Report: Artemi Panarin met with a surprise contender on Sunday.

A huge shout out to veteran National Hockey League reporter Adrian Dater for seemingly being the only man who has been unable to unearth this story. 

On Sunday Dater reported a rather stunning rumor when he revealed that the Colorado Avalanche had secured a very early meeting with soon to be unrestricted free agent forward Artemi Panarin. Although Panarin still technically remains under contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets rumors have suggested for months now that he will hit the open market on July 1st, however it now appears that he is going to meet with several teams during the unrestricted free agent interview window.

Initially reports suggested that Panarin and Columbus Blue Jackets teammate Sergei Bobrovsky were flying to Miami where they would meet with the Florida Panthers on Sunday or Monday, however the Panthers themselves revealed that any meeting with the two stars would take place later in the week. That comes as something of a surprise when you consider the fact that Panarin and Bobrovsky have been rumored to be heavily interested in playing in Florida. 

The report from Dater however was merely a rumor when he initially broke the story and he had been unable to obtain any type of comment from the Colorado Avalanche when he reached out to the organization. That being said though it seems like in the late hours of the night Dater received some additional information from his sources that took the rumored meeting with Panarin from a mere rumor, to a concrete fact.

"It’s no longer “believed.” It’s a fact: Panarin agent met with Avs brass today in Denver," wrote Dater. "Avs pitched their significant interest in the Bread Man. The process continues"

This would seemingly make the Colorado Avalanche a serious contender for Panarin's services, a move that would seemingly throw some cold water on all the talk of the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers being Panarin's preferred destinations. Now it may very well be that Panarin will eventually choose to sign with one of those 2 National Hockey League organizations, however it also seems quite clear now that Panarin intends to keep his options open and will likely choose the situation he feels ticks all the right boxes for him.