Guerin doesn't regret Kaprizov deal after star forwards signed for less

Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin remains content with signing star winger Kirill Kaprizov to a record-breaking contract extension after seeing a handful of stars around the league sign for less.

Kaprizov inked an eight-year contract featuring a league-high $17 million average annual value Sept. 30. Since then, Connor McDavid ($12.5 million AAV), Kyle Connor ($12 million), and Jack Eichel ($13.5 million) have re-upped with their respective squads without coming close to Kaprizov's cap hit.

"Look, everybody's got a price to where they want to play in their market, and Kirill is worth that to us. He's that important to us," Guerin told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. "And we couldn't take the chance of letting him go. That's great for those other teams, but it's still great for us that we have him for nine years. And yeah, Jack is at $13.5 million, and that's great. But Kirill is that important to us. If we let him go or we even flirt with it, who knows? The worst-case scenario is definitely that he leaves. It's worse than paying him $17 million."

Kaprizov had reportedly rejected an eight-year extension worth $16 million per season. Last October, Wild owner Craig Leipold laid the foundation for the megadeal by stating no team would offer Kaprizov more money than Minnesota. This September, Leipold doubled down by suggesting Kaprizov's contract would likely be the richest in league history.

Since arriving in the NHL for the 2020-21 season, Kaprizov has made a strong case for a raise from his current $9-million cap hit. He ranks 15th among all skaters over that span with 386 points in 319 games.