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  • The Price For Kirill Kaprizov Doesn't Matter

    Image courtesy of Matt Blewett - Imagn Images
    Tony Abbott

    By Tony Abbott -

    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:

    1. Jared Spurgeon, 53.9
    2. Mikko Koivu, 35.4
    3. Jonas Brodin, 32.9
    4. Ryan Suter, 30.3
    5. Joel Eriksson Ek, 26.4
    6. KIRILL KAPRIZOV, 25.9
    7. Jason Zucker, 25.8
    8. Nino Niederreiter, 25.6
    9. Zach Parise, 22.7
    10. 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.

    By Tony Abbott  

    Think you could write a story like this? Hockey Wilderness wants you to develop your voice, find an audience, and we'll pay you to do it. Just fill out this form.

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    Citizen Strife

    Minnesota spent decades trying to get a player of his caliber.  They may not get another for another two decades.  Worth the risk.  Build the team around the players you have, not the ones you "hope" may come here instead.

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    Burnt Toast

    What I’ve always liked most about KK is that he elevates players around him. He’s the kind of superstar player that a team can be built around. I hope the Wild can build on last year’s start and add a nice piece at the Trade Deadline. This is an exciting time. 

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    Sam
    1 hour ago, Patrick said:

    A decent front office could have had all of that at 13 or 14 million a year. But BG and ownership ran their mouths.  

    I hope he stays healthy...

    With that long of a contract though? With “capflation” or whatever it’s called?

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    Patrick
    43 minutes ago, Sam said:

    With that long of a contract though? With “capflation” or whatever it’s called?

    With his play style and age 5 years would have been ideal.

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    Imyourhuckleberry
    6 hours ago, Patrick said:

    A decent front office could have had all of that at 13 or 14 million a year. But BG and ownership ran their mouths.  

    I hope he stays healthy...

    $13M was never in the cards with this agent, but if the Wild started at $14M, and initially tried anchoring on that number, it's possible they may have been able to sign him in the $15M range.

    There wasn't any chance that Kaprizov was signing below $14M due to the length of the deal and the increase in salary cap. He may not be better than Draisaitl, but you cannot easily replace Kaprizov either and the Wild now have the cap space to retain a top 10 player--the agent knew they needed him more than Kaprizov needed to accept an offer below $14M.

    He would likely have been making $15M or more no matter who he signed with, but the Wild letting the agent push it to $17M is somewhat unfortunate because it is $1M or $2M less available for adding other pieces around him.

    Guerin may need to sign Gus to a more team friendly deal now. The Wild do have some really good deals, like Boldy's deal, that will help them compete as long as Kaprizov and Boldy can both stay healthy.

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    Pablo

    Pablo 94

    Posted (edited)

    When you pay him, others will want to play with him. BG just made St. Paul a destination for several guys to now want to play their best years at. We have 2 goalie's, a stacked blue line thats getting younger, developing depth on the 3rd line.  Not much is missing if Tarasenko and Yurof have a great season. 
    We got our guy, now go get the cup. 

    Edited by Pablo
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    Citizen Strife
    1 hour ago, Fezig said:

    Now it's time for the Wild to sign a serious "Goon" to make sure that investment is protected.

    Maybe Logan Stanley to get everything full circle?

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    Imyourhuckleberry

    Wild are just over 1 week away from game #1, just 1 preseason game left.

    Zuccarello is going to miss several weeks. Yurov is very likely to be on the Minnesota roster, playing wing and center. Ohgren will likely play a key role at wing on line 2 or 3.

    Buium on PP1 with Tarasenko, Kaprizov, Boldy, and JEE. Should be a fun season ahead. Hopefully Jiricek can limit his mistakes and deliver a better season than Merrill has lately.  Jiricek likely to be on PP2 as well.

    Hopefully Wild can get healthy and stay relatively healthy this season, then make some noise in the playoffs.

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    M_Nels
    6 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    The Wild do have some really good deals, like Boldy's deal, that will help them compete as long as Kaprizov and Boldy can both stay healthy.

    GMBG gets a ton of hate on this site but his Boldy and Ek deals were masterclass. Boldy's contract is already looking like a bargain, couple years from now it'll look like a straight steal.

    Trenin, Moose and Hartman's contracts always seemed a little head scratching but as shown by young'uns in the preseason there's a significant drop off from those 3 in the lineup vs out. 

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    B1GKappa97
    15 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

    Minnesota spent decades trying to get a player of his caliber.  They may not get another for another two decades.  Worth the risk.  Build the team around the players you have, not the ones you "hope" may come here instead.

    Personally I am excited to see what we do during this all-in push.

    The biggest mistake Fletcher probably made that set the tone for a disappointing end to that era was trading for Jason Pominville, who never scored more than 60 points for us, so hopefully Guerin has a better move up his sleeve than that one and we can have more success than those teams did.

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    B1GKappa97
    16 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

    GMBG gets a ton of hate on this site but his Boldy and Ek deals were masterclass. Boldy's contract is already looking like a bargain, couple years from now it'll look like a straight steal.

    Trenin, Moose and Hartman's contracts always seemed a little head scratching but as shown by young'uns in the preseason there's a significant drop off from those 3 in the lineup vs out. 

    Rossi's is honestly pretty epic too.

    $5M for a top-6 60-pt center, and he's still an RFA at the end of it? 

    That gives the team a ton of flexibility depending on how these next 3 seasons go and makes him a far more attractive trade chip to other teams.

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    B1GKappa97
    13 hours ago, Patrick said:

    A decent front office could have had all of that at 13 or 14 million a year. But BG and ownership ran their mouths.  

    I hope he stays healthy...

    It was Craig doing all the talking. BG never said anything other than that they wanted to keep him. Which duh. 

    Agents and teams knew what the salary cap is going to be for the next 2 years. That obviously played an influence in Kaprizov having more negotiating power than players like Draisaitl or Ranntanen had at the time they signed their deals.

    In the scheme of things, is a $4M difference really worth losing Kaprizov to you? So you can add another Trenin? Come on dude. Be real.

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    hydguy75
    2 hours ago, Fezig said:

    Now it's time for the Wild to sign a serious "Goon" to make sure that investment is protected.

    That is exactly what I am thinking too.  Wild didn't add much size or significant skill for this season, so last years' teams already know to shut down the Wild by shutting down KK.  If that's via more physical play directed at KK, we will need that threat of an enforcer, an insurance policy.  

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    Patrick
    7 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    $13M was never in the cards with this agent, but if the Wild started at $14M, and initially tried anchoring on that number, it's possible they may have been able to sign him in the $15M range.

    There wasn't any chance that Kaprizov was signing below $14M due to the length of the deal and the increase in salary cap. 

    You don't know this.  There was no reason to sign him this early at this amount. 

    They should have waited for McDavid. 

    They shouldn't have offered 8 years.

    They should have waited to see if he can stay healthy.

    They shouldn't have opened with "nobody is going to pay more"

    When you sign the largest contract in NHL history for a wing, with injury history, who has never been considered a top 5 player.  You got played.

     

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    M_Nels
    2 minutes ago, hydguy75 said:

    That is exactly what I am thinking too.  Wild didn't add much size or significant skill for this season, so last years' teams already know to shut down the Wild by shutting down KK.  If that's via more physical play directed at KK, we will need that threat of an enforcer, an insurance policy.  

    Moose, Trenin? Lesser extent Hartman, Middleton and Jiricek?

    People complain about their contracts and blocking young guys but you're suggesting adding another 4th line plug??

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    Patrick
    23 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

    It was Craig doing all the talking. BG never said anything other than that they wanted to keep him. Which duh. 

    Agents and teams knew what the salary cap is going to be for the next 2 years. That obviously played an influence in Kaprizov having more negotiating power than players like Draisaitl or Ranntanen had at the time they signed their deals.

    In the scheme of things, is a $4M difference really worth losing Kaprizov to you? So you can add another Trenin? Come on dude. Be real.

    Rantanen signed 3 months ago. Theu knew the cap situation.

    It's not signing another Trenon. It's the difference between signing a guy who can play first line and score 35 and signing a guy who plays 2rd line and scores 25. 

    It's being able to retain Fiala v having to trade him.

    Largest overpay in NHL history.  Go read national forums for an unbiased take. The front office got fleeced.

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    B1GKappa97
    18 minutes ago, Patrick said:

    Rantanen signed 3 months ago. Theu knew the cap situation.

    It's not signing another Trenon. It's the difference between signing a guy who can play first line and score 35 and signing a guy who plays 2rd line and scores 25. 

    It's being able to retain Fiala v having to trade him.

    Largest overpay in NHL history.  Go read national forums for an unbiased take. The front office got fleeced.

    Yes. So they knew that Dallas only had $13M in space, and he took $12M of that. The Wild had $39M in space, Kaprizov only took $17M of that. 

    lol Kevin Fiala is making $7.1M.. they can literally afford 3 Fialas even after signing Kap to this contract next season. 

    If we got fleeced, are you saying you'd rather that we didn't sign him at all? You think that was a solid alternative for the franchise to take? Oh no, they 'overpaid' a superstar by $3M!! How will they ever recover?! 

    Edited by B1GKappa97
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    mnfaninnc
    14 hours ago, Patrick said:

    A decent front office could have had all of that at 13 or 14 million a year. But BG and ownership ran their mouths. 

    I am severely doubting this statement is true based upon the track record of Kaprizov's agent. Just as Rossi had little to no leverage in his situation, Guerin had little to none in Kaprizov's negotiation. His only duty was to get the amount right and spell his name correctly on the contract. 

    Next up, Goose. This negotiation will favor Guerin. I expect a team friendly deal. The good news to all of this is that we can cover the 1st few years of the Kaprizov contract with low budget ELCs coming in this year. Those who need new contracts, Jiricek, Lambos and later OgZ will not get much of a raise, nor have they deserved one. Now is when we need to take advantage of these value players. 

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    Pewterschmidt
    36 minutes ago, hydguy75 said:

    That is exactly what I am thinking too.  Wild didn't add much size or significant skill for this season, so last years' teams already know to shut down the Wild by shutting down KK.  If that's via more physical play directed at KK, we will need that threat of an enforcer, an insurance policy.  

    Isn't that what Foligno, Trenin and Midsy are on the payroll to do.  Please not another: Maroon/Reeves/Brazeau/DLo waste of space

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    mnfaninnc
    47 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

    What was the name of the Swedish center men that we drafted second round and then traded to Buffalo? Was it Jonas Stevens?

    Are you talking way back in the Fletcher era? Johan Larsson.

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    Pewterschmidt
    1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

    Are you talking way back in the Fletcher era? Johan Larsson.

    Thank you.  Yes.  A defense first "responsible 200 ft. player" which is code for zero offense.

    Pewter's Prospect Comp's:

    Ogz = playoff Trenin.  Lot's of energy.  lot's of chasing.  outstretched stick attempting to cut off lanes.  very low hockey IQ.  

    Yurov = Johan Larsson.  At 21 yo after KHL experience i expected more.  very tepid play.  Have yet to see the kid make a hockey play in 5 games.  Breakout passes, or shooting a one timer is not a hockey play.  hockey play = creating offense

    Haight = Marco 2.0?  Of the three, this is the kid with the best chance to help the team the most this season.  kid needs to be prepared to play bottom six minutes (4C) so don't expect much help from your wingers but I'm betting on this kid for this season.

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