The Minnesota Wild are getting eight additional years to build a Stanley Cup contender around Kirill Kaprizov.<\/p>\n
The Wild announced<\/a> Tuesday that they have signed Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million contract extension that averages $17 million per season. <\/p>\n Kaprizov was set to play the 2025-26 season with $9 million remaining on his expiring contract.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n NHL insider Frank Seravalli<\/a> previously reported that Kaprizov’s camp rejected an eight-year, $128 million deal from the Wild in early September.<\/p>\n Wild general manager Bill Guerin said in a September interview on the 10,000 Takes podcast<\/a> (h\/t ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski<\/a>) that his team remained “in a really positive place with Kirill” despite the reported rejection.<\/p>\n “He’s a wonderful guy. He’s an unbelievable player. And we want him,” Guerin said in September.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The Wild went well above that to keep Kaprizov, who turned 28 in April, in Minneapolis through his age-36 season.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n