One of the biggest questions hanging over the Minnesota Wild this offseason is simple: who gets to skate next to Kirill Kaprizov now?
For six NHL seasons, Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello were nearly inseparable on the ice. They were connected off it, too, but the real story was the way their games fed each other. Kaprizov put up an average of 48 goals per 82 games, while Zuccarello posted his three highest single-season point totals with Kaprizov around.
That partnership is over, at least for now. Part of the reason is that the Wild’s front office believed Kaprizov had become too dependent on Zuccarello being there. As Michael Russo and Joe Smith wrote in late June, "They want him to start developing chemistry with other players."
There’s no question the Kaprizov-Zuccarello connection was special. The puck movement was slick, the reads were sharp, and the results were often right there on the scoreboard. Even when the two were accused of overpassing, the goals kept coming.
But the idea that Kaprizov needs Zuccarello to be an elite player doesn’t hold up when you look at the games they’ve missed over the last few seasons. Since the 2022-23 season, including playoffs, the numbers tell a pretty clear story.
In games without Zuccarello, Kaprizov has played 48 times and produced 32 goals and 62 points. In games without Kaprizov, Zuccarello has gone 59 games with 12 goals and 37 points.
Nobody was confusing Zuccarello for the engine of that duo. Minnesota handed Kaprizov the richest deal in NHL history at the time, and Zuccarello’s current contract this offseason came with bonus-heavy terms. Still, the split production is striking.
Kaprizov’s scoring rate jumps sharply without Zuccarello, and his assist rate doesn’t fall off. That’s not a small thing. It points to a player whose value isn’t tied to one specific setup man.
A big reason is that when Zuccarello has been out, the Wild have often leaned harder into a super-line look with Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek. But Kaprizov’s goals in those Zuccarello-less games didn’t come from just one source. They came from a wide range of teammates.
Matt Boldy led the way with 13 assists on those goals, followed by Joel Eriksson Ek with 9. Marco Rossi had 5, Jared Spurgeon 4, Vladimir Tarasenko 4, Zeev Buium 3, Brock Faber 3, Marcus Johansson 3, Jake Middleton 3, Ryan Hartman 2, and Mason Shaw 2. Calen Addison, Jonas Brodin, Marcus Foligno, Alex Goligoski, Quinn Hughes, Daemon Hunt, Dakota Mermis, and Sam Steel were also part of the mix.
That’s 19 different players helping on 32 goals. The takeaway is hard to miss: Kaprizov has already built real chemistry with Boldy and Eriksson Ek, and his game clearly works with more than one kind of linemate.
If there’s a problem here, it may have been less about Kaprizov leaning on Zuccarello and more about how difficult it was getting for Zuccarello to keep up. At 38, he had clearly lost a step, and speed was never the main feature of his game anyway.
His positioning and anticipation still matter, especially on the power play, but that becomes tougher to hide at 5-on-5. Last season also ended up being Kaprizov’s least productive on a per-minute basis in the NHL.
That helps explain why the Wild grew frustrated with how east-west the pairing had become. If Zuccarello couldn’t get up the ice the way he once did, the team had to lean even more on passing and puck circulation to create room. That slows everything down, and it can dull one of Kaprizov’s biggest weapons: his ability to carry the puck with speed and force defenders back.
The Wild don’t have a sure thing waiting in-house, unless they decide to put Kaprizov and Boldy back together full time. Bobby Brink didn’t click with Kaprizov in a short post-deadline look, so that would need work in training camp.
Danila Yurov fit well with Kaprizov last year, though more as a net-front option than as a creator. Maksim Shabanov has the speed and a Zuccarello-type skill set in theory, but that didn’t carry over to NHL success as a rookie with the New York Islanders.
So yes, there are questions. But history says there’s no real reason to panic about Kaprizov’s production without Zuccarello beside him.
He’s not a one-dimensional finisher who needs a feeder to do the heavy lifting. He’s the kind of offensive force who can make good players better.
He did it with Zuccarello, and there’s every reason to think he’ll do it again with somebody else.
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