Article: Who Are the Winners and Losers Of A Kaprizov Extension?

[Kalisha Turnipseed]

View full article

[MNCountryLife]

Rathis pointed out that the maximum a team can pay a player is 20% of the cap per the CBA.  Since Kirill is signing for 26-27 the max payout on a projected cap of $104M would be a $20.8M/AAV contract.  

The projected cap will likely be finalized early 2026.  Is it possible that players would want to see what the final cap numbers end up at before they sign.  We could be in for a waiting game.

[hydguy75]

What happened to Zuccarello now?

[Sam]

29 minutes ago, hydguy75 said:

What happened to Zuccarello now?

Hopefully not another slapper to the nuts.

[Pewterschmidt]

5 minutes ago, Sam said:

Hopefully not another slapper to the nuts.

Slapnuts = Zuccy 

[mnhockeyfan03]

Zuccy=McNugget

 

trade him and Kap together before start of season

[1Brotherbill]

Unless he signs before October 9th, I don't see him signing at all this year.  It is rare that a player signs in the season unless it is around the trade deadline.  So, it might be that he is waiting for the cap numbers to come in as official and then ask for 20% of the Cap.  Which I personally would tell him and his agent to get out of the office and ban him from any building the Wild controls then call the local media and everyone who has an ear that Kirill just wants the money and doesn't care about the team.  

If he does go the Wild will have a ton of money next summer to sign whomever they want.  Sure everyone will say that nobody will want to play here blah blah blah.  But if you can play with your buddy and his buddy and their buddy it would be a very enticing place to come everyone who plays in Minnesota knows that it is a fanbase that will back the team.  

[Dango]

I have an feeling that if we dont sign Kaprizov we will end up overpaying his replacements  just to say hey we signed 2- 8 million dollar guys instead  who are probably 6.5 million dollar guys and wed be better off  over paying  Kap .17 -18 million ,  if you want to call it that ,   

Now ive heard the Kirk Cousins argument comparison but its not accurate , before we signed Cousins our QBs were getting killed unable to protect them Bradford , Keenum then  Cousins  etc. we just could not draft O-line men  since Denny Green who actually built back to back O-lines who you could say all 10-11 were superb.   But it was a problem started before Cousins signed his deal .

[mnhockeyfan03]

8 minutes ago, Dango said:

I have an feeling that if we dont sign Kaprizov we will end up overpaying his replacements  just to say hey we signed 2- 8 million dollar guys instead  who are probably 6.5 million dollar guys and wed be better off  over paying  Kap .17 -18 million ,  if you want to call it that ,   

Now ive heard the Kirk Cousins argument comparison but its not accurate , before we signed Cousins our QBs were getting killed unable to protect them Bradford , Keenum then  Cousins  etc. we just could not draft O-line men  since Denny Green who actually built back to back O-lines who you could say all 10-11 were superb.   But it was a problem started before Cousins signed his deal .

Disagree on this. Kap isn’t worth $16mm let alone 17-18.  This team is never going to win a cup paying him that much.  Trade him now!  No one needs a guy that greedy.  

[1Brotherbill]

So who wins if Minnesota loses Kirill.  Minnesota does.

Minnesota has 39 million to fill 7 contract spots.  That would give them an average of about 5 million to spend on each of those spots.  Not a lot but it isn't terrible.

If they use 18 million on one of those players (Kirill).  That leaves 21 million for 6 spots. That averages out to about 3.5 million for 6 players.  Figure Gus will want over 5 million you start to realize that players like Johansson at 850,000 is going to be the norm if Kirill signs.  

By the way Chicago has 55 million to spend but they have to fill 10 spots if they give Kirill 20 million that leaves about 3.88 for the remaining 9.  Of those 9 players is one Connor Bedard.  Actually Chicago is a mess if they get Kirill.  Kind of want them to sign him to the 20.8 max contract he is rumored to want. 

[Scalptrash]

The Fans

Are the biggest winners and losers. Afterall, why do pro sports even exist?

If they re-sign him for $18-20M, the fans win because they get to keep watching 97 play for the Wild. But they also lose because the Wild will no longer be able to build a cup contending team.

The question was always, does he want to win or does he want money. Like most Russian hockey stars, now we know the answer. Not bad for a guy that's injured 25% of the time. 

[0 Stanley Cups]

Great to watch 97 squirm a bit yesterday during the press conferences, we're not dumb, the fact that him declining the richest offer in NHL history got out was probably not on his & agents bingo card.  Good sign that his agent showed up unexpectedly at the first day of camp yesterday and talked to the assistant GM for a while. 

The Wild should hold at $16M offer at whatever term he wants and if he doesn't accept in a week or two, ask to trade him to the team of his choice (full NMC in the last year of his contract=brilliant), don't start the season with this distraction it only gives him more leverage if he wants out anyway.

[Burnt Toast]

11 hours ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

The Wild should hold at $16M

100% this. Contracts are not given out in a vacuum. It’s money doled out amongst a complete roster. The model to copy is Florida. $16M is already an overpay for KK using stats. Oilers and Golden Knights are next up as well. I gotta say I have the upmost respect for players like Sidney Crosby and Nathan McK. both of whom left money on the table on their way to winning SCs. 

[mnhockeyfan03]

13 minutes ago, Burnt Toast said:

100% this. Contracts are not given out in a vacuum. It’s money doled out amongst a complete roster. The model to copy is Florida. $16M is already an overpay for KK using stats. Oilers and Golden Knights are next up as well. I gotta say I have the upmost respect for players like Sidney Crosby and Nathan McK. both of whom left money on the table on their way to winning SCs. 

Agree if Kap signs for $16mm with the Wild and doesn’t score 120 points he better be ready to get Boo’d every time he touches the puck as all he is doing is hurting the team.  Take 11-12mm and build the team. Take more you will be enemy number 1.  If he signs for 16mm I will start cheering for anyone but the Wild.  With those stupid choices they have everything they have coming.  No one player besides mcdavid or McKinnon are worth it. 

[Dango]

2 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Agree if Kap signs for $16mm with the Wild and doesn’t score 120 points he better be ready to get Boo’d every time he touches the puck as all he is doing is hurting the team.  Take 11-12mm and build the team. Take more you will be enemy number 1.  If he signs for 16mm I will start cheering for anyone but the Wild.  With those stupid choices they have everything they have coming.  No one player besides mcdavid or McKinnon are worth it. 

Do you think that if you put either Mcdavid or MacKinnon in place of Kaprizov they would still get 74 and 84 assists  on the Wild and if not then why would Kaprizov be expected to  ,  plus Kaprizov is usually in position to score and not primarily a set up guy .   

[mnhockeyfan03]

28 minutes ago, Dango said:

Do you think that if you put either Mcdavid or MacKinnon in place of Kaprizov they would still get 74 and 84 assists  on the Wild and if not then why would Kaprizov be expected to  ,  plus Kaprizov is usually in position to score and not primarily a set up guy .   

If you put mcdavid or McKinnon in place of Kap this team would be much better by a lot!  They are game changers and Kap is not.  Kap isn’t worth over $13mm.  Anything more and this team is back in the same rut.  Even at $13mm I think they should trade him.  Trade Kap, zuccy, Rossi, Spurg and reset this team.  Even trade Gus for a top 6 fwd.  this team needs lots of help.  Kap isn’t the answer.  

[Burnt Toast]

8 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

reset this team

After trading Fiala the Wild have struggled with scoring. This year there is a financial opportunity to add a similar style player at the Trade Deadline. See how that plays out because the team has a few years to be in the discussion come playoff time. Why? Because they have been extremely fortunate with players exceeding expectations. Faber, KK (5th rounder), Mids, Gus. I’d add Boldly and Rossi as definitely meeting expectations, at the very least, with their draft positions. It’s worth the risk. 

[Dango]

12 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

If you put mcdavid or McKinnon in place of Kap this team would be much better by a lot!  They are game changers and Kap is not.  Kap isn’t worth over $13mm.  Anything more and this team is back in the same rut.  Even at $13mm I think they should trade him.  Trade Kap, zuccy, Rossi, Spurg and reset this team.  Even trade Gus for a top 6 fwd.  this team needs lots of help.  Kap isn’t the answer.  

But they arent going to turn any of the Wild defensemen into 70 or 90 point players  or zuccarello , EKK into 100 point players   . Im not saying they arent better than Kappy but the stats arent quite fair comparisons.    

[NoJoSux]

On 9/18/2025 at 8:34 PM, Sam said:

Hopefully not another slapper to the nuts.

Slapper to the nut.

*Fixed it for ya. 

[Kato AK]

On 9/20/2025 at 1:53 PM, Dango said:

But they arent going to turn any of the Wild defensemen into 70 or 90 point players  or zuccarello , EKK into 100 point players   . Im not saying they arent better than Kappy but the stats arent quite fair comparisons.    

McDavid turned Zach F****ing Hyman from a 30-40 pt guy into a 70-80pt/50 goal scorer by using him as a Human backboard. 

[mnhockeyfan03]

Hopefully the Wild are moving closer to trading Kap.  No player besides mcdavid or McKinnon are worth that.  Even Eichel who I would take over Kap has said he is looking for around $13mm.  Kaps value is about 11-12mm with his injury history.  I would take 3-4 4mm players over 1 Kap at 16mm.  He just isn’t worth it.  The sooner we move on the better.  Ek is the most important forward on this team.  Kap isn’t.  If we can get a couple good players for Kap let’s move on.  Greedy guy.  Dont let him play a single game until this is sorted out.  Have some balls Billy.   No one player is bigger than the team.  You won’t win with Kap on this team making over $12mm

[MNCountryLife]

I like Kap.  He brings a lot to the team.  With the new cap I think his real value will be around $14M/AAV.  I'm okay with the Wild paying over his value at $16M/AAV for 5 years. But that is the max.  I would avoid 8 years as you just don't know what happens to a player in 5 years.  Things change and he will be 29 when this contract starts.  Do we really want to be paying a 35 year old $16-$18 AAV?  I don't.   If he wants more I think you have to look to trade him.  EA-Sports ranks Kirill 13th in the league for players.  He is 3rd in ranking for wings via the NHL.  

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-current-players-ranked-top-20-wings-2025

[MNCountryLife]

I'll bet nobody was thinking that when the buyout era ended that all we would be capable of doing is signing Kirill and our existing rosterd players.  We all had hopes that we would add a big name to the roster.  Kirill appears intent on making future signings difficult.