After a season of great promise and great frustration, Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov said the one thing that will not be a part of his next few months is any additional surgery.
His fifth NHL season was limited to just 41 games due to a midseason lower body ailment that required an operation, but after being a serious candidate for league MVP before Christmas, he returned to post nine points in six playoff games. In the coming days or weeks, he will travel back to the small Russian village where he says he feels most comfortable, away from the spotlight that shines so brightly on him in the NHL.
The warmer months will be spent with friends playing video games, hanging out on the water and occasionally fishing – something Kaprizov admitted he has never done in Minnesota despite the state’s propensity of places to wet a line. While he is relaxing, more than one Wild fan will be waiting anxiously to see just what Kaprizov’s future in red and green may look like.
The Wild have exclusive rights to sign Kaprizov to a contract extension on July 1, before he would become an unrestricted free agent a year later. At the start of the recently-completed season, there was talk that Kaprizov could command $12 million or more per year. After what he did on the ice before turning 28 during the playoffs, that speculation has inflated to $15 million or more. His current contract pays $9 million per year.
None of those numbers are important to Kaprizov, he said on Sunday in his first postseason meeting with reporters. All of his contract matters are in the hands of agent Paul Theofanus and Wild general manager Bill Guerin.
“This is my agent job, (to) talk with Billy. But we will see,” said Kaprizov. “I love everything here. But (it) should be all good. I don’t know what to say.”
Even before Kaprizov’s early-season heroics, Wild owner Craig Leipold vowed in the preseason that no team would offer more money or years to the offensive wonder. For the player to say things should be “all good” with the Wild are encouraging words, but none of it matters until a contract is signed. In the meantime, he will be back in his small town home, living a kind of reclusive life which sounds similar to summertime in Bemidji or Brainerd or other small towns that Wild fans know well.
“Last year I just stayed home all the time. I don’t go anywhere. I don’t like it,” he said. “I like staying in my village, don’t see a lot of people, just stuff like this. It’s like, simple life there. Just do nothing. Just go with the friends, see friends, go practicing then go fishing or something, camping. Simple, simple. Stay with family. Maybe go vacation with family if my family want. But I don’t, I just want to stay home.”
He also said that Minnesota has become like a second home over the past five years. Wild fans are definitely hoping he wants to stay “home” when the contract extension offer comes.
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