Former Ranger Artemi Panarin discusses his upcoming return to MSG with the Kings

It’s been a head-spinning last five weeks for Artemi Panarin, and the L.A. Kings winger admitted on Thursday that it seems a little crazy to be already making his first return to Madison Square Garden on Monday.

“It's probably next year I’m going to be (nostalgic), because now it's too soon,’’ he said after the Kings’ practice at Northwell Ice Arena in East Meadow to prepare for Friday’s game against the Islanders. “It's like I came back from a road trip.’’

Panarin, who got to sleep in his own Manhattan apartment Wednesday night, admitted that, even with two games before his return to the Garden (the Kings play the Devils in New Jersey Saturday night), he has been thinking about his first game against the Rangers, who traded him to the Kings on Feb. 4 for junior prospect Liam Greentree and a draft pick.

“I’ll try to be relaxed, but I'm sure we're going to be nervous,’’ he said.

He did say he will be “excited to see the fans,’’ and, when asked if he might cry when he sees the tribute video the Garden will surely play for him, he said, “depends on what video they show.’’

Panarin admitted he was a little hurt during his negotiations with the Rangers on a potential contract extension when he got the feeling the team didn’t want to re-sign him. But, he said, by the time GM Chris Drury met with him in January and informed him the team wasn’t going to re-sign him and would look to trade him, he was expecting it.

“I felt pretty sad in the beginning, but also, I tried to explain to myself, why this is better,’’ he said. “(But) I'm probably never going to make that move by myself. It's kind of easier for me if people figure it out for me.’’

With the Kings, Panarin finds himself in a playoff race, which was not the case with the Rangers. And being in a playoff race, he said, is energizing.

“That's actually obviously a better atmosphere in the locker room, because it keeps you excited,’’ he said. “If you already know you’re in last place, it's not that fun a locker room. Even if we try help to each other, we still feel it.’’

At the time he left, Panarin was leading the team in scoring for a seventh consecutive season, with 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 52 games. He’s still second in scoring on the Rangers, behind Mika Zibanejad, who entered Thursday’s game against Winnipeg with 61 points (27 goals, 34 assists) in 63 games.

Having a full no-move clause in his contract gave Panarin the power to decide where he would go. He said he chose L.A., mostly because of a feeling – he’d chosen to sign with Chicago as an undrafted free agent in 2015 because of a feeling and had signed with the Rangers as a free agent based on a feeling – but he admitted roster makeup and other factors played a part in the decision, as well.

He wanted to know how he would fit with his new team, and he liked that the L.A. power play had all left-handed forwards on it. That allowed him, as a right-hander, to play his preferred position on the left half-boards. He couldn’t do that with the Rangers because that’s where Zibanejad plays.

“So now I can shoot (or) I can pass,’’ he said.

“He's helped our power play immensely, and he's fit really, really well into the group,’’ Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. “When he gets the puck, he makes plays.’’

Knowing they had no competition for his services, the Kings only offered Panarin a two-year, $22 million contract, and in his initial Zoom call with the media after the trade, Panarin admitted he would have liked a longer-term deal. However, because he wanted to go to the Kings and had no other options, he accepted the two-year deal.

He was asked Thursday if he circled back to the Rangers after he got the offer from the Kings, to see if they might be willing to bring him back on a two-year deal. But returning to the Rangers was never an option, he said.

“They did not make any offer,’’ he said. “They didn't say anything.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.