Kirill Kaprizov Wants to Ditch Minnesota Wild for… Chicago Blackhawks?
Kirill Kaprizov is the best player in Minnesota Wild history, and it’s not all that close. Since entering the league in 2000, the Wild have been void of big name stars. A team constantly getting mediocre playoff results out of mediocre NHL talent.
That changed when Kirill Kaprizov, a 5th round pick back in 2015, finally arrived overseas from Russia. Immediately, it was clear that he was different. Going into his fifth NHL season, Kaprizov already holds Wild record for points (47) assists (61) and goals (108), in a season, all set in 2021-22. Kirill has also climbed to 4th all-time in goals (160) and 7th all-time in points (330).
At 27 years old, and just entering his prime, a long-term contract for Kaprizov makes a lot of sense, even though he still has two full seasons remaining on his current deal. And the Minnesota Wild would love to lock him up for as long as he will allow. But it’s not that easy, and the Wild have yet to really convince Kirill that they be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. So, to this point, no deal.
Kirill Kaprizov wants to go to the Chicago Blackhawks?
And some are starting to wonder if a deal will get done at all. On a recent episode of The Athletic Hockey Show, Chicago Blackhawks reporter Mark Lazarus, said “absolutely, I’d be worried” about Kirill Kaprizov leaving Minnesota, if he were a Wild fan.
Not only would he be worried about Kirill leaving The State of Hockey, but he has steam that is much, much worse. At the NFL Draft, Lazarus reports that he heard from multiple people, both inside NHL organization and outside them, that Kirill Kaprizov “wants to come to Chicago next year”.
Something? Yeah, that would be something alright. It would treason. Unforgivable treason. Not only does Kirill Kaprizov want to leave Minnesota, but he wants to jump over to our biggest in-division rival? A hockey rivalry that outdates the Minnesota Wild organization by decades?
It would be Minnesota Wild treason…
Can you think about the mutiny we’d have on our hands? The Kaprizov jerseys burning on the streets… Hell, Norm Green might lose his foothold on the the local block-letter T-Shirt industry. Wow, what a rumor bomb to drop this early into NHL training camp.
Listen yourself: The Wild talk starts just before the 43-minute mark of Monday’s The Athletic Hockey Show episode. Lazarus is not high on Minnesota, entering the season. He thinks their over/under win total is too high. He dives into his Kaprizov steam at 44:25 mark. You’ll hear the same thing I transcribed above, but the backpedal you’ll read below is even more foolish, if you actually listen.
The Lazarus backpedal
Of course, since the moment this podcast was aggregated on Twitter and Lazarus’ quotes started to reach social media masses, Lazarus has been on the backpedal. I mean, Deion Sanders in his prime-level backpedaling. But before you give his backpedal the time of day, listen to the podcast clipe yourself (below). Because it sounds way worse than it reads.
Lazarus knew exactly what he said, because as soon as word got out on Tuesday, my man was backpedaling faster than Deion in his prime. ‘I didn’t say that’, ‘I didn’t mean it like that’, ‘a lot can still happen’… He pulled out every excuse in the excuse computer.
