Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov may have only played five seasons in his NHL career, but he can already reasonably be labeled the most talented forward in franchise history.
In those five seasons, Kaprizov has set multiple team records, including most points and most goals, and became the quickest player in team history to reach 300 career points.
As if that weren’t enough, Kaprizov also holds the Wild record for most power-play goals in a season, along with the fewest games needed to reach 30 points in a season.
Kaprizov is also in need of a new contract, as the five-year, $45 million deal he signed expires next offseason.
Latest Update On Contract Negotiations Between Kirill Kaprizov And Minnesota Wild
Not only are the Wild mired in a contract standoff with forward Marco Rossi, but they’ve also yet to get Kaprizov, their franchise cornerstone, to agree to a new long-term extension that would keep him in the Twin Cities for the foreseeable future.
A new report from NHL insider Michael Russo, in response to a fan’s question about the lack of progress in negotiations, painted a rosier picture for Minnesota fans. According to Russo, Wild general manager Bill Guerin would prefer to meet in person with Kaprizov, who returned home to his native Russia during the offseason.
In May, Guerin said he was “excited” about re-signing Kaprizov while noting that no other NHL team would be able to offer him a more lucrative contract.
“My expectations are to get him signed. That’s it,” Guerin said. “I’d like to get it done as soon as I can. Obviously, everybody knows how important Kirill is to the team and to the organization and to the market. He’s a star player. So, yeah, that’s priority No. 1.”
“Nobody can offer him more than we can. What Craig said [in the preseason] is true. It’s true,” Guerin continued. “I’ll just say that I’m very confident we’re going to get a deal done with Kirill. I think he really loves this market and this team. I think he feels that we’re going in the right direction. He’s got a good relationship with [coach] John [Hynes]. He’s got a good relationship with me, and it’s just a matter of working through it.”
Kaprizov, whom the Wild selected with the 135th pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, has 185 goals and 201 assists in 319 regular-season games, plus 15 goals and six assists in 25 postseason games.