Artemi Panarin would like to dip his toes into the free-agent waters.

The star forward opened up about his situation with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, shedding light on a decision to delay discussions with the team about his future until the season ends.

"It’s one life, one chance for free agency and I want to test free agency," Panarin told Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch.

As for what happens when he gets to that point, he didn't commit to re-signing.

The dynamic winger was again non-committal when asked if he's eliminated the Blue Jackets altogether.

"I don't know," he said after nervous laughter, according to Hedger. "Yeah, (they) have a chance, but ... we'll see what happens in the summer. I want to still (consider) this season and help the team win the Stanley Cup.”

Panarin added that he's ready to be traded, but said he doesn't have a destination picked.

Earlier Friday, the 27-year-old pending unrestricted free agent confirmed he switched agents from Dan Milstein to Paul Theofanous, who represents teammate and fellow pending UFA Sergei Bobrovsky.

Panarin is in the final season of the two-year, $12-million deal he inked with the Chicago Blackhawks in Dec. 2016. He was dealt to Columbus about six months later.

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Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Reinhart is clearing the air after seemingly criticizing his team's goaltenders after Thursday night's 6-5 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes.

"That's not what I meant at all. ... I'm saying we all need to come back and defend more," Reinhart said according to The Athletic's John Vogl. "I was trying to say we need more for our goalies. It doesn't take a hockey genius to know those have been our two best guys all year."

Following the loss, a frustrated Reinhart appeared to blame the Sabres' goalies as the reason for them falling behind early in games and ultimately struggling to win the subsequent high-scoring affairs. However, the 23-year-old insists he was directing his frustration at the team's defense, not the goaltenders.

"I was lost in translation, I wasn't trying to be hard on them at all," Reinhart said. "I was trying to be harder on the guys skating around the ice to come back and defend more."

The Sabres have allowed four or more goals in four of their last five contests, and have won only five games since Christmas. Despite his comments, Reinhart claims the team is in good spirits.

"We're already joking around today, so we're all good," he said.

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Artemi Panarin has parted ways with agent Dan Milstein and replaced him with Paul Theofanous, the Columbus Blue Jackets forward confirmed Friday.

Theofanous also represents Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, a fellow pending unrestricted free agent.

On Friday morning, The Athletic's Aaron Portzline reported that Panarin fired Milstein earlier this week.

Panarin is set to become a UFA on July 1 and told the Blue Jackets he won't discuss his future with the club until the offseason. That uncertainty's made the dynamic forward one of the most attractive rental candidates ahead of the Feb. 25 trade deadline.

Theofanous is Panarin's third agent since January 2017. He switched from Tom Lynn to Milstein during his second contract negotiations with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Blue Jackets management reportedly didn't view Milstein as a barrier to extending Panarin, Portzline added.

Milstein represents some of hockey's most prominent Russian players, including Pavel Datsyuk, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and several others.

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Los Angeles Kings forward Ilya Kovalchuk is "definitely available" ahead of the Feb. 25 trade deadline, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

The 35-year-old Kovalchuk's in the first season of a three-year deal that carries a $6.25-million annual cap hit. However, he would need to waive his no-movement clause in any trade - something LeBrun reports he'd be willing to do for the right situation.

The veteran winger has produced just 26 points in 44 games during his first season back in the NHL, although a recent 11-game stretch has seen the former Rocket Richard Trophy winner heat up with four goals and nine points.

The last time Kovalchuk played in the NHL postseason, he led the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012 with a team-high eight goals and 19 points in 23 contests.

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Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau tore into his players after a disappointing 4-1 defeat to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

"There's some guys there that just are a shell of the players that I've known for two-and-a-half years," Boudreau told reporters.

Boudreau then expressed his frustration at Mikael Granlund specifically, as the star forward has now scored just two goals in his past 37 games.

"I can't go out there and hang on his back and follow him like a close-talker and say, 'Hey, shoot the puck," Boudreau said. "He's a smart enough player. The last two years he was one of the, I thought, top 10 players in the league. And now he's got two goals in (37) games."

Minnesota has now dropped four straight and sits in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, just two points up on the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks.

"This was sort of the last straw," Boudreau said. "Everybody now has caught us or within a point, so it's either find your sense of urgency and do what you have to do to win or bad things are going to happen."

The Wild will now embark on a mini two-game road trip, starting in New Jersey on Saturday, where they will look to get back into the win column.

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The Buffalo Sabres went off for five goals in Thursday's clash with the Carolina Hurricanes, but it wasn't enough to secure a victory.

Buffalo dropped a 6-5 decision in overtime, marking the eighth time over the past 10 games that the team has given up at least four goals. Following another frustrating performance, forward Sam Reinhart voiced his displeasure with the club's goaltending of late.

"We can't expect to win hockey games 6-5, 7-6," Reinhart said, according to The Athletic's John Vogl. "We need more from our goalies and we need it from the start of hockey games. It's frustrating."

The Sabres have averaged 4.5 goals against per game over their last 10 contests, the highest mark in the league during that stretch. As to be expected, Linus Ullmark's and Carter Hutton's numbers in that time aren't pretty:

With Thursday night's loss, the Sabres now sit four points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

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Warning: Story contains coarse language

Paul Maurice didn't mince words on Thursday following the Winnipeg Jets' 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens.

"We were all horseshit tonight," the Jets head coach told reporters postgame, according to the Winnipeg Free Press' Mike McIntyre.

"Coach was no good. Players were no good. Food was no good. I just hope the plane works," Maurice continued.

After Mark Scheifele opened the scoring for the Jets less than five minutes in, the Canadiens scored five unanswered goals, including a pair by Jonathan Drouin. Brendan Lemieux tallied in the final minute for Winnipeg with the game out of reach.

"We were a red robin from about five minutes into that game," Maurice said. "We had a goalie that was standing on his head and found a way to make a 5-2 score flattering."

The Canadiens outshot the Jets 53-34 in the contest.

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