*Photo from USA Today*
The biggest young star in the NHL is officially back. The Minnesota Wild and LW Kirill Kaprizov have agreed to a 5 year, $45 million deal, with a $9 million AAV, according to an announcement made by the Wild. Kaprizov was an RFA, and, after much publicized following his contract talks, he's finally back in a Wild jersey.
Asked about his new contract, Kaprizov said "I'm so happy. It's good for me, it's good for the team. Now I just want to play hockey and to be with my teammates and just play hockey. I talked to my teammates tonight, everybody texted me and said, 'Congratulations, we're happy.' And I texted back, 'Thank you, I'm happy too.'"
In his rookie season, Kaprizov scored 27 goals and added 24 assists, with a +10 plus/minus in an ATOI of 18:18, being every bit of what was promised, playing in 55 regular season games last season. In 7 playoff games, Kaprizov two goals and one assist, with the Wild being eliminated in the first round by the Vegas Golden Knights.
In addition to instantly making the Wild bounds better than projected, Kaprizov took home the Calder trophy at the NHL awards, winning rookie of the year. In just his first NHL season, he led the Wild in goals with 27, total points with 51, average points per game with 0.93, and overtime goals, with two. He also added 3 game winning goals.
Wild GM Bill Guerin said of signing Kaprizov that "This is a great day for our organization and for Kirill personally, for us as a team to have him back in the mix before training camp starts. Everything is positive. It's been a long process like we knew it would be, but everything is great. We're looking forward now."
Kaprizov didn't just lead the Wild in multiple categories. He led NHL rookies in goals, points, power play goals with 8, and shots on goal with 157. He ranked second among rookies in even strength points with 38, and power play points with 13, while finishing in a 3rd place tie for plus/minus among rookies.
Despite the deal, Kaprizov is likely to miss some time at the start of Wild training camp, which has now begun. He'll likely be quarantining after arriving in Minnesota from Russia on Tuesday night. Regardless, he will be ready to go for opening night, when the Wild face the Anaheim Ducks on October 15.
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