Kirill Kaprizov's League-Wide Reputation Is In Purgatory

Top 5? Maybe not… Top 10? Sounds about right… a lot better than Top 20 and what he gets credit for. If he plays consistently dominant like he did when he was on his “heater” then there’s an argument to be made that he’s top 5. I hope taking him off the line with Boldy and Ek works out. 

Minnesota players rarely get the respect they deserve in any sport.

F#CK these experts

I think it’s pretty funny to think and read kappy wants to go to Chicago.  The team that rebuilt the right way by being bad a few years to get  top talent an assets . Versus the so called rebuild mediocre on the fly , acquiring mediocre talent an assets . The Billy /craig rebuild loses you a franchise talent to the team that rebuilt the right way. To funny. To think every playoff Billy and Craig see kappy and bedard going places while there still waiting for some unknown draft pick to fill kappys talent and help them make playoffs.  
   If kappy is going to leave , I hope it’s Chicago so he can stick a dagger in Billy and Craig’s bs rebuild on fly crap. Billy’s has done nothing in his time here. Can’t get a broken laine to come here or keep a franchise talent.  Thankfully we have Freddy and Jo Jo 

Did you read Kap to Chicago from the same dreamer who thought Brodin and Zucc for Kakko and others was a good potential trade...

We won't know about Kap for a year.

Doesn't seem like a major slight to me. Still listed in top 15, ahead of Mitch Marner. Marner has tallied slightly more points/game the last 3 seasons, but Kaprizov does have higher goal totals.

You could easily put Kaprizov in the top 10, but every fan would love to have anyone in the  top 20 on their team.

So, if that was the production, and it seems weird but wasn't that about the time Heinzy switched to the Boldy-Ek-Kaprizov line, why would you break that up? Seems to me that that line had chemistry together, and all of the parts of that line could play. 

Now the question is building a 2nd line that can give you secondary scoring. I don't agree with the concept of passing the wealth around. You've got a dominant line here with a player who should be recognized in the top tier. Don't mess around with it!

Now, figure out a way that you can put a 2nd line together that doesn't have to face another team's checking line. I would assume that Rossi would be that center. At this point, trying Zuccarello and Hartman on his wings would be the best thing, but I'd be looking hard at Ogie replacing Zuccarello on that line. All 3 of these players wouldn't be as good as the top line, but all 3 could put up 20 goals if they mesh. 

1 more reason not to break up that top line: You don't have to change it for PP1. Yurov, Heidt are coming. Eventually they can also help on line 2, but at this point, we've already assembled line 1. 

For those who think that Zuccarello needs Kaprizov to put up points, you need to re-examine this team. Zuccarello should be able to stand on his own, not get a contract because he can get gimme points being with Kaprizov. He needs to hold up his end of the contract bargain and produce where he's put.

Heinzy hated many things last year and had enough of some. The east west passing spree that was Zuccarello-Kaprizov was too much. They got broken up. He also looked on with disdain on the majority of Johansson's shifts and while everyone starts with a clean slate, you've got to think that Johansson's place in the backyard is close to the doghouse. You could also tell by Heinzy's deployment that the AHL 4th line was pretty much benched for the 3rd period of close games. He's looking for more and a different kind of game. 

Start with your top line that can rival Dallas and Colorado. Then build a 2nd and 3rd line. Putting Rossi centering line 2 isn't bad when you have Dinorat who can fill in with Trenin and Foligno on line 3. If some vets don't like getting shoved to line 4, then there's only one solution: play better.

In any other Market?  This isn’t the MLB.

If the Wild had a bigger arena, they’d lead the NHL in attendance.  They led the league in capacity percentage in 23-24, despite the awful product.

They get no nationally televised games.  This is a media bias issue, not actually a market size issue.

Everyone knows about Kaprisov within the league, and within knowledgeable fans.  Casuals who jumped on the Vegas or Florida/Tampa bandwagons likely haven’t seen him play more than a game or two.

At the end of the day, whether the perception by a subsection of casuals is accurate, that perception is a result of how Geurin is running this thing.  He needs to go.  He’s totally screwed the pooch here, and after some of the extensions and flubbing the Yurov migration, he can no longer fall back on the buyouts as an excuse.  He’s taken the franchise from an annual contender (despite the playoff failures) to a hopeless case.  That’s why it’s looking increasingly likely that Kaprisov will bolt.  Not because he’s worried about how he’s perceived by casuals that are there for the FOMO and social aspect, and know nothing about hockey.

On 9/25/2024 at 1:33 PM, Dean said:

I think it’s pretty funny to think and read kappy wants to go to Chicago.  The team that rebuilt the right way by being bad a few years to get  top talent an assets . Versus the so called rebuild mediocre on the fly , acquiring mediocre talent an assets . The Billy /craig rebuild loses you a franchise talent to the team that rebuilt the right way. To funny. To think every playoff Billy and Craig see kappy and bedard going places while there still waiting for some unknown draft pick to fill kappys talent and help them make playoffs.  
   If kappy is going to leave , I hope it’s Chicago so he can stick a dagger in Billy and Craig’s bs rebuild on fly crap. Billy’s has done nothing in his time here. Can’t get a broken laine to come here or keep a franchise talent.  Thankfully we have Freddy and Jo Jo 

The dude who said that pretty much backtracked his statement and basically said it was bullshit he shouldn't have even said on that podcast.