{"id":550470,"date":"2026-04-11T17:33:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T17:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/550470\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T17:33:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T17:33:36","slug":"playoff-kirill-coming-back-is-the-key-to-the-wilds-fortunes-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/550470\/","title":{"rendered":"Playoff Kirill Coming Back Is the Key to the Wild’s Fortunes – Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThis Minnesota Wild season has been defined by two superstars playing at the peak of their powers, and somehow, neither has been Kirill Kaprizov<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tInstead, the oxygen around this team has been consumed by Matt Boldy<\/a>‘s breakout 40\/40 season and Quinn Hughes<\/a>‘ revelatory arrival. Heck, they’ve already claimed one of hockey’s greatest prizes, earning Olympic gold in February.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Kaprizov has had an incredible season by just about anyone’s standards, except perhaps his own. Maybe it’s his impending NHL-record contract that’s warping our view of Kaprizov’s 45 goals and 44 assists, but the reaction to his gaudy stats ranges somewhere between Ho-hum, and That’s all ya got?\u00a0This attitude isn’t coming strictly from the stands, either. As recently as two weeks ago, Kaprizov told the media<\/a>, “Can’t score. I just need to be better.”\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe good news is that it’s nearly Kaprizov’s favorite time of year: the playoffs. Since that March 28 confessional (and subsequent four-day schedule break), Kaprizov has run off three multi-point efforts in five games, including a hat trick in Sunday’s 5-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings and two goals against the Dallas Stars in a 4-5 loss.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCoincidence or not, Kaprizov always seems to heat up as the year comes to an end. April is easily his best month historically, with 38 goals and 66 points in 51 career games — a 61-goal, 106-point pace over 82 games. Those hot finishes also usually translate to the playoffs.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKaprizov had a relative flop in his first playoff series (two goals, three points) and wasn’t healthy for Minnesota’s 2023 series against the Stars (one goal, zero assists). Even so, his postseason career is mind-boggling. With 15 goals in 25 games, he’s one of the most prolific playoff goal-scorers of the NHL’s modern era.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMost Career Goals Per Game<\/a>, Postseason, Since 1943-44 (min. 10 GP)\n<\/p>\n

\t\tMario Lemieux<\/a>, 0.71<\/p>\n

\t\tMike Bossy<\/a>, 0.66<\/p>\n

\t\tBarry Pederson<\/a>, 0.65<\/p>\n

\t\tMaurice Richard<\/a>, 0.62<\/p>\n

\t\tDoug Bentley<\/a>, 0.62<\/p>\n

\t\tCam Neely<\/a>, 0.61<\/p>\n

\t\tKIRILL KAPRIZOV, 0.60<\/p>\n

\t\tWayne Gretzky<\/a>, 0.59<\/p>\n

\t\tNathan MacKinnon<\/a>, 0.58<\/p>\n

\t\tJim Campbell<\/a>, 0.57<\/p>\n

\n\tFolks… Is it good to be ahead of WAYNE FREAKING GRETZKY on a list like this???\n<\/p>\n

\n\tRegardless of the nitpicks you (or Kirill himself) might have with his season, there’s a ton of power in having a player who can put up a 45\/45 season in an “off” year. And with Hughes in the fold and Boldy taking The Leap<\/a>, this will be the most supported Kaprizov has been for a playoff run, ever.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe biggest question for him in the postseason is whether he’ll be able to produce at 5-on-5 on his current line with Ryan Hartman<\/a> and Mats Zuccarello<\/a>, or if Minnesota will have to play him with Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek<\/a> to maximize offense. But credit to Hartman and Zuccarello — they, too, are peaking at the exact right time.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter scuffling for most of the season, Hartman is now on an eight-game point streak that’s seen him notch seven goals and 12 points. Zuccarello is also having arguably his best stretch of the season, with a goal and 10 assists in his past six games, including three helpers against the Stars.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Kaprizov can continue to drive the bus with that line, it’s as big a difference-maker as you can imagine in a series against the Stars. Dallas boasts a deep top-nine at forward, but when Kaprizov and Boldy are producing on separate units, the Wild can match that depth.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut if Minnesota is forced to put Kaprizov and Boldy together for entire games, that equation swings heavily to the Stars. Dallas having high-end talents in Mikko Rantanen<\/a>, Jason Robertson<\/a>, and Wyatt Johnston<\/a> means that it would be difficult for a loaded top line to overwhelm Dallas.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBoldy’s emergence and Hughes’ superstardom give the Wild their best shot at a Stanley Cup since… 2003? Ever? But for Minnesota to have a chance at a deep run, they’re going to need to see the same Kirill they saw in 2022 and 2025. Fortunately, it looks like that version of Kirill is arriving at the exact right time.\n<\/p>\n

\n 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<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Minnesota Wild season has been defined by two superstars playing at the peak of their powers, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[5,537,161,38,5280,4,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-550470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-kirill-kaprizov","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-wild","12":"tag-minnesotawild","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116387276796614276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}