Kirill Kaprizov and The Minnesota Wild are Still Far Apart on a New Extension
Michael Russo of The Athletic joined Jason Gregor on the DFO Rundown Podcast on Monday and was asked about Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild. Russo stated that Kaprizov and the Wild are not close on a new contract.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Jason Gregor: “But in Minnesota right now, I’m sure the big story is the Kaprizov extension. So let’s start there. Obviously, Bill Guerin has been very aggressive. He’s never afraid to make big moves. Re-signing Kaprizov is a no-brainer, I would think. But what are you hearing? Is he going to surpass (Leon) Draisaitl? What do you think he’s going to get on his deal?
Michael Russo: “I think he’s definitely going to surpass Draisaitl. And not that Draisaitl is not the better player, but one, it’s a different year. Two, this is a different situation. This is one franchise that has never had a superstar like Kaprizov. It is imperative that they get him done.
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And it’s not going to be for 14. He will become the highest-paid winger in the National Hockey League. And the question is, how much and how long, and if he does it. I mean, look, I think Wild fans would have loved to get this done on July 1.
Bill Guerin has been extremely publicly confident that they are going to get it done. But from what I checked over the last couple of days, they are not close. It is going to be one of those things. I think this point, they’re going to take a little bit of a breather here. And when Kaprizov gets back into town, I think that then Bill Guerin will meet with him and just make sure that everything is being conveyed to him and not lost in translation.
He’s in Moscow, Bill just got back from Europe from a holiday. And then his agent is Paul Theofanous, who also has several clients and is a busy man as well. And so when the Wild had a contract dispute with him before he signed his five year contract, it went right up until the eve of training camp. And Bill Guerin finally went down on, got on a plane, flew down to Miami, met up with Paul Theofanous, and Kirill Kaprizov was able to hammer out the deal in person, face-to-face, and then get him on a private jet back here to Minnesota.
I think it’s going to be one of those things where they’re probably the three of them, and Mat Sells, their assistant general manager at some point are going to have to get together and probably get this done. And the question is kind of like McDavid, Jason, is does he want to sign for eight years, or does he want to go shorter?
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There’s definitely a chance if, I don’t want to say if I’m Kirill Kaprizov, but if I’m him, and I’m playing for a franchise that hasn’t won a first-round series since 2015. He might be willing like, ‘All right, I’ll make a commitment. But you know what, I’m only going to give you three or four years, and then we’ll, we’ll see where you are.’ And it puts a little pressure on the organization to build a true contender here.”
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