One wait for Kaprizov is over, now another begins

ST. PAUL -- It's a bittersweet day for Wild fans all over the State of Hockey.
Kirill Kaprizov, the team's fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, the kid fans have only seen on highlight-reel packages and YouTube videos, has finally signed his two-year, entry-level deal.
That's the good news.

Unfortunately for those that have been so eager to watch Kaprizov finally pull on a Forest Green and Iron Range Red sweater over his shoulders, the No. 97 on his back flapping in the breeze, his debut with Minnesota will have to wait a few more months.
The bottom line for the Wild: Kaprizov will not be allowed to play in games when Minnesota heads to Edmonton to begin qualifying round play against the Vancouver Canucks on Aug. 2, but he will be allowed to practice with the team.

Everything that happens between now and then will be an effort by the Wild to get Kaprizov comfortable with his surroundings: the Twin Cities, Minnesota, his new teammates, the practice facility and Xcel Energy Center are among those boxes that need to be checked.
Learning a whole new culture, polishing his English skills, which reportedly have improved over the past couple of years and getting him settled off the ice will be some of the others.
All of that, Wild General Manager Bill Guerin said, will be done once he arrives in North America.
"He's got a great personality, very outgoing," Guerin said. "Funny things happen when you're just surrounded by other guys in the locker room and you're hockey players, you figure out a way to communicate. I think that'll be really good for him, just to be surrounded by these guys.
"I think it will be good for him, for his transition period, for just getting acclimated to life in North America, to see how the National Hockey League is run and how our team is run and to be quite honest with you, how good the players are. It's the best league in the world with the best players in the world, so he'll have a good time in transition, and I think it's going to be really important."
But the thought of Kaprizov on the ice for Opening Night 2020-21 already has the general manager excited. And why not? Wild fans have been clamoring for Kaprizov since he burst onto the international stage in 2017 when he scored nine goals in seven games for Russia at the World Junior Championships.
The following year, Kaprizov, who was the youngest player on the Olympic Athletes from Russia team in Pyeongchang, South Korea, scored the "Golden Goal" to help the Russians win the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics. It was one of five goals and nine points he scored in six games in the tournament.
Two other general managers before him were unable to get him signed and in the fold, and Guerin was asked about wooing the elusive Kaprizov at his introductory press conference last August.
He won't have to worry about those questions any longer.

"I will be honest with you," Guerin said with a smile creeping across his face. "It feels really good to get this done. We're excited to have Kirill in the mix."
It's not every day that a franchise adds a player with the type of youth and skill to the mix.
Kaprizov has led the Kontinental Hockey League in scoring each of the past two seasons, including 33 goals in an abbreviated 2019-20 season. While 33 goals in the NHL would be a great year, the KHL is viewed as a significantly lower-scoring league.
Unfortunately for the Wild, he won't be able to join the on-ice fray in a game until potentially December. But it's not just the offensive numbers that has Wild coach Dean Evason excited for the future.
"Honestly, his compete level," Evason said. "I've said this before, that the limited video that I've watched -- I've seen highlights of him, obviously, scoring goals and what have you -- but what I was most impressed with was when he went into corners or a 50-50 puck against another guy, he came up with those pucks, and if he didn't he was competing his butt off to do that.
"That's exciting to me, because clearly he has the skill level to score, the skill level to pass, skate, shoot, all of that, but his compete level is something that came across very clearly on the video, and as Billy said, we're jacked to get him going over here and through his career."
Related:
- Wild signs Kaprizov to two-year, entry-level contract - Guerin remains optimistic regarding Kaprizov contract