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.