Wild owner Craig Leipold enthusiastic about signing Kirill Kaprizov to record contract extension

The most important draft pick the Wild have ever made wasn’t even theirs to begin with.

They didn’t have a fifth-rounder going into the 2015 draft because they traded it to Columbus three months earlier to acquire Jordan Leopold after his daughter memorably wrote a letter to “Minnesota Wild Coaches” asking them to trade for her dad.

But after a top-heavy draft for Boston, the Bruins were looking to move picks, and they offered the Wild a fifth for the Wild’s fifth the following year.

On the clock, at No. 135, the Wild circled back to someone they first considered in the second round, a good player but someone who was on the smaller side.

Then-assistant general manager Brent Flahr had scouted him overseas and although there was uncertainty about getting him here from Russia, Flahr figured why not?

“The best player he ever found,” Wild owner Craig Leipold said.

Kirill Kaprizov went from obscure draft choice to the highest-paid player in NHL history when the Wild signed the 28-year-old winger to an eight-year, $136 million contract extension that starts next year.

“He’s got it,” teammate Marcus Foligno said. “He’s got that ‘it’ factor.”

After the Wild drafted him, Kaprizov played in Russia for five more years.

He won a KHL championship and Olympic gold, scoring a “golden goal” in overtime of the final in 2018. The Wild were in constant communication with him, even though his English was “non-existent” back then, Leipold said. Former GM Paul Fenton visited Kaprizov in Russia, bringing Wild merchandise with him, and President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin took a trip, too.

“Are we going to get him?” Leipold recalled asking.

When Kaprizov decided to stay longer in Russia instead of joining the Wild, they were “deflated,” Leipold said.

During his first training camp before the shortened 2021 season, the established players skated in one group and Kaprizov was with “the B squad,” Foligno said, which Kaprizov bluntly pointed out in a group text message.

“I want to be with good players,” Kaprizov wrote (with the help of Google Translate, Foligno suspected).

His teammates laughed it off, but Kaprizov “had his tail between his legs,” Foligno said, even though some interpreted his comment as a compliment.

“We were really happy,” Foligno said, “because Brad Hunt went to me, he goes, ‘He called us good players. He thinks that we’re good.’”

The team knew it was adding a game changer, but the Wild had to see how he’d fare against the best players in the world.

“He’s been great since Day 1,” Guerin said. “Since scoring that goal in LA the very first game, we were like, ‘OK, this kid gets it.’”

Not only did Kaprizov score in his debut Jan. 14, 2021, vs. the Kings in a near-vacant arena due to the pandemic, but it was an overtime winner after two assists, which made him the first NHLer with three points including an OT goal in his first game.

Leipold was watching with his family at home in Wisconsin.

“It was like a surreal moment,” he said. “Little did we know that it was going to be the beginning of what will end up being a 17-, 18-year tenure that he’ll have with our team.”

Leipold knew that first season the Wild had a superstar on their hands, and Kaprizov proved him right.

Before surgery on a nagging injury cost him most of the second half, Kaprizov was on track to reach 50 goals, a scoring spree he restarted in the playoffs when he tallied five in six games before the Wild were eliminated in the first round by Vegas.

“Before he got hurt last year, the pace that he was on, the way he was playing, that was a big eye-opener to how good he really is,” Guerin said. “He put himself in a different category.”

A new contract for Kaprizov was already on the Wild’s radar by then.

They were eligible to sign him to an extension starting July 1 and while the Wild hoped negotiations would get wrapped up quickly, they went on for months.

“You can’t help but wonder, ‘Does he really want to come back here? Is there where he wants to end his career?’” Leipold said.

Leipold was included in only one meeting, in mid-September when the Wild tabled an eight-year, $128 million offer that would have been the richest contract in league history. Kaprizov never said no, according to Leipold, and neither did his agent.

Rather, talks continued.

“It wasn’t about the money,” Leipold explained. “Kirill never asked about the money. He only wanted to talk about the players. He wanted to talk about our commitment. What are we looking for? How can we surround this team? How do we win a Cup? That’s what he was interested in.”

Both sides wanted to get a deal done by Oct. 1, and the lead-up to that deadline was “stressful,” Leipold said.

Then on Monday night, he received word an agreement was in place but since NHL offices were already closed, the Wild couldn’t get the contract approved and had to wait until Tuesday to announce the signing.

Now, Kaprizov could play his entire career here; he’ll be 37 when the contract expires.

“It’s great,” Kaprizov said. “Sometimes you watch … [Sidney] Crosby or [Alex] Ovechkin, guys stay in same team all the time, whole career. It’s pretty fun. Don’t change so many teams and just play for one team, and especially when I came here, Minnesota always helped me so much, wherever, like outside of hockey, in the life and in hockey.”

The total and yearly average ($17 million) are both NHL records, and all but $8 million will be paid to Kaprizov in July 1 signing bonuses.

Leipold was surprised with the final price tag but not shocked; the salary cap is going up, and so is the cost for marquee players.

“It’s our belief we’re going to be able to get other players that still have a lot of hockey tenure or juice in them, and in their last three, four years that they’ll want to come to Minnesota and many cases come back to Minnesota where they’re raised,” Leipold said. “… We have such a good core of players. We need to complement them with other stars, other players that can help us win a Cup. At this point, this is all about winning a Stanley Cup.”

But without Kaprizov, the Wild’s chances to contend would have cratered.