The Minnesota Wild have a franchise participant in ahead Kirill Kaprizov. The 27-year-old Russian has tallied 330 points in elements of simply 4 seasons.
For reference, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin put up 397 and 420 points, respectively, after the identical period of time.
Kaprizov gained the Calder Trophy in 2021 because the league’s high rookie, signing a five-year, $45M contract extension consequently. With two years remaining on that deal, Minnesota’s proprietor is making it a high precedence to make him a career-long member of the group.
“He will be the main target of what we will do,” proprietor Craig Leipold told reporters Tuesday. “We plan to re-sign him.”
Offers of that significance with a participant of that magnitude aren’t essentially as straightforward as Leipold makes it sound. If an settlement cannot be reached by the point Kaprizov reaches free company in 2026, there may be positive to be an extended line of potential suitors seeking to purchase his signature.
However that does not appear to section Leipold one bit. He is assured Minnesota can have one of the best supply on the desk.
“I’ll let you know no one will supply extra money than us, or longer [years],” he continued. “So all we have now to do is show to him that we need to win.”
That is the place the onerous half could consider. Minnesota missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the primary time since 2018-19 final season. It additionally hasn’t gained a playoff sequence since 2014-15, lengthy earlier than Kaprizov’s arrival.
Its younger star will not be your complete reply to discovering postseason success, however he is actually a good portion of it.
“We’ll get a perennial playoff group, but it surely does begin with Kirill,” Leipold confidently declared.
Locking him up for the foreseeable future and utilizing these subsequent two seasons to show profitable is feasible could also be sufficient to lure a supporting forged to spice up Kaprizov and the Wild to new heights.
