Kirill Kaprizov, Wild Agree to 5-Year, $45M Contract Extension

The Thrill is alive and well in the Twin Cities.

The Minnesota Wild re-signed left winger Kirill Kaprizov to a five-year, $45 million deal, ending a stalemate with the reigning Calder Trophy winner as the NHL's rookie of the year. Both the Wild and the winger celebrated the deal on social media Tuesday.

Kaprizov had been flirting with a return to Russia's KHL as contract talks reached a stalemate over the past few months, but that was all resolved Tuesday with a massive contract handed down by an NHL club that's only seen him play 55 games total.

In that time, however, Kaprizov proved worth the hype, posting 51 points (27 goals, 24 assists) and setting franchise records for goals by a rookie and points by a rookie in Minnesota.

Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin preached patience and calm throughout contract negotiations with the restricted free agent, repeatedly telling those who asked that the deal would "take care of itself."

That it did, but not without an unprecedented amount of money agreed upon first.

Per The Athletic's Michael Russo:

"Not only has Kaprizov's $9 million average annual value superseded captain Jared Spurgeon's $7.575 million cap hit as the largest in Wild history, Kaprizov enters his sophomore season with the highest AAV with the fewest number of games played (55 regular-season games) since the NHL implemented the salary cap in 2005-06."

"According to CapFriendly, he is now tied for the 18th highest-paid forward annually in the NHL and tied for the ninth highest-paid winger."

"But after waiting 5 ½ years for Kaprizov to arrive in the NHL after drafting him in the fifth round in 2015, and then seeing him deliver as the team’s leading scorer in an abbreviated season, the Wild had no choice but to pony up from the outset."

Kaprizov, 24, is arguably the most electric player in the NHL whose name isn't Connor McDavid, and the Wild weren't going to let him go back to Russia without a fight. That resulted in a massive commitment that will shape the direction of the franchise for at least the next five years.