The Minnesota Wild are getting eight additional years to build a Stanley Cup contender around Kirill Kaprizov.

The Wild announced Tuesday that they have signed Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million contract extension that averages $17 million per season.

Kaprizov was set to play the 2025-26 season with $9 million remaining on his expiring contract.

The extension will kick in ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, allowing the Wild to avoid watching a star walk in free agency as Marian Gaborik did in 2009.

NHL insider Frank Seravalli previously reported that Kaprizov’s camp rejected an eight-year, $128 million deal from the Wild in early September.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin said in a September interview on the 10,000 Takes podcast (h/t ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski) that his team remained “in a really positive place with Kirill” despite the reported rejection.

“He’s a wonderful guy. He’s an unbelievable player. And we want him,” Guerin said in September.

Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl set the previous record for the most lucrative contract in NHL history with the eight-year, $112 million deal he signed last offseason.

The Wild went well above that to keep Kaprizov, who turned 28 in April, in Minneapolis through his age-36 season.

Kaprizov was limited to just 41 games in 2024-25 by a lower-body injury that sidelined him for the latter half of the regular season.

He remained one of the most productive players in the NHL when available, racking up 25 goals and 31 assists for 56 points in just half of a season.

Kaprizov returned in time for the playoffs to lead the Wild with nine points (five goals, four assists) in six postseason games against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

His return wasn’t enough to propel the Wild past the first round for the first time since 2015, however, as Minnesota failed to push the Knights to Game 7.

Guerin will now hope that ensuring Kaprizov remains in Minnesota will be the catalyst the Wild needs to build a championship-contending team for the first time in more than a decade.

Kaprizov first broke out as a superstar during his second campaign with the Wild in 2021-22, when he ranked fifth in the NHL with 108 points.

He ranks seventh among all NHL players with 1.27 points per game in four seasons since, according to NHL.com.

Now that Kaprizov’s impending free agency is no longer in question, his playmaking and scoring will be key to the Wild’s playoff hopes as the team makes another bid at the second round this spring.