SEATTLE — Artemi Panarin looks lighter on the ice this season.
And no, it’s not just because the star Russian wing shaved the pounds of curls off his head roughly a week after he returned to his home country this past offseason, which many inferred was in response to his poor performance in the Rangers’ seven-game first-round loss to the Devils.
In fact, Panarin said shaving his head was something he’s always wanted to try.
So the 31-year-old called up his good friend, who drove three hours to cut his hair in a traditional Russian sauna — a banya — which is heated with firewood.
His wife, Alisa, found out over FaceTime and was shocked.
Over the next three months, every time he went to re-shave it, she begged him to grow it back.
The bouncing dirty blonde curls that stick out from under his helmet are Panarin’s signature physical trait, and he new look has taken everybody some time to get used to.
“It was actually a great experience for me,” Panarin told The Post after an intense practice at the Seattle Community Iceplex Monday morning. “I find that usually people recognize you and then the relationship with you is not like [it is] with everyone [else]. I feel it right now when people don’t know you.”
Under a veiled guise of anonymity to regular people around the world, Panarin has flourished in the hockey world to start the 2023-24 season.
Riding a five-game point streak into Tuesday night’s matchup with the Flames in Calgary, Panarin leads the Rangers with three goals and four assists, as well as two multipoint performances.
It’s his second straight season with points in each of the Blueshirts’ first five games, after a six-game streak in 2022-23.
The only players in Rangers history to have a similar streak in back-to-back years are Andy Bathgate and Rod Gilbert.
Points aside, Panarin has been a playmaker.
He’s played aggressively with the puck, while remaining defensively responsible.
The line he’s skated on, with Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere, has far and away been the Rangers’ most consistently threatening trio.
“They’re young guys, excited to play hockey every night,” Panarin said of Chytil and Lafreniere. “I respect and really like it, [when] people have [a] relationship with hockey like how it should be.”
Despite shedding some weight in hair, Panarin said he actually gained weight this offseason, during which he tried to lift more than usual in order to try something different with his routine.
Since he mentioned it, Panarin does look stronger along the boards and hasn’t been knocked off the puck as much as he has in the past.
Peter Laviolette said he always knew Panarin was a dangerous player from coaching against him all these years.
Though the Rangers head coach has had a newfound appreciation for the dynamic forward after getting to see him up close and personal.
“I think that he’s one of those players that when he’s going, you want to get him on the ice more,” Laviolette said of double-shifting Panarin, who leads all Rangers forwards in average ice time at 19 minutes per game. “And so opportunities presented itself to do that. If he’s going and he keeps playing, I’m open to giving him a little bit more ice time.”
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