Per Katie Strang of The Athletic, The Rangers and Artemi Panarin settled sexual assault allegations out of court this past August. Under the condition of anonymity, given the non-disclosure clauses, there was an incident in December 2023 where a team staffer’s phone was held in Panarin’s hotel room, where Panarin allegedly pinned down the employee before she pushed him off her and left the room. From the article, which is behind a paywall:
The alleged assault occurred in December 2023 during a Rangers road trip, according to two Rangers sources briefed about the allegation. Panarin and the woman, who was a regular part of the team’s travelling party, were at a post-game gathering at a hotel with about a dozen other players and staff members. Panarin allegedly took her phone and said he would only give it back if she retrieved it from his hotel room, the sources said. When she went to his hotel room to retrieve her device, Panarin pinned her down on the bed. She pushed him off, retrieved her phone and left the room.
There is no record of the woman reporting the incident to law enforcement. She also did not immediately alert the team. But about three months after the alleged sexual assault, she informed the team as part of an investigation into a separate incident. The team learned that the woman, whose anxiety around airplane travel was well known among team members, had shared her anti-anxiety medicine with a player who had the same issue. She was placed on paid leave pending the outcome of that investigation.
This comes one day after Panarin was awarded the Rangers Good Guy Award for openness and cooperation with the media and Team MVP. Both awards were announced yesterday.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Panarin should not play tonight, Sam Rosen’s final game calling the Rangers. This is yet another personnel stain on Chris Drury’s tenure. This happened on his watch and, given his title(s), he most certainly knew about this.
