Kirill Kaprizov Is About To Break More Records

Coming into the season, Kirill Kaprizov had a reputation for being a slow-ish starter who increases his production throughout the season. His career splits by month showed that October was his slowest month, during which he "only" scored 26 points in 25 games. 

Well, if this is Kaprizov's "slow" month, we can all hand him the Hart Trophy right now.

The superstar winger just put the finishing touches on an October, in which he ripped through the NHL like Ash Williams' chainsaw through Deadites.

Kaprizov is tied with Mark Stone for the NHL lead in points (18), and he's the only player in the NHL to average 2.0 points per game. He's been the driving force on a Minnesota Wild team that got the hot start they coveted, with a 6-1-2 record that has them tied with the Dallas Stars for second in the Central Division.

And if you think that's nutty... we're just getting started.

Kaprizov rewriting Minnesota Wild's record books isn't exactly new. He's been doing it since he was a rookie, and there are more records to come. But this hot start is just the latest series of relatively-obscure-but-still-awesome franchise records to start tumbling.

It might not surprise you, but 18 points is the most in franchise history through nine games, and it's not particularly close. Here are the top-12 starts through nine contests:

2024-25 Kaprizov, 18
2002-03 Marian Gaborik, 13
2008-09 Mikko Koivu, 13
2006-07 Brian Rolston, 12
2022-23 Mats Zuccarello, 12
2001-02 Gaborik, 12
2022-23 Kaprizov, 11
2005-06 Marc Chouinard, 11
2024-25 Matt Boldy, 11
2005-06 Gaborik, 11
2021-22 Zuccarello, 11
2018-19 Zach Parise, 11

And we will see these records continue to fall for the next three games. The franchise record for the most points through a dozen games is 16 (Gaborik, twice). All Kaprizov needs to do to secure that record is not anger an NHL official scorer to the point where they un-credit him with two assists.

That feels like a safe bet.

But hey, how impressive is it when you look outside the historically low-scoring Wild? Are we just congratulating Kaprizov for clearing a relatively low bar?

It turns out: No. Once we widen our scope to the entire NHL during the salary cap era, we see that Kaprizov is tied for the fifth-most points through nine games. His competition?

2023-24 Jack Hughes, 20
2021-22 Leon Draisaitl, 20
2021-22 Connor McDavid, 19
2005-06 Thomas Vanek, 19
2024-25 Kaprizov, 18

The players joining the 18-thru-9 Club alongside Kaprizov are Steven Stamkos, Evgeni Malkin, Jesper Bratt, and Martin Havlat. Folks... is it good to have a hotter start than, say, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin, Auston Matthews, and a host of brilliant scorers ever had?

Let's go on a limb and say: Probably.

That's exciting enough, and then you compound it by remembering that Kaprizov tends to take his time to pick up speed, then becomes unstoppable. In his three full seasons, he's put up the following statistics from November 1 on:

2021-22: 47 goals, 102 points in 73 games
2022-23: 34 goals, 64 points in 58 games
2023-24: 44 goals, 87 points in 64 games

If we assume he plays the final 73 games of the season, just by projecting a "normal" November-to-April campaign for Kaprizov, we come to a potential 52-goal, 113-point season. While that season would put him (again) "only" fifth-most in the NHL in points last season, a 50-goal, 110-point season would still be incredibly rarified air in the modern NHL.

The Salary Cap Era has only seen six players accomplish the feat: Ovechkin (twice), Draisaitl (twice), Jaromir Jagr, McDavid, David Pastrnak, and Nathan MacKinnon. Again, pick your favorite high-scoring icon of the last two decades. You won't find their name here.

And, by the way, those eight seasons have four Hart Trophies between them, as well as two runners-up. Just a little something to think about as Kaprizov seeks to build off this blistering start.