Article: Don't Worry, Kirill Kaprizov Loves Minnesota!

[Burnt Toast]

42 minutes ago, Kato AK said:

highest cap hit

Jumping off of the “Highest paid player in the N” at 15% of the cap (A. M. Toronto $) KK comes in at $15.6M for the 2026 season. I know KK is not a center but his value to the Wild at this point in their development is critical. He is the cornerstone of the franchise and SC window. If his number comes in at $13M or lower he’s choosing to leave $ on the table. 

[MrCheatachu]

Likes to fish, eh?

Nobody better introduce Kaprizov to Byfuglien...

[Kato AK]

2 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

Jumping off of the “Highest paid player in the N” at 15% of the cap (A. M. Toronto $) KK comes in at $15.6M for the 2026 season. I know KK is not a center but his value to the Wild at this point in their development is critical. He is the cornerstone of the franchise and SC window. If his number comes in at $13M or lower he’s choosing to leave $ on the table. 

And if you are willing to compare and pay KK as a center, then your value to the Wild is based more on marketability and getting people to the game than it is about the product/results on the ice.

KK is the best player on the Wild, that is obvious and I won't argue that. But he is not worth the same size contract as McDavid, Matthews, Mac, Barkov, etc. If he gets a contract worth more than 14% of the salary cap, it essentially solidifies that the Wild won't be cup contenders. Centers are far more important to team success and that cap hit would leave the wild searching for an affordable/cheap 1C. Hard to win a cup without a clearcut 1C.

[Burnt Toast]

2 minutes ago, Kato AK said:

Hard to win a cup without a clearcut 1C.

Which leads to this year’s trade deadline. Keep Kap, shoehorn in the best Center available. Money and cap space shouldn’t be an issue this year. Yes a premium of assets would be going the other way, let’s call them “The Expendables.” A decision on timing is going to be important and a lot of things need to go right if this is going to be “the year.” I’m ok with waiting a couple more years for the ELC guys to develop, but I think Wild Management will move quickly and aggressively if someone becomes available. 

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, Scalptrash said:

It all depends on what is more important to him, his name on the cup or lifelong financial security. If he re-signs with the Wild, he can only have the latter. If he were to leave, he could potentially have both. The problem is, and McDavid is contemplating this right now, if the team overspends on one or two players, chances are they can't build a real contender.

If Kaprizov re-signs, I'm guessing 2-3 years. A prove it deal with the onus on Wild management. He would also get more money next time, after the large cap increases.

Wouldn't he be able to have the guarantees of financial security by keeping the NMC for 4 years, yet, also be able to move on with a 10 team trade list and the possibility of the Wild retaining money? If Kaprizov went to Guerin after 5 more seasons and asked to be sent to a true contender, I think Guerin would oblige especially if it was kept confidential. 

In reading between the lines in the last paragraph, it sounds like you are one who thinks the cap increases will keep coming such as in the NFL. Is this accurate? 

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, Kato AK said:

And if you are willing to compare and pay KK as a center, then your value to the Wild is based more on marketability and getting people to the game than it is about the product/results on the ice.

KK is the best player on the Wild, that is obvious and I won't argue that. But he is not worth the same size contract as McDavid, Matthews, Mac, Barkov, etc. If he gets a contract worth more than 14% of the salary cap, it essentially solidifies that the Wild won't be cup contenders. Centers are far more important to team success and that cap hit would leave the wild searching for an affordable/cheap 1C. Hard to win a cup without a clearcut 1C.

Kato, do you see anyone on the roster/prospect pool who could fill the role of #1C effectively? #1C by definition is one of the top 32 Cs in the game. But are you looking more at the top 10? Top 15 in this comment?

If there are player's who could potentially get there, their salary is a long way off. Could you pay Kaprizov, have the cap ceiling move up, and take care of the center later?

I believe that Ek and Rossi can take on the role of top line centers effectively. Ek's looks more like Toews or Kopitar. He doesn't, necessarily, put up numbers, but he also is a good defender and he likely is up in that top 32 when considering +/- or whatever analytical stat that measures this. 

Rossi can put up points and is also defensive, but I do think he is more of a complimentary piece at this point in time than a driving piece. Perhaps he can grow into a driving piece? At $5m, he's a good bargain if he improves much. You'd be looking at paying him 3 years out, though, where the cap ceiling has already reach $113.5m. 

After that, I believe we will get 1 more year of cap catch up, and then the increases will begin to level off in $2-4m increases. At this point, Kaprizov is still somewhere around 14% of the cap, but 1 more big cap increase to around $123m puts him at 13% which I think could be doable. By the end of the deal he'd be down to around 11% with $4m increases. 

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

Which leads to this year’s trade deadline. Keep Kap, shoehorn in the best Center available. Money and cap space shouldn’t be an issue this year. Yes a premium of assets would be going the other way, let’s call them “The Expendables.” A decision on timing is going to be important and a lot of things need to go right if this is going to be “the year.” I’m ok with waiting a couple more years for the ELC guys to develop, but I think Wild Management will move quickly and aggressively if someone becomes available.

While I like to think of TDL in January since we have a few extra bucks, do you have any targets of who this could be?

I don't just like throwing out names who are the best centers, but I think we're looking for who could be the best center fit for this team. And, of course I am open to having The Wall, Buium, and Yurov all competing for the Calder at the same time! Who knows, maybe we don't even need that guy?

[Scalptrash]

32 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

In reading between the lines in the last paragraph, it sounds like you are one who thinks the cap increases will keep coming such as in the NFL. Is this accurate? 

Yes, it typically goes up every year, but it stopped because of covid for a while. They are increasing it fairly dramatically over the next three years.

"The NHL and NHLPA also announced that team payroll ranges for the next three seasons would be an Upper Limit of $95.5 million and a Lower Limit of $70.6 million next season; an Upper Limit of $104 million and a Lower Limit of $76.9 million in 2026-27 and an Upper Limit of $113.5 million in 2027-28 with a Lower Limit of $83.9 million."

[mnfaninnc]

1 minute ago, Scalptrash said:

Yes, it typically goes up every year, but it stopped because of covid for a while. They are increasing it fairly dramatically over the next three years

I was thinking beyond the next 3 years. No official projection has been released on that. Although, I do think the GMs and owners have a feel for what's coming. If Guerin comes in high on Kaprizov, my guess is that he sees the cap going up more quickly than I do. 

I think we hit something around $123m in '28-29 and then it levels off after that. So my question is, do you feel like it will keep going up beyond this at the $8-10m clips or do you see a leveling off?

[FredJohnson]

On 9/1/2025 at 10:42 AM, Citizen Strife said:

That is a shit ton of money, worth it or not.  He says no, you figure out any trade fast.

Send him to Nashville or Philadelphia: $hitty teams in the East that'll get us high draft picks.

[Burnt Toast]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

do you have any targets of who this could be?

Not really any realistic targets right now and therein lies the problem. Citizen Strife has mentioned  this also. It’s hard to find available players willing to take a chance on moving to a team that historically hasn’t been able to deliver. The latest are the Brocks. My hope is someone like Dylan Larkin would see the Wild as a better option than the Red Wings. He’s their cornerstone player and at under $9M AAV he’s extremely appealing. He’d demand a lot of MN assets moving to Detroit. You never know, who would have guessed Rant would end up playing for the Stars? Maybe once KK is signed he has the pull to get another elite player willing to take a shot with MN. I also think agents play a big role on where players end up. Wyatt J. & Rant signed big contracts within a week of each other and they have the same agent.