Panarin not feeling pressure with Rangers

They then traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets on June 23, 2017.Panarin set the Blue Jackets single-season scoring record with 82 points (27 goals, 55 assists) in 81 games in 2017-18 and broke it last season with 87 points (28 goals, 59 assists) in 79 games, when he also helped them get to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time.Video: Panarin lands at No. 8 on the Top 20 Wings listIt all set him up for his big July 1 payday and the chance to feel like a long-term solution for the first time in his NHL career."Everything is better than I had expected," said Panarin, who arrived in New York three weeks ago.The next challenge for Panarin is to gain chemistry with his expected linemates, center Mika Zibanejad, and right wing Pavel Buchnevich, a fellow Russian who doubles as Panarin's on-ice and on-the-bench translator.The Rangers new top line was on display in the first of three practice sessions Saturday. He has a great shot too, so I think for me it's just to kind of get open and put myself in maybe more of a shooting role."Video: Top five plays of 2018-19: PanarinZibanejad had NHL career highs across the board last season with 30 goals, 44 assists and 74 points."Everyone loves to score goals and if you get a guy like [Panarin] and you have a guy like [Buchnevich] making those plays, you got to make sure that you put it in the back of the net," Zibanejad said. He doesn't always show when he's going to pass or rarely, so just be ready for that and be ready for the shots and the rebounds that are going to come out."If the top-line chemistry pans out the way the Rangers expect it will, coach David Quinn said it will take pressure off New York's younger forwards like teenage rookie right wings Kaapo Kakko (18) and Vitali Kravtsov (19), and 20-year-old center Filip Chytil.Chytil and Kakko began camp on the second line with left wing Chris Kreider ."To have Panarin here from the get-go gives us a true first line," Quinn said.