{"id":159723,"date":"2025-09-16T01:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T01:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/159723\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T01:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T01:21:09","slug":"kirill-kaprizovs-wild-teammates-remain-optimistic-he-will-re-sign-he-doesnt-need-the-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/159723\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirill Kaprizov\u2019s Wild teammates remain optimistic he will re-sign: \u2018He doesn\u2019t need the lights\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAKE ELMO, Minn. \u2014 Before Kirill Kaprizov teed off Monday on hole No. 10 at Royal Golf Club for the Minnesota Wild\u2019s annual preseason golf outing, he got a visit from a few of the team\u2019s VIPs.<\/p>\n

Owner Craig Leipold, who wasn\u2019t golfing this year, and CEO Matt Majka caught up with the superstar. The group was all smiles, especially when the local media arrived at around the same time.<\/p>\n

In any other year, this wouldn\u2019t catch much attention. Leipold always attends the event.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t any other year, and Kaprizov isn\u2019t just any player.<\/p>\n

Last week, news broke<\/a> that Kaprizov turned down the Wild\u2019s eight-year, $128 million offer ($16 million average annual value). It would have been the largest deal in NHL history. With Kaprizov entering the last year of his contract, this is one of the biggest storylines entering the NHL season, and definitely the biggest in Wild training camp, which opens Thursday at TRIA Rink. Kaprizov, 28, is the best player in franchise history, and negotiations seem stalled, at least for now.<\/p>\n

Kaprizov wasn\u2019t available to the media Monday but is expected to address reporters Thursday after the first day of training camp. \u00a0Teammates on Monday expressed confidence and optimism that something will get done with the three-time 40-goal scorer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a franchise player,\u201d alternate captain Marcus Foligno said. \u201cHe\u2019s so special, and those guys, you can\u2019t let go, right? It\u2019s going to take time. You look at a lot of the superstars in the league. It\u2019s going to take time. (There are) things they have to go back and forth with. We\u2019re positive that he\u2019ll be around, knowing he\u2019s just focused on the next game and how to win as a team this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was potentially an awkward situation, with the initial report dropping during Wednesday\u2019s captain\u2019s skate at TRIA. Foligno said that in talking to Kaprizov every day, \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get fazed by that stuff. I\u2019m sure he gets tired of talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Jared Spurgeon didn\u2019t think it\u2019d be a distraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the business side of things,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s up to (president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin) and him to go through that stuff. It doesn\u2019t affect us. Everyone goes through it in their career. And everyone has those years where you\u2019re coming into a contract negotiation. We\u2019d love to have him here as long as he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leipold said two weeks<\/a> ago that he felt the Wild and Kaprizov were \u201cnot that far off\u201d on a contract that would likely be the \u201cbiggest in the NHL ever.\u201d Kaprizov last addressed his status and contract in early May at the end of the Wild\u2019s season, saying that he \u201cloves it here\u201d and that negotiations \u201cshould be all good.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the same sentiment he\u2019s been giving teammates, Foligno said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t need the lights or all that stuff,\u201d Foligno said. \u201cHe\u2019s Kirill, man. He\u2019s low-maintenance. He\u2019s excited to be here. He loves everything about Minnesota. He loves the guys, and we love him. I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll work out for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Photo of Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Foligno: Matt Blewett \/ USA Today)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE ELMO, Minn. \u2014 Before Kirill Kaprizov teed off Monday on hole No. 10 at Royal Golf Club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4828,385,99],"class_list":["post-159723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}