Silence surrounds Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild
Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff joined TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked about the situation between the Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov. In the never-ending saga between Kaprizov and the Wild, everything remains status quo.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “And I know the phrase no news is good news, but I don’t know if that’s the case with the Wild and Kaprizov. We spoke with you last week, and I don’t know if there’s been anything trickling out since.”
Anthony Di Marco: “Yeah, I reached out to someone with the Wild, and I said, do I even bother asking about the Russian? And the response was, you know how to read the room? Well, I mean, I just think that they’re trying to keep this tight lip. But speaking with another general manager about this, the response I got was, it either tells me that he wants money that he’s never going to get, or he just doesn’t want to be with the Minnesota Wild.
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To turn down $16 million a year, even with the salary cap rising to instantly become the highest paid player in the NHL, not just the highest paid winger, the highest paid player. And when I heard $16 million, I couldn’t believe it. Like, I thought he was gonna get, like, 13 to 14 to eclipse what we’ve seen guys like (Mitch) Marner and (Mikko) Rantanen got over the last six months or so.
But I mean, it does beg the question of, like, is there any amount of money or any term that would allow Kaprizov to stay? And I’m trying to think, I was like, could he just be trying to angle for a destination like New York or Florida, like we’ve seen many Russians have in the past.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The tune is changing in Minnesota. Before these negotiations began, GM Bill Guerin and Owner Craig Leipold informed everyone that they would pay Kaprizov whatever he wanted, as they viewed him as a “blank check” player.
However, after the report emerged that Kirill Kaprizov had turned down an eight-year contract worth $128 million, carrying an AAV of $16 million, Guerin and Leipold are no longer discussing contract negotiations through the media.
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Guerin made that clear when training camp opened. Though he did reiterate that the team still wanted to sign Kirill Kaprizov. However, during his annual meeting with reporters before the preseason game, when discussing the ongoing negotiations, Leipold told the media that he had “nothing to gain and everything to lose.”
Quite a tone change from #mnwild Craig Leipold during his annual exhibition game meeting with reporters. Will not address the Kirill Kaprizov situation: “nothing to gain and everything to lose.”
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) September 26, 2025
This is what happens when you say you will give a player anything he wants. That is poor negotiating from the start. Kaprizov wants to be the highest-paid player in the NHL. There is pressure from the outside to establish a market for emerging players. However, as NHLRumors.com has reported, it is not just about the money; it’s also about the term.
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