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With no first-round pick and a play-it-safe mentality from the Minnesota Wild at the 2025 Draft, it felt like fans had to look hard for any hype to cling to. Those hopes for a secret star have coalesced around Adam Benák, a fourth-round winger who profiled as shifty, skilled, and smart. Was he intriguing? Sure. But even as he made Hockey Wilderness' recent Top-11 prospects series, it was tough not to harbor some skepticism. Benák weighed into the combine at 5-foot-7.25, 164 pounds, which sent him into the fourth round, but it wasn't just the size. Despite loving his energy and pace of play, Elite Prospects graded his skating at a 4.5 on their 1-to-9 scale, or below-average. His production with the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms (59 points in 56 games) was solid, but not head-turning. It's essential to note that Benák had his fans at the time of the draft, but the odds are also fantastically stacked against a player with his profile. Benák can't make it to the NHL by being merely a good junior player, then a good AHL player. Lots of good junior players and good AHL players at his size simply never get a crack at the NHL. He has to be undeniable. This weekend, Benák looked pretty damn undeniable. Benák took the ice at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase on Friday night while facing a battery of St. Louis Blues first-rounders in Justin Carbonneau, Adam Jiříček, Dalibor Dvorský, and Otto Stenberg. He had Zeev Buium and Danila Yurov on his side, but 60 minutes and three assists later, Benák came away looking like the top player on the ice. Then on Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks, Benák again stole the show, making a steal on the forecheck to set up Rasmus Kumpulainen's game-winning goal with 61 seconds remaining. "That goal was all [Benák]," Kumpulainen said after the game, marveling at his teammate's game. "He's really shifty out there, his hands are unreal, and he's so small [that] no one can get to him." Benák got the points this weekend, but his weekend was about more than the assists. He was all around the puck for the entirety of Friday, in particular. Once he had the puck, he seemed in complete control of the pace of the game, weaving around players and finding seams to dish to teammates. Not only did Benák thrive against players with a higher pedigree than a fourth-round pick, but he was also facing an age gap between most of his competition. An April 2007 birthdate, Benák was one of the five youngest players in the tournament. Jiříček is a year older, entering his age-19 season. Dvorský and Stenberg are age-20. The Blackhawks drafted prospects Martin Misiak and Nick Lardis three years ago. It's important to keep things in perspective. This was an opening statement for Benák in his career, and a player passed over for three rounds might have come into the weekend with a bigger chip on his shoulder than the top prospects, whose sights are set on making NHL rosters. One prospect tournament doesn't make a career. But this isn't the first time Benák has balled out in a prospect tournament, either. In last year's Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, he led Team Czechia to a Silver Medal, tied for the tournament lead in goals (4) and second in points (11), cementing the all-time lead in points for the tournament. At this spring's U-18 World Championship, Benák registered 2 goals and 7 points in just four games. Put him against his best peers in these showcases, and Benák's money. He'll play this year in the OHL for the Brantford Bulldogs, but you can tell that Greg Cronin -- Benák's bench boss for the weekend -- can't wait to get his hands on him with the Iowa Wild. "He was a dog on a bone, he was fearless, he goes to the net. For me, he was our best forward," the coach praised. "He's a quiet kid, but he listens intently to everything you tell him. He tries to apply it... and that's what coachability is." It's going to be a long climb to the NHL, still. Benák is going to need to keep impressing at the OHL level, where he could spend the next two years. After that, he's going to have to show that he can thrive in the AHL, and that could take two or three years. But Benák can only prove himself with the challenges he's given, and he aced this first test. Doing so against professional players means that it's time to put away skepticism and get excited about his potential as a prospect.

After taking care of Kirill Kaprizov to the tune of eight years and $136 million, the Minnesota Wild decided they weren't quite done with their offseason checklist. Instead of resting on their laurels, they worked quickly to lock down their starting goalie, Filip Gustavsson, with a five-year, $34 million deal. It's perhaps an acknowledgement that if their superstar scores 50 or even 60 goals, it just takes a little instability in net to thwart a team. Look at the 2023-34 New Jersey Devils. They had 112 points the previous season, but their revolving door of Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws, Akira Schmid, Jake Allen, and Kaapo Kähkönen kept them in seventh place in their division. It didn't matter that they had Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt as part of a loaded roster. Looking at the Wild's steadfast defense, it's fair to say that Gustavsson's .914 save percentage -- sixth in the NHL last year -- isn't entirely reflective of his talent level. Still, he proved last year that he's capable of being a workhorse, starting-caliber goalie. Gustavsson started 58 games, turning in 40 "Quality Starts," which turned out to be the fifth-highest percentage in the league. That's a level of reliability the Wild simply couldn't walk from. Especially when you look at the alternatives. Minnesota drafted Jesper Wallstedt in 2021 to be the team's "Goalie of the Future." Turns out, the future isn't ready yet. The Wild were hoping to get Wallstedt games last season, but a combination of salary cap issues and his AHL struggles meant he only drew in for two starts. With Gustavsson set to become a free agent next summer, the Wild didn't have time to properly evaluate Wallstedt's readiness to take over starting next year. Normally, Wallstedt would be out of time. We've seen two of his highly-touted goalie prospect contemporaries -- Spencer Knight (2020 Draft) and Yaroslav Askarov (2021) -- get squeezed out of their team's future after their teams committed long-term to another goalie. Three days after the Florida Panthers drafted Knight, they signed Sergei Bobrovsky to eight years and $80 million. Askarov asked for a trade from the Nashville Predators after they locked in Juuse Saros to an eight-year extension. That may still be Wallstedt's fate. After all, the Panthers weren't forced to move on from Knight; they traded him as a major piece of the Seth Jones trade, helping them win a Stanley Cup last year. The Wild could choose to leverage Wallstedt in a similar fashion. However, the beauty of Gustavsson's extension is that Minnesota secured long-term stability in net while retaining options. Minnesota can simply have Gustavsson take the reins as the starting goaltender for the foreseeable future, and that's not a bad spot to be in. His career save percentage is .913, putting him even with former Wild players Marc-Andre Fleury and Devan Dubnyk through age 26. Once you adjust to the league average save percentage, as Stathead does with their Goals Allowed Percentage- which sets 100 as league average, Gustavsson fares very well. GA%- through Age-26, Since 2007-08, minimum 90 starts: Igor Shesterkin, 78 Tuukka Rask, 82 Juuse Saros, 90 Jaroslav Halák, 91 Andrei Vasilevskiy, 91 FILIP GUSTAVSSON, 91 Braden Holtby, 92 Jake Oettinger, 92 Logan Thompson, 93 Josh Gibson, 94 Even if you suspect his numbers make him look better than he is, he still is an above-average workhorse. The hockey equivalent of an innings-eating pitcher, if you will. Again, looking at the Devils, this time in 2024-25, that type of "innings-eater" was all they needed to get back into the playoff picture. The five-year term also comes in handy here. Gustavsson's extension will only take him through his age-32 season. Wild fans saw Devan Dubnyk start to fall off a cliff in his age-33 year, and Niklas Bäckström become unusable at age-34. If Gustavsson winds up taking a similar path on the aging curve, Minnesota should be getting out of this deal just in time. The term also means they don't have to hard-commit to Gustavsson at the expense of Wallstedt. Wallstedt's contract takes him through the summer of 2027, at which point he'll become a Restricted Free Agent. However, once that ends, the Wild still have him under team control through 2030, another three years after that. By comparison, that's only one year of team control less than they have with Gustavsson. When Wallstedt's contract is up, he'll most likely be in position to get a bridge deal. Barring injury, Gustavsson is a safe bet to take the majority of starts this season, and unless Wallstedt is markedly better, it's hard to see him forcing anything more than a 50/50 split in 2026-27. If the Wild can lock Wallstedt into an affordable rate through 2029, they're in a great spot beyond that. By 2029, Minnesota should have more than enough information on whether they want to have Wallstedt be The Guy going forward. If they do, they have two big advantages to avoid having Gustavsson squeeze Wallstedt out prematurely. The first is Gustavsson's trade clauses. He'll have a No-Move Clause through the summer of 2028, which turns into a 15-team no-trade clause afterward. That's a fair bit of flexibility to move on if the Wild feel the need to. The other advantage is the sheer affordability of Gustavsson's deal. That doesn't appear to be the case right away, but with the cap rising, we have to recalibrate what "$6.8 million" means. Gustavsson is set to be the 10th-highest-paid goalie next season, and his contract will only represent 6.5% of the salary cap -- roughly the equivalent of $5.8 million last year. If there's a time when Minnesota has to pay Wallstedt like a 1B goalie, they can do that without spending too much of their resources on the goalie position. The most important thing that the Wild could do was guarantee themselves a decent floor in net for the long term, and Gustavsson's contract does exactly that. That makes the extension worth it by itself. But the real value add for Minnesota was that they were able to do that without sacrificing their flexibility at the goalie position. They can either commit to Gustavsson long-term or establish a succession plan for Wallstedt, and they should be able to make that decision on their own terms. As important as the AAV and term are to evaluating contracts, it's hidden benefits like this that can turn a deal into a home run.

If you've ever exclaimed, "Pay that man his money!" after watching Kirill Kaprizov score a brilliant goal, then good news: You got your wish. After turning down a would-be record-breaking contract of eight years and $128 million earlier this month, Kaprizov finally signed his extension with the Minnesota Wild. His deal goes from record-breaking to record-shattering, an eight-year, $136 million pact that will carry a $17 million AAV. No one can blame you for calling that insane. The Wild are paying him $3 million more than Leon Draisaitl, the current highest-paid player in the NHL, is making. It will probably be even more than Connor McDavid will make whenever he signs his next deal. There are several compelling reasons why Minnesota shouldn't have offered that contract to Kaprizov. $17 million is a ton of money, and it's going to be a lot even as the salary cap continues to rise. Kaprizov's extension kicks in at age 29, which means that it will take him through his age-36 season. There's also the fact that Kaprizov has missed 63 games in the last three years, including 41 last season. It's a significant risk. However, none of those reasons stack up compared to the best reason to keep him: The Wild aren't anything without Kaprizov. It's not to say that the Wild don't have good, compelling players: Matt Boldy, Brock Faber, Marco Rossi, and Joel Eriksson Ek are a few. But Kaprizov affects the fortunes of a franchise in ways that very good, and even great players can't. We saw it when he arrived. The Wild made the playoffs in four of five seasons with Kaprizov in the fold, and that's a big deal. But overnight, Minnesota went from an also-ran team to one that demands attention. Hockey fans who would never give the Wild a second glance otherwise tune in to watch Kaprizov play. Locally, Kaprizov gives the Wild star power to compete with the Vikings and Justin Jefferson, as well as the Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards. That might not be on-the-ice value, but it matters. Where is fan morale at if Kaprizov spends the season as a Lame Duck Superstar, with one foot out the door? Even if Minnesota made the playoffs afterward, how could fans buy into a product that couldn't hold onto their franchise player? But then, of course, there's the on-ice value, and that is also astronomical. Is Kaprizov the best player in the NHL? No. He might not even be Top-5. But he's damn close. Since entering the league, Kaprizov ranks 13th among skaters with 25.9 Standings Points Above Replacement, per Evolving-Hockey. That puts him in a tier with the likes of Matthew Tkachuk (28.1), Elias Pettersson (27.4), and Aleksander Barkov (27.0) in terms of impact. His reputation is even better than that. The Athletic's Player Tiers ranked Kaprizov as the 10th-best player in the NHL, one of 11 dubbed MVP-level. And in terms of Wild history? Forget it. Five years of Kaprizov is almost lapping the field with everyone else. For context, here are the Wild's top-10 in SPAR. (NOTE: This data only dates back to the 2007-08 season.) Minnesota Wild Franchise Leaders, SPAR, since 2007-08: Jared Spurgeon, 53.9 Mikko Koivu, 35.4 Jonas Brodin, 32.9 Ryan Suter, 30.3 Joel Eriksson Ek, 26.4 KIRILL KAPRIZOV, 25.9 Jason Zucker, 25.8 Nino Niederreiter, 25.6 Zach Parise, 22.7 Mikael Granlund, 22.0 That's just nutty. At that pace, even a 60-game season from Kaprizov should move him up to fourth place on the list. Over nine years of Ryan Suter!!! And if goals rule everything -- as they should, they're the NHL's most valuable currency -- then Kaprizov is deserving of one of the top contracts in the league. Since his debut, Kaprizov is tied with Sam Reinhart for eighth in goals, behind only Auston Matthews, Draisaitl, David Pastrnak, McDavid, Mikko Rantanen, Alex Ovechkin, and Brayden Point. The next-best Wild player on that list? It's Eriksson Ek, at 112. If you want to expand it to anyone who wore a Minnesota sweater during that time, it's Kevin Fiala (140), and Kaprizov still has him beat by 45. Wild owner Craig Leipold understood the assignment: You keep that player, no matter what it takes. Is it a lot of money? Absolutely. Is it a lot of years? Sure is. Can you replace a player like Kaprizov for that money? No way. Not in Minnesota. That last part bears emphasizing: Minnesota has spent a quarter of a decade being decidedly not a destination for players. There's no doubt that some of those $136 million functions as a tax for Kaprizov to stay in St. Paul rather than bolt to a more traditionally attractive market like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and others. The hope isn't just that Kaprizov continues to play like an MVP for the foreseeable future -- though that is a big part of it. It's that Kaprizov's presence keeps changing the Wild's fortunes, turning a place that was formerly a no-go zone for the NHL's elite into an attractive destination. We'll see what happens from here. But don't kid yourself, whether you're reading this immediately after the fact, or in 2034: The Wild had no choice but to do exactly the thing they did on September 30, 2025. Minnesota may move forward or backward from here, but without Kaprizov, there was just one direction to go: Back to square one to repeat their quarter-decade of irrelevance.

For the third season in a row, Marco Rossi enters training camp with something to prove. Two seasons ago, it was that he could hang in the NHL after a disappointing 19-game stutter-step. He did, posting 21 goals and 40 points in Take 2 of his rookie year. Last year, had to prove that he could be a legitimate top-six center. He did again, with a 24-goal, 60-point campaign. When he went to cash in coming off his entry-level contract, the Minnesota Wild didn't treat him like Matt Boldy or Brock Faber, franchise pillars worthy of a long-term deal. Instead, he got a "prove-it" deal: three years and $15 million. Rossi's commitment to improving hasn't been questioned, but if there was ever a reason to have extra motivation after a breakout campaign, this is it. Rossi spent his summer training, working on faceoffs with Coolest Player of All Time Joe Thornton and generally working on getting stronger and faster. John Hynes reportedly called his center "thicker," and Rossi claims to weigh in at 196 pounds -- up from his official listing of 182. "I feel much better now and much faster," he told the media last week. It's one preseason game, but we saw that work pay off on Thursday night. Rossi logged 21 minutes, 14 seconds, the most of any forward on the ice that night, but it took just 12 seconds to do the bulk of his damage. The first goal is nothing that we haven't seen from Rossi over these last two years. He sneaks his 5-foot-9 frame into a soft spot of space around the net, collects a nice feed from Matt Boldy, and cashes in. That net-front game has been his bread-and-butter, and getting stronger and faster certainly didn't hurt his ability to score from that area. It's the second goal that Wild fans might want to take more notice of. When you watch Rossi's goals from last season, you'll find that only seven can be categorized as scoring on the rush. But on his second goal of the night, he follows Boldy on the breakout and deposits a Royal Road pass into the net. The best players continually add to their toolbox, and if Rossi is incorporating a rush game into his, that's a significant step forward for the center. He'll have the opportunities, at least the way things are currently set up. Rossi centering a dynamic player like Boldy would be reason enough to take notice, but he's also stapled to Kirill Kaprizov, one of the most electric puck-carriers in the game. Boldy's a solid puck-carrier in his own right, and an elite forechecker. There are going to be a lot of offensive chances coming in a variety of ways. Rossi needs to be prepared for all of them. Again, he has little issue generating offense on the forecheck, where his hockey sense can take over and find those pockets of open space in the defense. However, the rush is largely about speed. While Rossi improved his skating last offseason -- he went from the 50th percentile in top speed in 2023-24 to the 75th percentile in 2024-25, per NHL EDGE -- he clearly felt there was another level to get to. Looking at the numbers, he was right. Rossi got a lot of shot quality last season, but his shot quantity has been lacking early in his career. He averaged just 4.42 shots on net last season, which is mind-bogglingly low. We're talking fewer than Marcus Johansson (5.76), Yakov Trenin (5.46), Freddy Gaudreau (5.12), and even a defenseman like Jared Spurgeon (4.70). Playing with volume shooters like Kaprizov and Boldy is a factor, but there is room for him to carve out a greater share of the offensive load. Being able to threaten offense in more ways than cleaning up the trash around the net will only help with that. Last night was an example. Rossi had four shots on goal, a mark that he only got to in 10 games in 2024-25. Not surprisingly, he was over a point per game (six goals, 12 points) in games he had four or more shots. Rossi needs to do more than prove himself for his next contract in three years. He might be starting his year between the Wild's two best wingers, but he's not guaranteed to stick there. Joel Eriksson Ek has always worked well with both Kaprizov and Boldy, and the Wild sees Danila Yurov as a top-six center eventually. Rossi will have to justify his spot and hold it amid intense competition. It's hard to draw a ton of conclusions from one preseason game. However, given our experience with Rossi's year-to-year improvement, his strong performance suggests that he has taken his offseason seriously and is well-prepared for the task ahead.

The Minnesota Wild are celebrating their 25th anniversary this season. In most circumstances, that's a huge milestone and cause to celebrate. Fans get a chance to remember their past while looking toward a bright future. Unfortunately, that might be all the State of Hockey gets to celebrate on this anniversary. The "25" patch on their sweaters will, to many, represent a quarter-century of irrelevance. That's definitely not charitable. Minnesota has had moments in the sun. Their 2003 Western Conference Finals run, the blockbuster signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in 2012 being the biggest. But even the rosiest view of the Wild's history has to admit that they've often been afterthoughts to the national media, free agents, and most disappointingly, in the playoffs. That's what hurts the Wild faithful so much about this week's news that Kirill Kaprizov rejected a would-be record-shattering eight-year, $128 million contract from Minnesota. From Day 1, the superstar winger made the franchise relevant in a way no one else has. Not Marian Gaborik, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, or anyone else. His Calder Trophy win is the only major player hardware the franchise has ever taken home. For lack of a better term, Kaprizov just has that 'it' factor, giving Minnesota rare and desperately needed pizazz. When he's on, the Wild become appointment viewing. If this week's news is truly the beginning of the end for Kaprizov, Minnesota will return to irrelevance. That's a fate too terrible for the Wild, and everyone involved knows it. It's why owner Craig Leipold got out ahead of any rumors that Kaprizov might want to go elsewhere and declared, "Nobody will offer more money than us." Putting $128 million on the table showed Mr. Leipold was serious. But Kaprizov rejecting that offer plays into the worst fears of Minnesota sports fans: The offer might be serious, but the players don't take the Wild seriously. There aren't a lot of winning scenarios from here. The possibility that Minnesota trades the only superstar in their history is impossible to swallow for most Wild fans. But having it go public that Kaprizov rejected a max deal at $16 million per season, and eventually signing him for, say, $18 million, doesn't send a great message to the rest of the league, either. $16 million is already $2 million more than the next-highest-paid player in the NHL. Someone will eventually get more than that number, of course, but $128 million is $128 million. It's mind-blowing that an NHL player, even one who was looking to hit a home run and cash in, would turn it down. Just this offseason, superstars like Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen took discounts to be on teams they felt would win. Sam Bennett, the reigning Conn Smythe winner, did the same to stay with the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. Intentionally or not, refusing a $16 million AAV but accepting $17 to $18 million sends a signal that Kaprizov isn't impressed with the direction the team is taking. If that's the route he goes, it suggests that all Bill Guerin and Mr. Leipold could offer him -- after four years to prepare the conditions that would entice him to stay -- was money. Unfortunately, it'd be hard to blame Kaprizov if that's his thought process. He's spent five years in the organization, playing at an MVP level, and hasn't been able to advance past the first round. It wasn't for a lack of effort, either. Kaprizov has 15 goals and 21 points in 25 playoff games with the Wild. That 0.60 goals per game mark is the highest among any player in the Salary Cap Era with 25 games or more. Hell, reduce that threshold to 10 games, and Kaprizov's still at the top of the heap! But even with historic goal production, even with dominant playoff series against the St. Louis Blues in 2022 and the Vegas Golden Knights this spring, it wasn't enough to get them out of the first round. Now, are there mitigating circumstances here? You'd better believe it. The Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts bit the franchise at the exact worst moment, hobbling a franchise that should have been in win-now mode with their superstar in tow. It's a tough break, and it is impressive that the Wild have continued to make the playoffs despite their dead cap space woes. That doesn't erase the fact that, as much as the team noted that a hand was tied behind their back, as much as they tried to downplay their inability to get past the first round, that lack of success plays into their reputation. They're not serious contenders, not in the eyes of the NHL. We saw it on July 1 -- a day that might go down in infamy among Wild fans as "Christmas Morning." With all of Minnesota's new cap space, they were never seriously in the hunt for big fish like Marner, Bennett, Nikolaj Ehlers, or anyone else. Home-grown players like Brock Boeser and Brock Nelson -- historically, reliable targets for the franchise -- elected to stay put rather than join forces with the Wild. We know what Minnesota wanted their pitch to be. That they had the roster, personalities, and culture to play winning hockey. That their prospects -- including blue-chippers like Zeev Buium, Danila Yurov, and David Jiříček -- were NHL-ready and primed to take them to the next level. That even after coming up empty this summer, they'd kept their powder dry for the next big superstar to come up on the market. It doesn't look like that pitch was attractive to Kaprizov, just as it wasn't alluring for Nelson, Boeser, or any other big fish this summer. Without a buy-in to the pitch, all the Wild had was money, and Kaprizov just said no to that. How do you fix that problem? How does Mr. Leipold, the front office, and the organization convince Kaprizov -- or any other top player in the NHL -- that they're an organization to be taken seriously, and not the perpetual also-rans of the league? That's the issue at the root of their biggest crisis in the Wild's 25-year history, and unless they can find a solution, it also threatens to define their next quarter-century.

The Minnesota Wild's plan for re-signing Kirill Kaprizov was simple: Wait until he got back to the United States and knock him over with a massive deal. Rumors circled that the Wild were willing to give Kaprizov eight years at a $16 million Average Annual Value, a contract that would make the franchise's first mega star the highest-paid in the NHL. It sounds like they did just that, and struck out. A fan base that has been nervously awaiting the news that the Wild locked up their guy is not going to receive this news well. Kaprizov hits unrestricted free agency next July 1, which kicks up the urgency to make a decision with Kaprizov. Can the Wild find a way to sign him, or do they have to start going another way? No one in the State of Hockey is looking for optimism at this time, but it is worth mentioning that rejecting this mega offer isn't confirmation that Kaprizov's days in Minnesota are numbered at 300 or fewer. Turning down a deal that makes you the highest paid in the NHL is admittedly a pretty big red flag, but even from a purely financial standpoint, there are reasons to reject an eight-year offer. Kaprizov spent his last four years (and will spend this one) as underpaid on his contract from essentially Day 1. He signed a five-year, $45 million deal ($9 million AAV), averaging 48 goals and 99 points per 82 games ever since. That could very well be a motivating factor in these negotiations. While most NHL players tend to opt for the security of a long-term contract -- and often, for a lot less money than $128 million -- seven- and eight-year deals tend to be extremely team-friendly for anyone in or around their prime. The cap goes up, new records get broken, and a $9 million deal in 2020 goes from being market-setting at the time to a bargain in 2025. Sixteen million dollars is a ton of money, and it's going to be a lot of money in the future. There's no disputing that. It'd be about 15.4% of the salary cap in 2026-27, which would be Year 1 of the deal. In Year 2, when the cap rises from $104 million to $113.5 million in 2027-28, that percentage dips to 14.1%. Let's assume the cap rises to $120 million in 2028-29. $16 million is now "just" 13.3% of the cap, the equivalent of someone making $12.7 million this season. Again, that's a lot of money. But assuming that Kaprizov is a player worth 15.4% of the cap today, by the time we get to Year 3, he could be an $18.5 million player on the open market. And that's just by Year 3, while making a pretty modest guess as to how the cap will rise. You have to bet on the cap continuing to rise, leaving Kaprizov a total bargain over the following five years. Putting $16 million dollars in front of Kaprizov suggests the Wild believe money is a motivating factor. Why wouldn't it be? But if money is a motivator, $16 million is going to start looking underwhelming as we creep toward 2030 and beyond, at least for a player of his stature. The best-case scenario for the Wild here is that Kaprizov isn't willing to go eight years, but he is willing to stay in Minnesota for three-to-five years. That's exactly what happened last time, if you'll recall. But even on a shorter deal, we shouldn't expect Kaprizov to come cheap. Auston Matthews did this exact thing in Toronto, inking a four-year deal with the Maple Leafs that kicked in last year at $13.25 million AAV, or 15.06% of the cap. If that's the framework for a shorter-term deal for Kaprizov, that would land at around $15.6 million of a $104 million salary cap. That's a great illustration of why eight years might not be appealing to Kaprizov. Why lock yourself in for eight years at $16 million if you can get $14 million over four? Or even $15 million? We can see potential for a contract standoff to happen over this. Bill Guerin and the Wild might think, why pay top-dollar for Kaprizov for a short-term deal? It's a fair question, but if that's what it takes to keep Kaprizov in Minnesota... they kind of have to suck it up and do it. There's no way Kaprizov doesn't know the leverage he has over Minnesota. They've been a superstar-starved team for two decades, and their whole plan for contention revolves around keeping him in St. Paul. Kaprizov has the ability to max out his earnings for the next three, four, or five years, while still getting to cash in again in his early 30s. If he wants to. That's going to be the question now. Is he amenable to stay in Minnesota, or not? If Kaprizov does, it's clear that it's going to be entirely on his terms, and the Wild front office and ownership will have to smile and thank him for doing so. If not... well, let's hope that's not the case.