New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin and Madison Square Garden Sports, paid financial colonies last year to a former team employee who made allegations of sexual assault against the attacker, athletics reported on Thursday.
The report, citing the NHL and team sources, said that the alleged assault had taken place during a road trip in December 2023. The accuser left the Rangers in August 2024 after reaching colonies which included a non-divulgation agreement and no admission of reprehensible acts by Panarin, 33.
The woman would have reached two unhappy colonies, one with Panarin and the other with MSG Sports, the company owner of the hockey team.
According to the report, the woman was a regular member of the Rangers festival. Panarin would have taken his phone during a post-match rally and said that she could not recover it by coming to his hotel room. When she went to her room, sources said that Panarin had pinned her on the bed before she could push him, collect her phone and leave the room.
Neither panarin nor his agent responded to requests for athletics to comment.
“The case has been resolved,” read a declaration by a spokesperson for MSG Sports.
The accuser, who was not identified by his name as an alleged victim of sexual assault, also said that “the case has been resolved”.
The NHL has sent an e-mail to athletics recognizing the situation: “The club has kept an external law firm to conduct an independent investigation, the league of which has been fully informed. We consider the question closed.”
The League and the Rangers refused to reveal if Panarin had faced a discipline.
Panarin, who was appointed team MVP for the 2024-25 season on Wednesday, leads the Rangers with 89 points (37 goals, 52 assists) in 79 games played this season. New York was eliminated from the playoffs and will finish the regular season at home Thursday evening against the Lightning of Tampa Bay.
All-star four times, the origin of Panarin, of Russian origin, recorded 870 points (302 goals, 568 assists) in 751 games with the Chicago Blackhawks (2015-17), Columbus Blue Jackets (2017-19) and Rangers.
– field level media