You never would’ve known that the Wild are mired in a contract dispute with the best player in franchise history based on the way everybody was acting on Thursday morning at TRIA Rink in St. Paul.
After general manager Bill Guerin spoke to reporters, declining to go into detail about the ongoing contract negotiations, superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov spoke to reporters, as well, smiling big, cracking jokes, and declaring his love for Minnesota.
No barbs being thrown back and forth. No contention to be found. No sign that that Kaprizov and his agent Paul Theofanous reportedly turned down what would’ve been the richest deal in NHL history last week.
All was well as the Wild took the ice for training camp.
It will be hard for to keep the good vibes rolling unless Kaprizov puts pen to paper in short order.
You can only put on a happy face for so long now that everybody is back together in the same locker room.
This will become a distraction for the Wild sooner rather than later if they’re unable to resolve the contract dispute.
It already has to some degree.
Never mind that Guerin tried to drive the conversation toward the Wild and their pursuit of the Stanley Cup during the 30 minutes he spoke on the record. He was forced to answer questions about the contract negotiations.
Never mind that Kaprizov made it clear that he was focused on playing hockey above everything else during the 15 minutes he spoke on the record. He was forced to answer questions about the contract negotiations.
That will be a recurring theme the longer it takes for this process to play itself out. This isn’t going away anytime soon. Not with how much the Wild are banking on Kaprizov to be the straw that stirs the drink for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, the fan base has been freaking out ever since news broke about Kaprizov, and for good reason, especially considering the precedent set once upon a time by former superstar winger Marian Gaborik.
It was hard not to go down the rabbit and think about when the Wild were unable to work something out with Gaborik and they ended up losing him for nothing in the end.
That should serve as a cautionary tale.
As much as the Wild want to work something out with Kaprizov, if that doesn’t come to fruition in the near future, Guerin might have to at least consider entertaining the idea of trading him to the highest bidder to make sure he gets something for him.
As the contract negotiations wear on, more questions continue to pop up, all of which need answers.
Is this Kaprizov not wanting to lock himself into a certain dollar figure while the salary cap continues to rise? Is this Theofanous simply trying to squeeze every dollar out of the Wild before finally making a deal? Is this going to be in the rearview mirror when the Wild play the St. Louis Blues in the opener in a few weeks?
The fact that nobody knows the answer to any of those question is proof this has already become a distraction for the Wild. This going hang over the heads of everybody involved until there’s a resolution.
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