The Thrill Stands Alone

Looking around the NHL, it’s hard to find a player who is more essential to their respective team than Kirill Kaprizov is to the Minnesota Wild. Kaprizov is widely looked at as the best player to ever put on a Wild sweater. In just six seasons in Minnesota, Kaprizov seems to rewrite Wild history every time he steps onto the ice, and tonight was no different as he scored his 220th career goal to pass Marian Gaborik for the most in Wild history. A fifth-round draft pick in 2015, Kaprizov has transcended into a superstar, the highest paid player in NHL history and the cornerstone piece of an organization that confidently believes it can build a Stanley Cup dynasty around him.

To most, 200-plus goals in the NHL is a lot. For Kirill? Not so much. When he scored the 200th goal of his career back on Nov. 28 against Colorado—postgame in the locker room he shrugged, saying “200 goals? Not a lot,” with a smirk on his face. When asked if goals 219 and 220 feel any different, he echoed the same feeling, “If you watch other players who have 500, 600 or 700 (goals), I feel like 200 is not a lot.” On the same token, he did admit that having the record is special, “It’s always nice to break some records and you feel better when you see this and want to keep going. It feels good, it means a lot to me for sure, but I don’t think about it anymore. It’s nice to have this record.”

It’s easy to assume that his favorite or most memorable NHL goal would be the first of his career, which happened to be in his first NHL game—an overtime winner against the Los Angeles Kings in a game in which he had three points (1-2=3), but it was another goal against the Kings in his rookie year that sticks out to Kaprizov. “It was not a big move or something. It was against LA when I passed to Brodes (Jonas Brodin) on blueline, he shoot to the net, I get the rebound and behind the net I do a wraparound like I was almost laying down.” Listening to him describe the goal like it was the one that broke the record, is almost as impressive as the goal itself. It’s just one of the many highlight reel plays Kaprizov has made over his NHL career.

“Kirill the Thrill is real!” was the call Wild play-by-play announcer Anthony LaPanta said after Kaprizov scored the overtime winner against Los Angeles, and he wasn’t wrong. Since entering the league, Kaprizov ranks fourth in the NHL in power-play goals (77), fifth in goals and 12th in points (220-241=261). Kaprizov has been nothing short of dynamic since exploding onto the scene on that October night in Los Angeles.

While tonight is a celebration of goals, Kaprizov is looking to celebrate something much bigger in Minnesota—a Stanley Cup. He understands the pressure that comes with his record-breaking contract and the expectations of being a star player. “I feel for sure a little pressure always, but it’s nice pressure. When your team won, it’s a better feeling. When your team is sometimes losing and your game is not there, you feel pressure on yourself.” No one wants to win more than Kaprizov. He’s been a winner on every level he’s played at, from the KHL to an Olympic Gold Medal in which he scored what he deems his favorite career goal, the Golden Goal in a 4-3 overtime win against Germany in 2018. He believes in Minnesota as much as Minnesota believes in him.

“I don’t know if I’m best player to ever play for this team, there’s a lot of good players who play right now and play before me,” Kaprizov said when asked about being considered the best player in franchise history. “It for sure feels good. When you go somewhere, or see someone, they always recognize you and always say good luck.” While the best player in Wild history can be debated, one thing that can’t be is the fact that Kaprizov wants to win, not for himself, but for his teammates and this State.