Kirill Kaprizov didn’t need long to remind the NHL what this looks like when he’s rolling.
The Minnesota Wild are sitting atop the Central Division early in the 2026-27 season, and Kaprizov has been the engine behind it. Through 13 games, he leads the league with 13 goals and has piled up 21 points, a start that has pushed him right back into the Hart Trophy conversation. It’s the same kind of opening burst that made him look like the NHL’s most valuable player two seasons ago before injury cut that run short.
That 2024-25 season still stands as the standard for Kaprizov in Minnesota. He ripped off 23 goals and 50 points in his first 34 games, and the Wild went 21-10-3 in that stretch.
At that point, Minnesota had 46 points and was only behind the Winnipeg Jets, who were 25-10-1 with 51 points. For a while, it looked like Kaprizov had a real chance to become the first Hart Trophy winner in Wild history.
Then the season went sideways. A lower-body injury knocked him out for most of January, and although he came back for a few games, he eventually needed surgery and didn’t return until just before the playoffs. He was still effective in the six-game series against the Vegas Golden Knights, putting up five goals and nine points, but he wasn’t the same force fans had seen early in the year.
After that, an offseason of rest helped him deliver a strong 2025-26 campaign. He scored 45 goals and finished with 89 points in 78 games, a productive year by almost any standard. Still, it fell short of the heights he reached before the injury, and that apparently mattered inside the Wild room.
Bill Guerin met with Kaprizov and challenged him heading into this season. Minnesota also let Mats Zuccarello walk in free agency, and there were whispers that the Wild wanted Kaprizov to bring a more “downhill” style as his eight-year, $136 million contract kicked in.
So far, that approach has looked like a win for everyone involved.
Kaprizov entered Monday with only Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers (12) and Arturri Lehkonen of the Colorado Avalanche (10) ahead of him in goals, and he sits third in points behind Connor McDavid (33) and Draisaitl (23). Even more striking, he’s scoring at a pace that tops the opening burst he had in 2024-25.
A goal-a-game clip is hard to sustain, especially with a 29.5 percent shooting percentage against a career mark of 16.9 percent. But even if that regresses, the numbers still point toward a Hart-level case. Over a full 34-game stretch, he’d be on pace for roughly 55 points, enough to keep him in the thick of that race.
There are other pieces that could help his case, too. Maxim Shabanov has already settled in well, and his confidence should grow as he keeps lining up with Kaprizov and as forwards such as Nick and Marcus Foligno get healthy. A possible trade for Dylan Larkin could also create more chances for Kaprizov to attack in better spots and finish even more often.
The one wrinkle is the way the Hart conversation is shaping up around the league. McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon haven’t won the award since the 2023-24 season, which may remove some of the voter fatigue that worked in Kaprizov’s favor two years ago. But if he keeps producing like this, he won’t stay on the fringe of that discussion for long.
In Other News...
Quinn Hughes Just Put Wild Fans On Contract Watch
Quinn Hughes has quickly become a name worth tracking around Minnesota, and not just because of what he has done on the ice this season. The pending free agent said he has enjoyed his time with the Wild and pointed to the strength of the roster as part of what has made the fit feel so natural, which is exactly the kind of remark that tends to get fans looking ahead as much as they are looking at the standings.
The only catch is that Hughes is still taking his time with the next step, even as he plays through the final year of his current contract. He has been productive this season and clearly sounds comfortable in Minnesota, but for now the extension question remains open, leaving the Wild in that familiar spot where a good player and a good situation create optimism without quite delivering certainty. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Are Holding Firm In Dylan Larkin Trade Talks
The Wild have been linked as a possible landing spot for Dylan Larkin, but the talks are still very much in the early, messy stage that usually comes with a player of his caliber. Detroit is looking for young center help in return, which puts Minnesota in the conversation because of the type of prospects it can offer, but the Red Wings are not operating from any kind of urgency and are keeping the market open with interest coming from multiple teams.
For Minnesota, that means the fit is clear enough to keep watching, but the price remains the obstacle. Salary cap issues are part of the equation, and Detroit is believed to want more than a single prospect to move a centerpiece like Larkin, so any serious package would have to be built with extra value beyond the kind of player the Wild would most naturally put on the table. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Offseason Pressure Just Got Tied To Two Star Names
The Connor Hellebuyck trade to New Jersey has already started to ripple beyond the Devils, with analysts Michael Russo and EJ Hradek using it as a lens for what could come next around the league. For the Wild, the conversation has quickly turned into more than a one-off transaction story, because it touches the kind of player movement and contract planning that can reshape a roster in a hurry.
Minnesotas interest in Dylan Larkin is now part of that discussion, while Quinn Hughes remains unsigned and adds another layer to the offseason uncertainty. The broader point, as Russo and Hradek framed it, is that future trade value and draft-pick considerations can change fast when teams start dealing from different timelines, and the Wild are right in the middle of that kind of pressure. [Read more 🡒]