The Minnesota Wild have offered Kirill Kaprizov a lot of money. What if he’s hesitant to sign a mid- to long-term deal?
Worst Seats in the House Podcast: Michael Russo and Anthony LaPanta talk about the Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov’s contract extension situation. Will the Wild go in the $16 million range on an eight-year deal? At what point do the Wild get concerned and start considering other options?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Russo: “You know, I chatted a little bit with about Kirill Kaprizov. Nothing that really needed to be a story, because we’ve, we’ve written the same thing over and over again. But the goal is, when Kirill gets back into town at some point after Labor Day, significantly after Labor Day. I think he’s coming, you know, it was when I talked to Billy about 10 days from them.
I think that he’d like to sit down with them. I believe they’ve offered him a ton of money, Anthony, even more than I thought. I think they, on an eight-year deal, they’re willing to pay him even in the 16 range.
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We’ll see. But as of now, it hasn’t been done. Billy still is voicing optimism and confidence that it will get done. But the longer this goes, the bigger concern there is because, you know, you don’t sign a contract like this, you have to start to question if he really wants to be here. The Wild believe he wants to be here, but the next month will be really telling, in my opinion, with Kirill.”
LaPanta: “Well, for sure, it will be. And I think if you’re the Wild, I don’t know how long you keep that offer on the table. I think it’s, if your numbers are right, if he’s being offered eight times 16, and he doesn’t jump at it or sign it before training camp starts, I think you’re in a spot where, all right, well, this tells us, this answers our question. If you’re not willing to commit to us right now at this number, a number that is will exceed what your total package can be from anybody else.
Because, like we talked a couple weeks ago, if you start to do the math and say, All right, the why, let’s say the wild have offered him eight times 16, it’s $128 million. Well over a six-year contract with somebody else, which will be the limit if he decided to become a free agent. Now you’re talking about $21 million a year from somebody else.”
Russo: “I’ll tell you, is that the league did, the player Association confirmed in Milan that the rules won’t go into effect till next September, so the Wild lose a little bit of leverage there. He will be able to sign a seven-year deal somewhere else eal somewhere else.”
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LaPanta: “So, let’s even say it’s seven, it’s still got to be at 19 (million) to match eight times 16 right now. And that’s a, that’s a lot to assume that that’s going to be out there.”
Russo: “Yeah, especially if you have another year where you get hurt and all that. I don’t know how you don’t take this deal. But, you know, maybe, look, maybe Kirill comes here and says to Billy, you know, I want to sign a five year deal and to meet whatever Kirill wants, he gets. Bonuses…”
LaPanta: “In terms of term.”
Russo: “Right. Exactly. You know, and…”
LaPanta: “I think, I think that’s true, as long as it’s at least, it’s got to be at least five years. If he came and said I only want to sign a three-year deal, there’s no way the Wild can give him that kind of money and say, Okay, we’ll just go three years and then be sitting in the same spot.”
Russo: “Right.”
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LaPanta: “But if you know, if he came and said, I really only want five years, because I want to, I want to know five years down the road that I’ve got a chance to go somewhere else, if I think it’s a better fit. I don’t know. I think if I was the Wild, it’s not like you’d walk away from that deal, but the.
I always hate talking about these negotiations, because you never have any idea what’s really happening when you’re not involved in those discussions. And I know even when you do your reporting and diligent reporting, it’s not, you’re not hearing exactly what both sides are saying.”
Russo: “Right.”
LaPanta: “And both sides are probably telling you a little bit about what they want the message to be, as opposed to, like, you don’t know what’s actually happening there, and you don’t know what other teams might be, even though I know technically they’re not. Those guys know, they know what other teams would hint that, ‘hey, if he was a free agent, we’d be thinking this kind of stuff.’”
Russo: “Well, that would be my biggest concern with Kirill. Is like, look, even though that we know, quote, unquote, tampering doesn’t exist, it does. And the longer this goes, it’s just, you’re just giving their side more intel and then figuring out who might come after him, and, and, and all that type of stuff. You’re allowing them to maybe, you know, float some things.
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So I just think, the longer this goes, the more concerning it gets. But again, we’re just going to trust the fact that, that nothing’s changed here in the last two or three weeks. You know, everything I’ve been hearing from sources is that, that some point when Kirill gets back here, that there’s going to be a conversation, and he isn’t back here. So, so…”
LaPanta: “That would be the point where concern would rise. If he comes back, and he’s been back for a week, or two weeks, and nothing has budged. Then I think, as a Wild fan, there would be time to start to wonder like, ‘Uh-oh, now what’s going to happen?’”
Russo: “Yep.”
LaPanta: “But let’s just say, if you go down this road, let’s just say that, that the Wild offer what you’ve said, that you think they’ve offered, and Kirill drags his feet. What would you do if you’re the Wild?”
Russo: “I think you’d asked him for some teams that he’d be interested in going to.”
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LaPanta: “You almost have to, don’t you?”
Russo: “Absolutely.”
LaPanta: “Because you can’t, you can’t get to pass this year’s trade deadline and say, ‘we’re just going to let one of the greatest players, the greatest assets that this franchise has ever had, walk away for nothing.’ There’s no way you could let that happen.”
Russo: “Well, I mean, you almost need to do it immediately, and start the process immediately. I mean, after what happened to (Marion) Gaborik, hurt five games into the 2008-09 season.”
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