edvinsson is just beginning to look like a top-pair defenseman. Marco Kasper is still finding his offensive ceiling. Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin Pellikka remain future-facing pieces, not present anchors.

This is a roster that is learning how to win, not one that has already proven it can.

Panarin would instantly become Detroit’s most gifted offensive player. He would elevate the power play. He would reduce the nightly margin for error. He would make the Red Wings more dangerous in April.

But Panarin would also represent a declaration: the rebuild is over.

That’s not a small statement. It changes everything. It means you are no longer stockpiling patience. It means you are no longer insulating your kids from expectation. It means you are comfortable spending premium assets — prospects, picks, cap flexibility — on the present. It means you believe this core can contend right now.

For that to be true, a few things would have to already be in place. Seider must be a true, night-in, night-out No. 1 defenseman. Raymond must be a consistent game-breaker, not just a dangerous one. Alex DeBrincat must be more than a scorer — he must be a playoff driver. The goaltending question must be settled, not stabilized. The Red Wings must be more than “in the mix.” They must be a team no one wants to draw.

Only then does Panarin become an accelerator instead of a distortion. Because the danger isn’t that Panarin wouldn’t help the Red Wings. The danger is that he helps too early.

Detroit has spent six years building a foundation meant to last. The goal was never to spike one great season. It was to build a team that could stay in the fight for a decade — the way the Tampa Bay Lightning did, the way the Colorado Avalanche did, and the way the old Red Wings did.

Panarin’s timeline is short. His window is now. Yzerman’s has always been longer. That doesn’t mean Detroit shouldn’t make the call. You always pick up the phone when a player like that becomes available. You gather information. You ask questions. You test the market.

But adding Panarin only makes sense if the Red Wings are ready to say, out loud, that the future has arrived. Not “soon" –– now.