In some ways, Wild fans should appreciate being in the limelight after Kirill Kaprizov reportedly turned down an offer of the NHL’s biggest contract. It’s the second to last time anyone will talk about the Wild, with the last time being when either they have to trade Kaprizov in the next few weeks, or when he toddles off somewhere else to probably get paid what the Wild would have paid him if asked.
This is life for the Minnesota Wild, and the fear in St. Paul is that Kaprizov has come to realize it. They are the NHL’s weigh station. They are scenery. They are NPCs. It’s why most of their fans watch the Golden Gophers instead.
Make no mistake, Kaprizov is the best player the Wild have ever had. Certainly the most talented. If he were to pack up and shove off, when the Wild couldn’t make it much clearer how much they love him and want to keep him, then it would only further illustrate that no one takes the Wild all that seriously.
There is no plan or blueprint for the Wild going forward that doesn’t involve Kaprizov. They may be excited about Marco Rossi, and Brock Faber, and Matt Boldy, and Zeev Buium. But all of that hinges on having a true, top-five winger in the sport anchoring the whole project. If Kaprizov leaves, the Wild are just a team that might not have a #1 center, and only one possible top-line winger in Boldy, and a really good top pairing one day with Buium and Faber but nothing behind it. It would be more filler for a team that’s been filler for its entire existence.
Perhaps this is what Kaprizov has come to realize. He’s piled up 386 points in 319 games playing alongside the likes of Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello. Fine players, but the type of players who star in hockey’s version of Branson. These are not Broadway players (and let’s not rule out Kaprizov having eyes on replacing Artemi Panarin on literal Broadway in 2026). Kaprizov may want to see what his goal- and point-totals could be with a genuine #1 center passing him the puck, which he’s not going to find in Minnesota anytime soon.
For the Wild, there’s really only one play. They have to offer him more money. They can’t sit there with the same contract offer on the table that he already told them to do one over and just hope…for what? He gets hurt? Has a change of heart? A fabulous new restaurant opens down the street from his house?
But once the Wild hang that motza ball out there, they’ll really be up against it. What if he turns that down? Then it’s clear that he doesn’t want to be there anymore. Which would lead to the question of who would? The Wild’s pitch of, “Come freeze your ass off and play with some decent enough players and never win a playoff round” isn’t going to win a lot of hearts and minds on the free agent market. Sure, there could be a future Zach Parise, who is from the area and is desperate to play at home. Minnesota is always producing players. Gotten the Wild a ton, hasn’t it?
No, when Kaprizov exits stage anywhere, as it certainly feels like he wants to, everyone will know what they already know. The Wild are not a place for special players. They’re just there to be part of someone’s arc, to be “from somewhere.” To be the staging ground for another fanbase to discover what they’d been missing when said former Wild ends up there. They’re just The Pledge, and yesterday was another lesson in that.
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