ST PAUL, Minn. — After a rollercoaster ride of an offseason, the Minnesota Wild and star forward Kirill Kaprizov have reached an agreement that will keep the Russian phenom with the club through the 2025-26 season.
On Tuesday, the Wild announced they agreed to a five-year, $45 million contract fresh off a groundbreaking season where he took home the Calder Memorial Trophy – the first in franchise history – after leading all NHL rookies in scoring and goals scored.
"I'm happy to get this done," Kaprizov said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "From Day 1, it seemed evident that the team was obviously really happy, and now I just want to focus on hockey and play the game and play it right."
Kaprizov joined Wild general manager Bill Guerin at a press conference at the team's headquarters in St. Paul Wednesday where the two discussed the deal and expectations moving forward.
"We have high hopes for this season, and getting this deal done with Kirill was big for our team, big for the organization, and big for the fanbase, and we couldn't be happier," Guerin said. "I appreciate the work that Kirill put into it, because he was very involved. It was a good process all along the way."
Guerin flew to Florida where Kaprizov had been staying in anticipation of getting a deal done. The GM said meeting face-to-face was key to finalizing an agreement, reflecting that it's easy to play hardball on a phone call or over zoom.
"I give Kirill and his agent a lot of credit for planning ahead and planning for the future and getting here with ample time to quarantine and get vaccinated and do all the things that really would have taken weeks," Guerin said.