Kirill Kaprizov's New Contract: A Key Focus for the Wild’s Offseason Moves

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild We have entered a crucial off-season, now able to fully engage in free agency once more after two years of substantial salary cap limitations.

With no victories in the NHL playoffs over the past decade, the necessity to develop a stronger team lineup around their talented youth is crucial for the organization—placing significant responsibility on General Manager Bill Guerin throughout the current offseason and leading into the next season.

"I'm more excited than anything. It's been a long couple years, just dealing with this stuff and honestly just hearing about it," said Guerin, who has been in his role for six years. "I want high expectations. I'm not doing this job sit in the corner or anything. These are big jobs. These are important jobs. There's a lot of people out there who love the Minnesota Wild, and I'm trying to deliver something to them. We all are."

The first order of business is clear: an extension for Kirill Kaprizov . The star left wing has one year left on his current contract.

"I'm very confident we're going to get a deal done with Kirill. I think he really loves this market and this team," Guerin said on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center, five days after the Wild were eliminated on their home ice. "I think he feels that we're going in the right direction."

Kaprizov, who has 386 points in 319 regular season games and 21 points in 25 playoff games with the Wild, said as much over the weekend.

I adore everything here," Kaprizov stated. "It should all be fine.

The Wild only narrowly secured a playoff spot partly due to Kaprizov missing half the season following surgery for a lower-body injury. In their six-game defeat against them, he managed five goals and four assists. Vegas Golden Knights In the opening round of the series, Kaprizov demonstrated unequivocally that he had completely recuperated.

"Their sole desire is to emerge victorious, and I believe this indicates positively that our squad has what it takes to achieve success. We are nearly within reach," stated the left winger. Marcus Foligno , reflecting on the three straight one-goal losses that finished the series, including two in overtime. "I've got 100% confidence that we'll get him here long term. Or I'll just rip up his visa."

Guerin made the bold move four years ago of buying out the contracts of franchise cornerstones Zach Parise and Ryan Suter . The fresh start for team chemistry came at a cost, particularly for the last two seasons with the buyout charges accounting for about 17% of their salary cap. Those hits will be drastically reduced for 2025-26 and beyond until they're gone. Parise has since retired, and Suter just finished his season with the St. Louis Blues .

"I like to be aggressive. I don't want to sit on my hands at all. I'm kind of tired of doing that," Guerin said. "Since I walked through the door, my goal has been to build a championship-caliber team for this market, and that's what I want to do. I don't want to sign any stupid contracts or anything like that, but I want to make this team better than it is today."

The Associated Press provided contributions to this report.