There's never been a better ad for St. Paul than Kirill Kaprizov's new contract. I think by this point in negotiations, most hockey observers assumed that the superstar winger would at least take a sip of all that the NHL had to offer and hit free agency at the end of the season. But there's no need for him to tour New York, fly to Vancouver, or sample the myriad delicacies of Columbus, Ohio. Kaprizov has decided that he wants to stay put with the organization that drafted him as a teenager. In a deal announced by the Wild on Tuesday morning, he'll earn $136 million over eight years of work in which he'll attempt to lead Minnesota out of icy purgatory and into ... well, at least the second round of the postseason.
Kaprizov's deal is a record-setting one, and it reorients expectations around what a superstar is worth at a time when the salary cap is rising some $25 million over the next three seasons. He surely won't be the highest-paid player in hockey for longer than it takes Connor McDavid to sign his next contract, but given what he means to his team, Kaprizov is worthy of that label right now. After winning rookie of the year in that awkward 2021 season, the Siberian shooter put up a trifecta of 40-goal campaigns even as the rest of the roster gradually declined. Last year, though he missed half the regular season, he still finished just two off the team lead in goals, then scored five in six games as the Wild fell in the first round to Vegas.
It's that first round that's been so pesky for Minnesota. Over the last 10 postseasons, the Wild have appeared in eight. Out of that octet, they've won exactly zero series. Sometimes it's been a troubled team overachieving, and sometimes it's been a strong squad underachieving, but time and again, Minnesota has ended up in the exact same place. As they develop a new crop of youngsters like Brock Faber, Marco Rossi, and Matt Boldy, while trying to squeeze a little more out of older veterans like Mats Zuccarello, Jared Spurgeon, and now Vladimir Tarasenko, the 28-year-old Kaprizov has affirmed his spot centering both groups.
Well, he plays on the left side. But still! What a guy to build your team around. When he's healthy, Kaprizov is a threat in countless ways, scoring from all sorts of scenarios while also exerting a tremendous force on the game without the puck. He's that special brand of "What will he come up with next?" player. He's a looming one-timer threat, a sharp passer, and also someone who can just maneuver his way past a goalie because he's processing the game a little quicker than everyone else. I'll leave you with one goal from last season, where Kaprizov waited patiently for the puck to emerge from some chaos, gloved it down to the ice, and then, before anyone else was ready for him to shoot, roofed it to tie the game.
For the Wild, that $136 million hopefully buys a whole lot more goals like that one, plus the rare excitement of knowing a player this good will actually stay for a career. Columbus can't have all the stars!
