Kirill Kaprizov can’t get to the Minnesota Wild fast enough.
The 21-year-old Russian star will play in this week’s KHL All-Star Game and is fresh off scoring another electrifying goal for CSKA Moscow in which he takes control of the puck in his defensive end before racing up the left-wing wall, cutting above the circle and sniping a shot through traffic to light the lamp.
Looks like a casual cruise for Kaprizov. pic.twitter.com/LvvQ2SoOD2
— KHL (@khl_eng) January 12, 2019
Kaprizov, the youngest player on the 2018 Russian national team at the Pyeongchang Olympics, is fourth in the KHL with 20 goals this season.
The goal-thirsty Wild drafted Kaprizov in the fifth round of the NHL Entry Draft and he’s been lighting up the KHL in Russia ever since. But as diehard Wild fans know, Kaprizov is signed with CSKA Moscow through the 2019-20 season and there’s no way to buyout the remaining year on his contract.
“That’s just the way it is,” Wild general manager Paul Fenton said in an November interview with The Athletic’s Michael Russo. “We draft these kids at 18 years old and then we get them at 20 if they’re a junior kid. The way I’m looking at it, this kid will be that much of a better player when we get him in a couple years.”
It’s also been widely reported that Kaprizov didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with the Wild regime led by former general manager Chuck Fletcher.
Fenton made a trip to Moscow recently and met with Kaprizov with the end goal hopefully resulting in the rising star coming to Minnesota for the 2020-21 season, when he’ll still be a youngster at 23 years old.
