Leipold Says Re-signing Kaprizov Is 'A Priority'

The Minnesota Wild are able to sign their superstar Kirill Kaprizov to a contract extension on July 1 and talks have already been swirling for months now. Obviously, the team wants to keep their best player and one of the best wingers on the planet. So much so that in a recent Q&A, Wild owner Craig Leipold made it clear that a whole lot of focus is going into that contract negotiation.

“Well, it’s a priority,” Leipold told NHL.com. “There’s no doubt. There’s no doubt. We want Kirill. He’s a big part of our future. We know that. Billy [Guerin] has already been thinking about it. How do we go about this? We’ve got to figure out exactly what the cap’s going to be. It’s an important part of our strategic plan to get him signed for as long as we can.”

Leipold brings up an important aspect to this. We are not certain what the salary cap ceiling is going to be for the 2025-26 season and where it can grow from there when Kaprizov's hypothetical new deal kicks in. From there, they can carve out a percentage to keep Kaprizov. And with the cap reportedly going up at least several millions of dollars in the coming years -- certainly more -- we could be seeing a massive number.

But who cares? Kaprizov is electric and the Wild need him. Sign the papers, please.

That's Wild

• The upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off tournament will tell us a lot about Wild general manager Bill Guerin and head coach John Hynes, as they both have important roles for Team USA. [Hockey Wilderness]
• The Edmonton Oilers are visiting the State of Hockey on Thursday night and they know they are facing a tough task for a "very dangerous" Wild team. [NHL.com]

Off the trail...

• ESPN's trade tier big board list thing is up. From would-be-very-shocked moves, to likely candidates to find a new home by the end of the season. [ESPN]
• Canucks head coach Tocchet is hoping that the adversity his team is going through can eventually lead them to glory. [Sportsnet]