It’s not often a rookie comes into the NHL and immediately earns himself an insane amount of money. Though, it’s also not often players like Kirill Kaprizov come around. So after a 55-game introduction to the NHL last season, during which he scored 27 goals and 51 points for the Minnesota Wild, the 24-year-old Russian has signed a beefy extension with the club after a tense restricted free-agent negotiation process.
Also, A+ social media content from the Wild.
https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1440439998566711299?s=20
With five years at a $9M AAV on paper, Kaprizov is here to stay in Minnesota and will now have the delight of terrorizing the Central Division as the NHL realigns back to normal after the 2020-21 season.
So, good luck to the Blackhawks having to deal with him for the next five years, at least.
Well… he is Kirill the Thrill, right?! 😉
The #mnwild has signed forward Kirill Kaprizov to a five-year, $45 million contract ($9 million average annual value) that goes through the 2025-26 season.
More » https://t.co/aVDUFyFlK2 pic.twitter.com/QbpFSJIIPJ
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 21, 2021
The Wild were propelled last season because of Kaprizov, and he has finally made the Wild relevant again in the NHL. Along with young forwards like Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jordan Greenway, plus rising prospects like Marco Rossi and Matthew Boldy, the Wild are going to be an absolute PROBLEM to deal with in the Central Division.
But, their window to get things done is very small after the dual buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Basically if they don’t do the thing (win the Stanley Cup) this season, it’s going to be a long trip through salary cap hell for them until 2025.