Confirmed Signing with Link: [MIN] Kevin Fiala re-signs with the Wild (1 year, $5.1M)

[JAK]

This is total revisionist history. The Kings didn't plan on going into a rebuild. They just stunk so bad they started trading off guys on expiring contracts because it didn't make sense to keep them. They didn't trade Toffoli and Martinez until the 2020 trade deadline, at which point they hadn't won a playoff game in three years. It's nowhere near comparable to where the Wild are right now.

Some people are forced into situations that are not their doing.

Some are.

It doesn't matter.

What Minnesota has to face is the reality of the large buy out dead cap space in the next few years

 

[McJedi]

It’s a bluff. The kid doesn’t want to play there. If he is willing to skip a prime year or his career over whatever issue they’re having with the contract then he’s not the guy they want to build around anyways.

A bluff? He stayed there over playing for the Wild for years when he was more than good enough/ready to come over to the NHL…. several seasons ago.

hardly a bluff. He clearly likes playing in Russia. He is Russian after all. Moscow is a pretty awesome city. Probably especially so when you’re local, rich and famous.

 

[McJedi]

Monster year? 6M doesn't buy a monster year.
35 pts. in 42 gp is a nice PPG. He was vg last year. Good complimentary top 6 player. Smart, skilled... knows how to play with Kaprizov. He was disappointing the 1st year, but it turns out he was playing injured.

If he can score at .7 pts./G clip he'll be worth his contract. He certainly will not be have negative value if he is anything like he was last year, and in NY.

We’ll see. He’ll need to have a big season to have trade value at $6mm AAV. He’s got three more years on this deal. 2 after this upcoming season. That won’t be easy to move in a flat cap era unless you’re taking back a contract. He’s 33 after all. Teams getting his 34 and 35 year old age season. This isn’t a good contract. Wasn’t when it was signed. Still isn’t.

 

[Digitalbooya]

The only thing that would worry me about Holloway(besides the fact that he is a prospect, and not proven) is that apparently he is more of a natural winger. This is according to an EDM poster who saw him play in ALTA. I know he played some C in WI, but I keep seeing a power forward/W when I see him. I think he will be a good middle six forward, but I don't think he has the skill that Fiala has.

I disagree with a lot of what is said here.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Isn’t next year the main issue with the cap? Then everything after that is “manageable”? (I’m actually asking. Not trying to be an ass)

No, there is $13-15M of dead cap each year for years 2-4.

 

[bleedgreen]

A bluff? He stayed there over playing for the Wild for years when he was more than good enough/ready to come over to the NHL…. several seasons ago.

hardly a bluff. He clearly likes playing in Russia. He is Russian after all. Moscow is a pretty awesome city. Probably especially so when you’re local, rich and famous.

Yeah....I know his story. It’s a bluff. If it isn’t trade him because he doesn’t care about playing here.

 

[McJedi]

Yeah....I know his story. It’s a bluff. If it isn’t trade him because he doesn’t care about playing here.

Isn’t it obvious by now he has no interest in playing out his career on the Wild. Minnesota is just a stop on his way to his next team. He’s another Panarin. He wants a contract term that takes him to UFA in year one of his eligibility. It’s not that far away. He could just play in Russia vs signing a longer term deal in Minnesota he appears adamantly against.

it’s obvious your GM won’t get the term he wants here. Nor a team friendly AAV ($9mm) on that 7 year term. Maybe he does a Fiala and signs one year for less.

 

[kp61c]

Isn’t it obvious by now he has no interest in playing out his career on the Wild. Minnesota is just a stop on his way to his next team. He’s another Panarin. He wants a contract term that takes him to UFA in year one of his eligibility. It’s not that far away. He could just play in Russia vs signing a longer term deal in Minnesota he appears adamantly against.

it’s obvious your GM won’t get the term he wants here. Nor a team friendly AAV ($9mm) on that 7 year term. Maybe he does a Fiala and signs one year for less.

They won't give him anything less than 4 years. Kaprizov has no choice here actually, he will be forced to sign the deal that Minnesota wants. But they will pay for it eventually, playing hardball with your best player is not a good basis for a healthy relationship.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

They won't give him anything less than 4 years. Kaprizov has no choice here actually, he will be forced to sign the deal that Minnesota wants. But they will pay for it eventually, playing hardball with your best player is not a good basis for a healthy relationship.

Actually, what they won’t do is bend over to guy with not a lot of other real choices.

 

[Bazeek]

Isn’t it obvious by now he has no interest in playing out his career on the Wild. Minnesota is just a stop on his way to his next team. He’s another Panarin. He wants a contract term that takes him to UFA in year one of his eligibility. It’s not that far away. He could just play in Russia vs signing a longer term deal in Minnesota he appears adamantly against.

it’s obvious your GM won’t get the term he wants here. Nor a team friendly AAV ($9mm) on that 7 year term. Maybe he does a Fiala and signs one year for less.

I'm curious to see how this analysis changes after he signs for 4-5 years at ~$9m AAV.

They won't give him anything less than 4 years. Kaprizov has no choice here actually, he will be forced to sign the deal that Minnesota wants. But they will pay for it eventually, playing hardball with your best player is not a good basis for a healthy relationship.

The actual fight here has always been over UFA years: Kaprizov wants to give up 0 on this contract and Minnesota wants to buy 5. If they compromise at 1-2 UFA years no one's getting "bent over" unless you think any compromise on the player's part is unfair.

At a certain point this is just complaining about the NHL's RFA rules, which... fine, complain about them. But the team didn't somehow implement them unilaterally and isn't applying them in a way that every team in the league doesn't do. These same rules are applied to every player in the NHL; Kaprizov isn't being singled out for unfair treatment.

 

[kp61c]

Actually, what they won’t do is bend over to guy with not a lot of other real choices.

Yes, they will bend him over and congratulate themselves on a job well done, but that makes Kaprizov a goner in four years for sure.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Yes, they will bend him over and congratulate themselves on a job well done, but that makes Kaprizov a goner in four years for sure.

No, they won’t. They will negotiate.

 

[McJedi]

I'm curious to see how this analysis changes after he signs for 4-5 years at ~$9m AAV.


The actual fight here has always been over UFA years: Kaprizov wants to give up 0 on this contract and Minnesota wants to buy 5. If they compromise at 1-2 UFA years no one's getting "bent over" unless you think any compromise on the player's part is unfair.

At a certain point this is just complaining about the NHL's RFA rules, which... fine, complain about them. But the team didn't somehow implement them unilaterally and isn't applying them in a way that every team in the league doesn't do. These same rules are applied to every player in the NHL; Kaprizov isn't being singled out for unfair treatment.

I could envision a 4 x $9mm AAV. Takes him to UFA at 28 with $36mm in past earnings. Seems a pretty fair offer actually.

I don’t think you’ll get 5 years unless the AAV starts with a $1. But I doubt Kirill wants to sign for that long.

 

[Bazeek]

I could envision a 4 x $9mm AAV. Takes him to UFA at 28 with $36mm in past earnings. Seems a pretty fair offer actually.

I don’t think you’ll get 5 years unless the AAV starts with a $1. But I doubt Kirill wants to sign for that long.

I also suspect that this ends with 4 years at around $9m AAV. Ideally the term is a year longer or the AAV is $500k lower, but with the way this has gone I suspect they end up at close to the money they offered on the 8-year deal and just lose a bunch of UFA years.

 

[pfunk]

Yes, they will bend him over and congratulate themselves on a job well done, but that makes Kaprizov a goner in four years for sure.

Give it a rest man. No one is bending Kaprizov over here. The only reason he finds himself in the position he is in is because he made a choice to resign a 3 year deal in Russia when he could have come over and joined the Wild much sooner. Had he done so, Minnesota wouldn't be in the position of basing his long term offers off of a 55 game sample size in a Covid shortened season, with half of them coming against some of the worst teams in the league. Being offered a long term deal to the tune of 9 million dollars per season is MORE than reasonable with that kind of NHL experience. If he doesn't want to sign for 8 years, that is understandable, but just stop with the team being some sort of unreasonable big bad guy. He has to realize he will have to compromise a bit too, just like the team has. He made choices to put himself in this position. The team isn't treating him any differently than they would any other RFA. Your complaints are based in a heavy bit of tunnel vision for this one Russian and ignore that this is the normal process for any player with RFA status under the NHL's CBA.

If he wants to show he can be one of the NHL's best and he wants to win, he will have to work with the team on a reasonable compromise that lets management put together a longterm plan to build around him. Minnesota has a very good prospect pool and despite the dead cap space they have to work around, they certainly have the potential to win if their young players reach their potential and they are able to work shrewd trades or signings. If he wants to dig in and take a hard stance on a path to UFA as quickly as possible, I for one don't mind if Guerin continues to hold firm on not signing anything less than 4-5 years. Kaprizov will only be making another poor decision that will hamper what he is able to accomplish in this league. If that's the route he and his agent want to take (I bet good money it isn't), then go ahead and let his camp do it. We'll have a year to see what a couple of our brightest prospects can do, and if Kaprizov still isn't ready to come to the table on a middle ground deal, we trade him off and give Fiala the longer term deal next summer.

 

[fredrikstad]

Yes, they will bend him over and congratulate themselves on a job well done, but that makes Kaprizov a goner in four years for sure.

I fail to see how a guy who is offered a 9 million deal, is bent, in any way.

 

[CherryToke]

He was so f***ing dangerous in our playoff series in the bubble.

True but every skilled player is dangerous against a Travis Green coached team. It's not a good gauge lol

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I could envision a 4 x $9mm AAV. Takes him to UFA at 28 with $36mm in past earnings. Seems a pretty fair offer actually.

I don’t think you’ll get 5 years unless the AAV starts with a $1. But I doubt Kirill wants to sign for that long.

That would be $8M per year for the RFA years and $12M for the one UFA year. That's still pretty steep.

 

[McJedi]

That would be $8M per year for the RFA years and $12M for the one UFA year. That's still pretty steep.

Yes. It is. This idea the Wild get some kind of team friendly long term deal here isn’t happening.

This guy doesn’t want to play his career out in Minnesota. This gets you five years of him. All prime years. The first of which he gave the Wild being quite impressive.

Or he can play another year in the KHL while the Wild idle on a ton of 2021-22 open cap space with no one else to spend it on.

could also be a good time to call Buffalo, offer Fiala, Greenway, 2022 1st, 2023 1st for Eichel. Gives you a better chance to get Kirill to stay longer.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Yes. It is. This idea the Wild get some kind of team friendly long term deal here isn’t happening.

This guy doesn’t want to play his career out in Minnesota. This gets you five years of him. All prime years. The first of which he gave the Wild being quite impressive.

Or he can play another year in the KHL while the Wild idle on a ton of 2021-22 open cap space with no one else to spend it on.

could also be a good time to call Buffalo, offer Fiala, Greenway, 2022 1st, 2023 1st for Eichel. Gives you a better chance to get Kirill to stay longer.

I like him a lot, but RFA years $1M > than Point, Tkachuk and Barzal + a UFA year > Panarin.

$9M per year should probably get us a 5th year.

 

[McJedi]

I like him a lot, but RFA years $1M > than Point, Tkachuk and Barzal + a UFA year > Panarin.

$9M per year should probably get us a 5th year.

Which isn’t in the cards. Being a UFA going into your 28 year old season is quite a bit better than going into UFA at 29.

if I’m Kirill. I’d counter that five year offer at $7.5mm AAV x 3 years.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Which isn’t in the cards. Being a UFA going into your 28 year old season is quite a bit better than going into UFA at 29.

if I’m Kirill. I’d counter that five year offer at $7.5mm AAV x 3 years.

And I have the "perfect" contract at 4 x $7.75M so there's probably a solution in the lower 8's somewhere which is at least tolerable to me.