Article: Analyst Predicts Potential Intense Bidding War for Kirill Kaprizov

[mnhockeyfan03]

7 minutes ago, raithis said:

Zero chance Carolina offers that much for Kaprizov. 

Kaprizov can list as few teams as he wants.  If Carolina is the only teams he wants to go to, they don't have to move a single contract to get him. They already have more than $10M in cap available so they could just offer prospects and picks.

They would likely offer a good player (but not the ones you listed), a high-to-medium prospect, and a high-ish pick.  They don't have to offer more, because if they want him and he wants to go there, they can just wait until free agency and still have all their top forwards.  The Wild would either have to take it or lose him for nothing at the end of the year.  And then everyone will say that Guerin didn't get enough for Kirill...

If Kaprizov is only interested in going to a team that can't afford him, then the Wild might be able to get a marginally good player if they want him that bad to shake up their roster that much.  It really depends where he would want to go and what kind of contracts that team has.  If it's evident that he only wants to go to one team, that team can put forth as little as they feel like as long as it is something they feel the Wild would accept rather than losing him for nothing.

This is the sort of situation where choosing not to budge leaves fewer options for the party who stops talking.  They are better off to keep talking it over and trying to come to an agreement, or at least staying on good terms.  Both sides need to continue making their case, and I believe that will be better if Kaprizov is in the room sometimes when those things are discussed.  Making ultimatums and not being willing to budge at all won't help the Wild at all.

I think they will have to give up some good assets to get him and they should trade him before the season starts and if doesn’t want to give out teams then pay him to sit in the press box.  He will be a year older and rusty.  Dont play him until he is traded.  

[MNCountryLife]

53 minutes ago, raithis said:

I'd prefer Kaprizov signs for $13-14M personally.  I won't deny that if his contract is higher, it makes it harder to have money to pay other elite players.  It won't be impossible, but it will cause some choices to have to be made to depth in 3 years if players currently on ELCs at that time aren't able to be competent NHLers.

I didn't know the CBA had a max contract for a player.  Thanks for the heads up.  I'll have to read up on that.

Sounds like we mostly agree.  People like to play with other good players.  So keeping Kaprizov increases our chances of other high end players to come in.  I agree with that completely.

There are teams out there though that are doing a pretty good job of competing that do not have a real superstar.  Aho is the highest paid Hurricane player and I wouldn't classify him as a superstar.  Canes are a very good team.  Jet's have Scheifele at 8.5M and he is not a superstar and the Jets are a very competitive team.  Of course having a superstar greatly increases your chances of winning. 

There are guys on the board that are advocating that we sign Kirill at all costs.  I disagree with that.   That would hamstring us badly.  If Kirill wants out or if he wants something off the charts like $18M/AAV... I'm okay with saying no.  The Wild can still be a very good team.  They just need to change their thought process a bit because we will have lost an extremely good superstar.  

I wonder how much of this is Kirill vs his agent.  

[MNCountryLife]

34 minutes ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

I think they will have to give up some good assets to get him and they should trade him before the season starts and if doesn’t want to give out teams then pay him to sit in the press box.  He will be a year older and rusty.  Dont play him until he is traded.

That would be a ruthless thing to do to a player.  Players would notice.  We would end up on everyones no trade list.  

[mnhockeyfan03]

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

That would be a ruthless thing to do to a player.  Players would notice.  We would end up on everyones no trade list.  

It will drive him nuts to sit in the press box and he will give them teams to be traded to.  You do not let him play and risk getting hurt or risk him walking.  You gain back all the leverage if you do this.  He then will get traded and we get assets back.  Sorry this is a business and his agent is trying to push us around so push back. 

[raithis]

1 hour ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

It will drive him nuts to sit in the press box and he will give them teams to be traded to.  You do not let him play and risk getting hurt or risk him walking.  You gain back all the leverage if you do this.  He then will get traded and we get assets back.  Sorry this is a business and his agent is trying to push us around so push back. 

Again, this is the wrong way to go about this.  You might gain a little leverage in this specific situation, but doing something that visible to everyone, you destroy your reputation with every player in the league.  The Wild already have a tough time attracting the better free agents.  Doing what you suggest won't make that any better and probably means we start showing up on a lot more no-trade lists.

If he has already agreed to be traded and a trade is in the works, fine, but not to force the player to accept a trade.  You'd run out of good-will with players real quick.

People may call Guerin a bully, but I don't see him ever doing something that low.