The Minnesota Wild have signed left wing Kirill Kaprizov to an NHL-record eight-year, $136 million contract extension through the 2033-34 season, general manager Bill Guerin announced Tuesday.
The contract includes a large signing bonus, sources told ESPN.
The deal is the highest in NHL history in terms of total money and average annual value ($17 million), breaking the marks previously held by Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin ($124 million) and Edmonton Oilers standout Leon Draisaitl ($14 million AAV).
Ovechkin’s deal was a 13-year pact signed in 2008, when the NHL had different term limits.
The news comes one week before the NHL season started after prolonged extension talks between Kaprizov’s camp and the Wild, in which Kaprizov turned down a deal that would pay him $16 million annually.
The NHL and NHLPA have already announced significant jumps in the salary cap for the next three seasons after COVID slowed down growth for several years.
The 28-year-old Kaprizov had 25 goals and 31 assists and a plus-19 rating in 41 games during the 2024-25 regular season. Over five seasons with the Wild, he has scored 185 goals and 386 points in 319 games.
Kaprizov, a 2015 fifth-round pick, is already one of the best players to ever suit up for the Wild. The winger holds single-season franchise records in points (108), goals (47), power play goals (19) and is the only player in franchise history with multiple 40-goal seasons,
Owner Craig Leipold made several public comments over the past few months projecting confidence that the deal could get done, claiming no other team could offer a richer contract than the Wild.
The eight-year deal will be one of the last in the NHL, as the new CBA will limit players re-signing with their own teams to a seven-year maximum deal. Free agents will be capped at six-year deals, rather than seven.
