The Minnesota Wild were the first team to secure their pending free agent superstar to a new contract. After reports circulated that Kaprizov turned down an eight-year, $128 million contract, the belief was that he would be hitting the open market next summer. Instead, a matter of weeks later, the Wild signed Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million contract extension. At $17 million per year, Kaprizov is the highest-paid player in the NHL.
Since then, two of the other top superstars set to hit free agency next summer decided to re-up with their teams. However, they were more "team-friendly." Connor McDavid agreed to terms on a two-year, $25 million contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers. Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights agreed to terms on an eight-year, $108 million contract. McDavid is making $12.5 million per year, while Eichel is making $13.5 million annually, significantly less than Kaprizov.
Of course, the focus went back to Kaprizov since he is now the highest-paid player in NHL history. General manager Bill Guerin spoke with The Athletic after the Eichel deal was announced on Wednesday, and said he has no regrets about the contract he signed Kaprizov to, despite the "team-friendly deals" other stars agreed to terms to.
Wild GM Bill Guerin has no regrets about Kirill Kaprizov contract after team-friendly Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel deals
“Look, everybody’s got a price to where they want to play in their market, and Kirill is worth that to us. He’s that important to us,’’ Guerin told The Athletic. “And we couldn’t take the chance of letting him go. That’s great for those other teams, but it’s still great for us that we have him for nine years. And yeah, Jack is at $13.5 million, and that’s great. But Kirill is that important to us. If we let him go or we even flirt with it, who knows? The worst-case scenario is definitely that he leaves. It’s worse than paying him $17 million.”
Guerin does bring up a valid point. The Wild were not in a position to lose Kaprizov next offseason. If they did, any chance of them winning a Stanley Cup in the near future would be slim to none. Minnesota had to keep Kaprizov at whatever cost.
The McDavid and Eichel situations were much different. McDavid wants to win a Stanley Cup, and wants to do so in Edmonton. So, he took a short-term deal with a cheaper than expected annual salary to give the Oilers more financial flexibility to put together a championship-caliber roster. Eichel, meanwhile, publicly said that he wanted to stay in Vegas, putting to rest any talk about free agency. So, he signed a long-term deal in the McDavid range in terms of annual salary.
The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun does bring up that the Wild do have disadvantages when it comes to signing top players, such as Minnesota not being a tax-free state and cold winters, while the organization doesn't have a winning tradition like others in the league.
Guerin and Wild ownership couldn't risk losing Kaprizov to free agency, because there would undoubtedly be a team looking to pay him top money. Even though the Wild gave Kaprizov a significantly high-priced contract, they have no regrets.