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The fast-changing economics of the NHL are now on full display as star Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov has reportedly turned down an eight-year, $128 million contract offer that would have been the largest player pact in league history.
The proposed extension with Minnesota would have set new marks for both overall contract size and annual average value, at $16 million. The contract refusal arrived this week as the Wild plan to start training camp Sept. 18.
Likely fueling Kaprizov’s decision, however, is a sharp escalation projected for the league’s salary cap. That spending limit, now at $95.5 million for the upcoming 2025–26 season and up from last year’s $88 million, is estimated to jump to $104 million in 2026–27 and $113.5 million in 2027–28. That increase, fueled largely by accelerating revenues in the sport, means that the NHL salary cap will spike by more than 25% over a three-year period.
Any individual player can sign for as much as 20% of a team’s salary cap, meaning that waiting could yield an annual salary of more than $20 million. Kaprizov is in the final season of a five-year, $45 million contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. A top offensive player since his arrival in the NHL five years ago, Kaprizov has logged three 40-goal seasons. At 28, he could now be entering his prime years.
Wild GM Bill Guerin said he remains optimistic the contract situation with Kaprizov will be resolved.
“Kirill’s agent [Paul Theofanous] and I have a very good relationship. We’re working through things,” Guerin said on the 10,000 Takes show late Wednesday. “We’re not going to let things like this get in the way.”
That comment echoed one earlier this month from Wild owner Craig Leipold in which he said, “This will be a huge deal—likely the biggest in the NHL ever. There’s no better human being or better hockey player or better person than Kirill. I think it will be a good conversation that we’ll have with him. I’m very anxious and looking forward to that conversation.”
The outcome will have significant ripple effects around the league and locally with the Wild, a team that in 25 years of existence has reached the conference finals just once—back in 2003.
Many of the same issues are also playing out in Edmonton as Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, a three-time league Most Valuable Player, is weighing his future options. He is entering the final season of an eight-year, $100 million contract, but he has been eligible to sign an extension with the Oilers since July. Widely regarded as the league’s foremost talent, McDavid will be well in line to max out his compensation, regardless of whom he signs with or when.
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