SALT LAKE CITY – As if Kirill Kaprizov didn’t do enough during his league-leading seventh three-point game Friday night in Anaheim to again take over the NHL scoring lead, the Wild superstar and early favorite to win the Hart Trophy then showed, in Yakov Trenin’s words, his heart five minutes after helping the Wild become the first team to hit 40 points this season.
After first acknowledging Reese Johnson’s Wild debut in his postgame speech, Kaprizov passed along the HARD “Hero of the Game” chain to Trenin – “the Russian Machine” — for scoring his first goal in 26 games with the Wild into an empty net from 110 feet away.
It was also Trenin’s first point in 21 games.
When producing points comes as easy to a player like Kaprizov, it would be easy take for granted the hardship a long drought could pose for a teammate. But Kaprizov knew how much it had been weighing on his countryman, which is why he was pumping his arms excitedly on the bench after Trenin scored.
“It’s first goal for him. It’s always exciting,” Kaprizov said. “It’s nice it happens. It’s hard when you don’t score in how many games, 25, and then you score — it should be a big deal.”
you thought we’d keep this one away for you?? ⛓️ pic.twitter.com/t1DPni8mtS
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 7, 2024
Trenin, who then registered his first goal streak with the Wild the next night in L.A., was touched how excited all his teammates were for him. The bench was jubilant, with players hugging each other, pumping their fists and Marco Rossi giving Trenin a water bottle shower during his celebratory fly-by.
“Everybody was so happy to give me knuckles,” Trenin said. “It’s so special.”
trenin goal!! first for the wild and the bench is celebrating!!! pic.twitter.com/egTPhMsGMk
— nikki ☽ (@kingfleury29) December 7, 2024
In coach John Hynes’ mind, when your best player shows that much awareness, it speaks volumes about Kaprizov’s character.
“He really is down to earth,” Hynes said. “He’s a great player, a competitor, but he’s a team guy. He’s involved in all the team. You can tell his teammates love him because he treats everyone the right way.
“You go on the road and guys go to dinner or guys go out on their night off. He’s right in the mix with everybody else. That does bring a team together when you have a star player like that that’s just one of the guys. Off the ice he’s one of the guys.”
GO DEEPER
The story behind the Wild victory chain: ‘Choose your hard,’ Hartzy’s workshop and a new team attitude
On a team that doesn’t generate a ton of chances (the Wild rank 25th in expected five-on-five goals for, according to MoneyPuck) but still ranks 13th in goals per game (3.19), Kaprizov has scored or had an assist on 42 of the Wild’s 86 goals.
Kaprizov, 27, who has rewritten the Wild record book in his five seasons, has 372 points in 304 games. That’s fifth on the Wild all-time. If he keeps his current pace, he could actually pass Marian Gaborik’s 437 points (502 games) for second this season.
Kaprizov is currently tied for first in league scoring with 42 points and ranks first in points per game (1.62), even-strength points (32) and points on the road (10-18-28). He’s tied for first with 14 multi-point games, tied for fourth with 17 goals and seventh with 25 assists. He’s fourth among NHL forwards in average ice time per game (22:22). He has factored in on 10 game-winning goals (four goals, six assists), most in the NHL.
SECONDS AFTER BOESER HIT THE POST, KIRILL KAPRIZOV WINS IT FOR THE WILD IN OT!#mnwild pic.twitter.com/2Rm2MDT2zF
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 4, 2024
The definition of the Hart Trophy is “most valuable to his team.” Considering how many hockey writers predicted the Wild to not make the playoffs, if they do and he keeps up this 54-goal, 132-point pace, Kaprizov will be right in the mix for the Hart Trophy come voting in April.
“Guys like (Kaprizov), they have the ‘it’ factor,” defenseman Zach Bogosian said. “I think what makes Kirill so impressive is how hard he competes on pucks. He wins a lot of stick battles, and you gotta realize too he’s playing against every single night the other team’s top pair that are trying to shut him down, and generally more defensive forwards that are trying to shut him down, and that line down.
“And just to see how he can create offense against guys that are defensive minded, that’s impressive.”
Hynes has seen Hart Trophy seasons up close and personal. He was in New Jersey when the Devils traded Adam Larsson to the Oilers for Taylor Hall. During his second season in Newark, Hall scored 39 goals and 93 points to lead the Devils into the playoffs, just edging Nathan MacKinnon for the Hart.
“When Taylor won that year, it was very similar to Kirill in the sense of the way they practice, there’s a mission in practice and the way they come into every game, just the competitive level, the drive that they play with and the consistency level,” Hynes said. “To get to that level, to be the MVP, it’s the consistency of your play at a high, high level, and that year he was like that.
“We were a semi-rebuilding team and no one picked us for playoffs. … But he was almost … at times he was like unstoppable. He just found different ways every night. It would be off the rush. It would be net-front goals, power-play goals, similar to what’s going on (with Kaprizov). But to me what stands out is the level of consistency that he was able to play with.”
Even with sidekick Mats Zuccarello injured, Kaprizov’s showing he’s not solely dependent on Zuccarello. He’s produced with Marco Rossi or Joel Eriksson Ek at center or Matt Boldy on his wing.
“It’s so much fun,” Rossi, who has nine goals and 23 points in 27 games, said of playing with Kaprizov. “(Boldy and I) know he’s on a heater right now, so we just try to support him.”
He’s also been double-shifted a lot in games with the third and fourth lines depending on circumstance and situations.
In the last 10 games without Zuccarello, Kaprizov has seven goals and 12 points.
“He can drive the line, whatever line he’s on,” Hynes said. “Kind of with Taylor that year and then looking at Kirill, they can play on any line. It’s not just like he needs someone to get him the puck. He can play with Zuccy and they have that chemistry. He can play with Ekky and Bolds and they have chemistry. Then I can throw him out with Marco and Bolds or you can put him out with (Marat Khusnutdinov and Devin) Shore because he plays the game — he plays all aspects of the game.
“He can forecheck. He can play in the O-zone. He can attack off the rush. He can score at the net front. So it’s not like he needs a particular style of player to play with. Whatever the game is, he can play it and that’s I think another component of being able to be that consistent.”
Like his partner in crime, Zuccarello, Kaprizov is often self-deprecating when self-assessing. In Anaheim, the Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy line combined for four goals and nine points.
As Trenin said hilariously, “It was too fast for my brain. Probably the same for Anaheim. Boom, boom, backdoor, backdoor.”
Wild goals never get old #EastToCelebrate x @budlight pic.twitter.com/93BTO7nenN
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 7, 2024
But Kaprizov said, “With Zuccy and Ekky out now, we just try and put us together. We play before a couple shifts sometimes in different games, but today we play whole game together. I feel like Marco fast, Bolds fast. I’m a little bit fast and just feel each other a little bit, just try and create offense and enjoy playing together.”
And, frankly, that’s the key with Kaprizov right now.
Hart Trophy-level or not, the Wild are winning routinely. In fact, Tuesday night in their first-ever trip to Utah, they’ll try to avoid losing consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season.
But the vibes are great inside the Wild room right now. As Bogosian said, “Winning does that for teams and cultures,” and you can just see the joy on Kaprizov’s face every time he walks into the rink and certainly when he walked out after another productive night.
“It’s just team, you know?” Kaprizov said when asked how he maintains the level he’s playing at. “Team keep winning, and it’s easy to play myself and it’s easy to play for the whole team and just love to come to the rink. Everybody’s smiling, joking around, and have some fun and same you go in the game you jump on the ice and you just try to show your best. That’s it.”
(Photo of Yakov Trenin celebrating his goal: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)
