ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov, who has yet to reach the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his three seasons with the Minnesota Wild, said he is determined to help turn those fortunes around this season.
"I'm staying calm but for sure extremely motivated, extremely hungry, and the fire's been lit for sure," the 26-year-old forward said after a recent practice. "Every year you learn from your mistakes. You take those losses and you learn from them. You try to get better. You learn."
Kaprizov said he still feels the sting of the Wild being eliminated last season; they led the Dallas Stars 2-1 in the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round but lost the last three games by a combined 11-3 and the series in six.
He said he also felt he wasn't at his best physically at the end of last season; he missed 13 games down the stretch with a lower-body injury sustained in a 4-2 win at the Winnipeg Jets on March 8. Kaprizov returned for two games prior to the playoffs but was nagged by the injury and said he felt it kept him from being 100 percent.
Kaprizov said he is now fully healthy and ready to turn the page.
"You continue to improve in the offseason," he said, "and like every year, looking forward to the year, to have a much better year to learn from my mistakes, to put those learnings to action and have a much better season."
Kaprizov, who's been Minnesota's leading scorer in each of his first three NHL seasons, can hardly be singled out for blame regarding the Wild's failure to advance past the first round during that span. Selected in the fifth round (No. 135) of the 2015 NHL Draft, he has 234 points (114 goals, 120 assists) in 203 games.
He was voted the Calder Trophy winner as NHL rookie of the year in 2020-21, when he had 51 points (27 goals, 24 assists) in 55 games. He followed that by signing a five-year, $45 million contract ($9 million average annual value) on Sept. 21, 2021.
Kaprizov had 108 points (47 goals, 61 assists) in 81 games in 2021-22 and 75 points (40 goals, 35 assists) in 67 games last season.
He also has 12 points (10 goals, two assists) in 19 playoff games; the left wing was limited to one goal in six postseason games last season but had eight points (seven goals, one assist) in six games in the 2022 playoffs.
"It'd be hard for him to be better," said Ryan Hartman, the center on the Wild's top line between Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. "But he's got so many levels to his game. He's not your typical goal-scorer that's lazy and just kind of finds his pass. He battles and he gets in on the forecheck, he hits guys and gives it back to guys. He's so hard to take off the puck.
"He plays the game the right way. And we all feel frustrated [with the way last season ended] especially when you see a guy like that do everything."
Coach Dean Evason agreed.
"We were all disappointed with where he got hurt and playing two hockey games before the playoffs," Evason said, "and he told us at the end-of-the-year meeting that he was disappointed that he wasn't able to do what Kirill Kaprizov can do and he tried, obviously.
"His work ethic is tremendous and yeah, he's excited about getting started here."
Minnesota goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has had a close-up view of some of the game's elite players. A former teammate of Pittsburgh Penguins centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Fleury said he sees a lot of similarities with Kaprizov.
"[Kaprizov] doesn't cheat going into corners," Fleury said. "Those guys, they play hard on everybody, and they go up and down the ice. They love the game. ... It shows how much they love the game. It is fun to see such a talent and such a passion for the game."
A passion that has Kaprizov not putting expectations on himself, but rather playing his best hockey night in and night out, and doing his best to help the Wild advance in a playoff series for the first time since 2015.
"I'm not a big fan of guessing or setting expectations ahead of time," he said. "I'm going to show up and do the best I can and I expect the team to do the same, to be the best that we can, and that's what I expect from myself and from the team. Obviously, the goal is to make the playoffs and do really well in playoffs, and that's what we're going to strive for."
