Wild star Kirill Kaprizov is set to get a huge payday and become one of the league's highest-paid players

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Tom Banks
November 4, 2024 (3:36 PM)

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The Minnesota Wild have pinned all their hopes and dreams on Kirill Kaprizov, and now it appears they are ready to pay him a huge amount of money.

After a down season a year ago, Kirill Kaprizov is off to a red-hot start in 2024/25, with an incredible 21 points in 11 games seeing him tied for the league lead in points with Florida's Sam Reinhart. Although he may not be an unrestricted free agent until the summer of 2026, talk of a new contract is brewing once more in Minnesota, and according to top Insider Elliotte Friedman, it could result in him getting a huge new deal.

"I don't look at Kaprizov as he doesn't have a trophy or he doesn't have 120 points in a season, I look at what that team looks like if he is not there and how important he is to that team and that organization.

"He's a Wild," said Friedman. "They drafted him, a steal, they brought him over... they have invested him and he is one of theirs. That is a Minnesota Wild success story."

Despite reports that The Thrill wanted to leave Minnesota for the Chicago Blackhawks, it appears as though the team is ready to do whatever it takes to keep him after all they've invested in him.

"When I say that I think he's gonna be in the [Auston] Matthews [Leon] Draisaitl range I believe that," said Friedman. "I think this guy is gonna be one of the top-paid players in the league because I think the Wild know that if he hits the market everyone is going to be chasing after him and he's that important to their franchise."

"To me, this is gonna be a massive number and they will happily pay the massive number because they know he's worth that to them," said Friedman.

With the Wild having little else to hang their hats on beyond an up-and-coming star in the net, they'd be a lost franchise without Kaprizov, so it makes sense to give him whatever deal he likes. At 27 years of age, the Russian star has plenty of prime ahead of him, and if the Wild want any hope of winning their first Stanley Cup, locking him up will be the biggest and most important move to make.