Article: What Would Spending $16 Million On Kirill Kaprizov Mean?

[raithis]

On 9/8/2025 at 8:49 PM, Need4speed99 said:

Also, NOT  SINGLE team would offer him 16 mil for 8 unless they are absolute bottom feeders with no chance. So be realistic in your negotiations. 

I'm not advocating for $16M, but the only reason your statement is accurate is that no one can offer him 8 years because no other team can offer a free agent more than 7 years.  Only the team re-signing the player can offer 8.

If he goes to free agency and it's another free agency like this year where most teams keep their top players (and with the cap going up as much as it is, pretty much every team that wants to keep a player will again be able to), I guarantee you a number of teams would like up even if they knew $16M was the price tag - and they wouldn't all be perennial lottery teams.

[Need4speed99]

On 9/8/2025 at 10:52 PM, mnfaninnc said:

Dean, you spoke a little truth here but missed the point. The constant here has been OCL being here for both of these plans. In fact, this is the only constant. But, it is his team and he can do what he wants!

And you do NOT see  problem with it? Hey let's givesomeone(albeit one, i and MANY others see as a dumbest make important choices for us) even IF he isn't, no one should have complete control. He's had 5 yrs said he had a 5yr plan then regurgitated the same shit.

[Need4speed99]

On 9/10/2025 at 12:13 PM, raithis said:

I'm not advocating for $16M, but the only reason your statement is accurate is that no one can offer him 8 years because no other team can offer a free agent more than 7 years.  Only the team re-signing the player can offer 8.

If he goes to free agency and it's another free agency like this year where most teams keep their top players (and with the cap going up as much as it is, pretty much every team that wants to keep a player will again be able to), I guarantee you a number of teams would like up even if they knew $16M was the price tag - and they wouldn't all be perennial lottery teams.

So who wouldn't be lottery teams? Unless they are on the end of being a contender... 16 mil a year cripples the franchise, worse than 15 for 2 all star caliber players. You can see the future? You KNOW for sure the cap goes up unless other shit happens... it's a bad franchise move and now they gave kap a hint of what they would pay he wants more. He's not worth a long term. You can look at any metric

[Need4speed99]

On 9/10/2025 at 9:54 AM, greg said:

Yesnthe Wild will sign kirill to a massive deal then later complain they don't have enough payroll flexibility to add good players. 

 

On 9/9/2025 at 5:36 PM, mnfaninnc said:

Yes I do if he uses the prospects. It wouldn't be for all 5 roster spots, but if he can fill a couple of those spots with ELCs, then that's a lot of money left for 3 players.

First off I agree. That WILL happen! If they sign him to a stupid contract like that. 

Billy never put prospects first. He's being charged(with actually playing some prospects) now because he made a 5 year plan... he has to show the fan base, otherwise they hang his dumbass and he's gone. The owner has his back, only as long as the fan base covers for him.

[Need4speed99]

On 9/10/2025 at 12:13 PM, raithis said:

I'm not advocating for $16M, but the only reason your statement is accurate is that no one can offer him 8 years because no other team can offer a free agent more than 7 years.  Only the team re-signing the player can offer 8.

 

If he goes to free agency and it's another free agency like this year where most teams keep their top players (and with the cap going up as much as it is, pretty much every team that wants to keep a player will again be able to), I guarantee you a number of teams would like up even if they knew $16M was the price tag - and they wouldn't all be perennial lottery teams.

Is that really your argument? That should mean the wil win and hold the cards. Please be honest AND realistic. Any team paying absurd money to someone unproven in the playoffs and unable to stay healthy is NOT on the list of cup winners.

[mnfaninnc]

11 hours ago, Need4speed99 said:

And you do NOT see  problem with it? Hey let's givesomeone(albeit one, i and MANY others see as a dumbest make important choices for us) even IF he isn't, no one should have complete control. He's had 5 yrs said he had a 5yr plan then regurgitated the same shit

I'm not really sure what you're trying to point out here. OCL owns the team. He can do what he wants. The only say the fans have is whether or not they will buy tickets and merchandise. A fan revolt looks like a boycott, and that tends to end poorly. 

Reality is we have very little to say on the matter because fans, specifically fans within the home base, are scared to death over teams leaving, just like the North Stars did for Dallas. You get this by not supporting the team or not filling the house. 

I maintain that Bill Guerin has been the best GM this franchise has had. He doesn't get everything right, but neither has any of his predecessors. I don't think a new GM will magically make the Wild a destination either. The only thing that can do that is a contending team. The best way to build a contending team is to get a bunch of guys from a close draft class cluster (like '20-23) to become a core of the team. They will have to learn to win together, but generally, they are also very loyal to one another. The group tends to be better than the individual parts. 

If you can hit 3-4 players in 2 of those drafts who can play a significant role on the team (minutes and games), you tend to get a very good chance of playing deep into the playoffs. For us, those guys really need to be good 200' players.

[raithis]

14 hours ago, Need4speed99 said:

So who wouldn't be lottery teams? Unless they are on the end of being a contender... 16 mil a year cripples the franchise, worse than 15 for 2 all star caliber players. You can see the future? You KNOW for sure the cap goes up unless other shit happens... it's a bad franchise move and now they gave kap a hint of what they would pay he wants more. He's not worth a long term. You can look at any metric

$16M a year can cripple a Franchise IF you don't have the prospect pool to have good RFAs on cheaper contracts.  If you do, then it's not as detrimental.

That, and with the cap going up as fast as it is, it'll soon be a smaller percentage of the team's cap space.  No one can see the future, but the league has already indicated their projections for the next few years.  Could there be things that happen that could change that?  Of course, but they wouldn't be announcing it unless it was highly likely to happen, and you can't go through life assuming a catastrophic event will occur (like a new pandemic).  If that happens, most teams in the league will have problems - not just the Wild if they sign a player for $16M.

We are better off with an expensive Kaprizov contract than.without him.  Again, I'd prefer to have more cap space to work with, but if it came to a trade, we likely would not get multiple star players back.  We'd probably get one really good player, a prospect, and some draft picks.  If that player does not want to be here, then that doesn't help us at all.  Also, if you can't keep your elite players, you are going to have a tough time convincing other elite players to sign on as free agents - and we already have a tough enough time drawing those players to begin with.  There's more chance of players wanting to play here with Kaprizov than without him.

Also, since you asked me to name a non-lottery team that could afford Kaprizov - Carolina.  They have over $10M in cap space and a full roster, majority of which is signed already through next season.  With the cap expected to go up by about $9M, they wouldn't have to move the world to get him if they wanted.  They are also perennial contenders.  Being so far under the cap, they will have a lot of room to work with at the trade deadline.  I have no idea if they are interested in Kaprizov at all, but the point is, they can afford it, and some other teams who do want Kaprizov will find a way to make it happen if they want him badly enough.  With the cap going up and more superstars likely to simply stay put rather than head to free agency (since teams can more easily afford to keep them), the few truly elite players will be coveted - even I've the price is $16M.