July 1, 2025 | 11:48pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com

WILD FOCUSED ON KAPRIZOV, WITH ROSSI TALKS ONGOING

Kirill Kaprizov, forward

The Minnesota Wild have prioritized signing star forward Kirill Kaprizov to a contract extension this off-season, GM Bill Guerin told reporters on Tuesday.

“Like I’ve always said Kirill is priority No. 1 and I’ll be talking to his agent later today,” Guerin said earlier this evening. “We chatted for a bit last night and we’ll just keep moving along.”

Kaprizov, 29, is in the final year of a five-year, $45 million contract and is now eligible to sign an extension with the Wild.

Talks between Guerin and Kaprizov’s agent, Paul Theofanous, remain active, as Guerin mentioned, and the two sides are expected to keep in constant communication as they try to hammer out a new mid-to-long-term deal.

Kaprizov’s next deal could see him earn at least $14 million per season. Anything above that figure would give him the highest AAV in the NHL.

Meanwhile, the Wild also remain in talks with restricted free agent centre Marco Rossi and his agent, but the two sides remain far apart on a new contract.

“We like Marco, he had a very good year for us. He’s a good hockey player,” Guerin said, “but we have a structure in our pay that we have him slotted in at a certain level, and that’s just the way we’re doing our business. This is nothing personal. We want him back, and we’ll hopefully get to a resolution sooner than later.”

Guerin added that he is not concerned about a potential offer sheet for Rossi and indicated the Wild are fully prepared to match any offer that Rossi signs, if he agrees to one with another club.

“I’m not concerned. We’re prepared. We will match,” Guerin stated. “It’s not an issue with us. I think when you’ve seen them (offer sheets) in the past that have been successful, maybe the teams weren’t fully prepared for it. But yeah, we are prepared for it. We’d rather make a deal with Marco.”

Rossi’s agent also represents defenceman K’Andre Miller, who agreed to a sign-and-trade with the New York Rangers and was shipped to the Carolina Hurricanes.

It is possible Rossi follows a similar path as Miller, but it does not seem as if those conversations have happened to this point.

Guerin also admitted that he hopes “we can be involved in other things as we go along,” and is open to making a move for a big-time player.

“Big players end up moving,” Guerin said, naming the likes of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and Mikko Rantanen as recent examples. “It’s just a matter of being involved in that sort of stuff.”