The Minnesota Wild and superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov continue to work away on a contract extension, and while recent reports indicate that the two sides aren't close to an agreement, at least one member of the national media believes they will find common ground. Not only will Kaprizov be extended, it'll be a historic deal that keeps the 28-year-old in St. Paul.
During his Insider Report on Tuesday, Frank Seravalli answered questions about what is happening around the league, and one of them involved the Kaprizov negotiations. His reply starts at the 7:09 mark of the video:
"I would imagine that Kirill Kaprizov gets a deal north of what Leon Draisaitl got from the Edmonton Oilers. I would ballpark somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 years times $15 million. That's just a guess. No matter what, it's going to be a significant, significant deal, the richest in Minnesota Wild history. So, take that part to the bank. And, obviously, they're working away on that deal."
It's been almost a year since Edmonton signed Draisaitl to the 8-year, $112 million contract that makes him the player with the highest cap hit ($14 million) and highest current salary ($16.5 million) in the league. With the factors being what they are in Minnesota (plenty of cap space and the need to keep the best offensive player in franchise history) it's certainly within reason that Kaprizov "gets the bag" as Seravalli put it earlier in his comments.
The largest contract extension in franchise history went to Brock Faber just last summer when he agreed to an 8-year deal worth $68 million contract that kicks in this season. Kaprizov won't quite double that deal, but it will come close.
Seravalli's prediction jibes with what The Athletic's Michael Russo had to say earlier in the week. Russo is also confident that Kaprizov will be the games highest paid winger once a deal is agreed upon, but also reported that the two sides are still pretty far apart when it comes to getting it done.
"From what I've checked up on the last couple of days, they are not close. I think at this point they're going to take a little bit of a breather, and when Kaprizov gets back into town, I think that then Bill Guerin will meet with him and make sure that everything is being conveyed to him and not lost in translation."
According to Russo, Guerin was recently on vacation in Europe and Kaprizov is in Russia. Getting everyone in the same room usually is the best way to come to a solution. It's still too early to panic about a deal not getting done for him. If the negotiations start dragging through the season and there is still a gulf between the two sides around the trade deadline, then maybe it's okay for a little nervousness to creep in for the fan base.
No matter what Kaprizov signs for, it's likely to only top the NHL pay charts for a short time considering Connor McDavid is playing out the final year of his contract. Expect his next deal to dwarf anything that has been put to paper for a player in the history of the league.