Rangers forward Artemi Panarin and MSG, the company that owns the team, paid financial settlements to a female team employee last August after she alleged Panarin sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in 2023, according to The Athletic.?
The woman, who was not identified in the report, reached agreements with Panarin and MSG Sports, which included nondisclosure and no admission of wrongdoing clauses, and then left the company.
A spokesperson for MSG told The Post, “The matter has been resolved.”
The woman also said, “The matter has been resolved,” according to The Athletic.
Panarin did suit up for Thursday night’s season finale against the Lightning, after Rangers coach Peter Laviolette did not say whether he would play and referred to MSG’s comments regarding the situation.
The alleged assault took place in December 2023 during a Rangers road trip, two team sources told the outlet.
She claims Panarin took her phone during a postgame gathering and said he would only give it back if she came to his hotel room.
When there, she alleged Panarin pinned her to the bed before she pushed him off, got her phone and left.
The league and Rangers declined to say whether Panarin, who on Wednesday was announced as the team’s MVP for the 2024-25 season, was disciplined regarding the situation, according to The Athletic.
“The Club retained an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation, which the League was fully apprised of. We consider the matter closed,” the NHL said in a statement.
Panarin reportedly married girlfriend Alisa Znarok in 2018.
The Russian player missed the 2024 NHL All-Star Game to be with his wife for the birth of their second child.?
There is no record of the woman reporting the incident to law enforcement, and she did not immediately alert the team.
The female employee felt she was treated unfairly, according to team sources, and she then informed the team about the alleged assault.
In February 2021, Panarin stepped away from the team for personal reasons after a Russian newspaper reported claims he was involved in a physical altercation with a woman in Latvia that year.
The Rangers denied the allegations at the time, calling them an “intimidation tactic” used against him in response to his comments on Russian politics.
Panarin and his agent did not respond to The Athletic for a comment request.
