Leon Draisaitl may soon be usurped as owner of the NHL’s largest-ever contract.
Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov, an unrestricted free agent after next season, could very well eclipse Draisaitl’s eight-year, $112-million deal with the Edmonton Oilers.
On Friday’s episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas spoke about whether Kaprizov’s contract extension could be coming sometime soon.
“(Wild owner) Craig Leipold certainly sounded confident the other day, right?” said Friedman.
Speaking at an event unveiling the new name for the Wild’s home arena on Wednesday, Leipold had told reporters, “I just don’t feel like we’re that far off,” according to Joe Smith of The Athletic.
“He sounded very confident,” reiterated Friedman. “You know, Kaprizov’s coming back into town next week. I never worry about this stuff too much in the summer. I believe this is a pressure point now, like this time of year, because you have to decide, like McDavid does, can you handle the aggravation? Do you want the scrutiny? Do you have something else in mind? This is the time now that Kaprizov is coming back that everybody really puts their cards on the table, and everybody gets a true idea of what everyone’s thinking.”
Kaprizov, 28, is entering the final season on a five-year, $45-million contract. He has scored at least 40 goals three times in his five-year career and twice finished the season with more than 95 points. Last season, injuries limited Kaprizov to only 41 games, and he finished the year with 25 goals and 56 points.
“I don’t know if this is where it’s going to end up, Kyle, but there are rumours out there the Wild will go (eight years at $16 million per season) for Kaprizov,” Friedman said. “We’ll see. That’s $128 million.”
“And Leipold has long said no one will sign him longer and for more money than the Minnesota Wild,” added Bukauskas. “And he seems, as you say, quite confident. I think when he stood there (on Wednesday), he opened the jacket up and kind of joked, ‘I’ve got the contract right in my pocket’, in front of everybody. So he’s an owner who doesn’t seem too worried about getting that one done.”
No sign of progress between McTavish and Ducks
The restricted free agent remains unsigned with the 2025-26 pre-season fast approaching and the regular season just over a month out. The 22-year-old is coming off his three-year, entry-level contract worth $2.68 million.
“For McTavish, I think it’s a little bit different (from some other unsigned RFAs), because (general manager Pat) Verbeek and the Ducks in the past have shown a willingness to keep guys out until they get what they are comfortable with,” said Friedman.
“So I always look at that and say, if they don’t find a deal they like, could they keep him out longer and be comfortable with that? And the history with the Ducks is, yes, they would.
“Someone said to me the other day, if you really look at the Ducks, they still have a lot of cap room, but over the next few years, look at some of the contracts that could be coming up. … If all these guys hit, and some of the forwards look really good, all of a sudden, the Ducks are going to have a lot of money committed to some really good young players.”
McTavish is coming off a career-best season in which he recorded 22 goals, 30 assists and 52 points in 76 games. Over his 229 career games with the Ducks, spread across four seasons, the former third overall pick has accumulated 60 goals and 80 assists for a total of 140 points.
Friedman also addressed the possibility of McTavish signing a bridge deal, saying it wouldn’t be the Ducks’ top option.
“Verbeek can always try to bridge, but the one thing I’ve consistently heard over the last little while is I heard they’re not crazy about bridging McTavish,” he said. “Now maybe that’ll change, maybe they’ll do it, but I have heard they prefer long term. … So I don’t have the answer yet on what’s going to happen on this one. I don’t think they want to trade him, but I’ve heard they’re not crazy about a bridge deal. Might not be easy for the two sides to agree on a longer projection.”
Interpretations around updated LTIR rules
The NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement won’t take effect until next year, but some of its rules are already set to be applied this season.
Among the rules fast-tracked for 2025-26 are changes to long-term injured reserve. Under the new rule, the total salary and bonuses of a player or players replacing someone on LTIR cannot exceed the total salary and bonuses of the injured player. The maximum credit a team can get for placing a player on LTIR is equal to the average of all player salaries from the season prior.
Although the new rule applies broadly, there is one known exception.
“The only way a team will be able to get the full $7 million back is if (the player is) out for the year, including playoffs,” said Friedman. “They have to declare you out for the year, including playoffs, or the maximum that they can get back is a player making last year’s average salary or less, and that’s about $3.8 million.
“So one of the things that I was talking about with some people around the league is they were looking at what’s in the memorandum of understanding, and they interpreted it as, alright, well, maybe what I can do is I can acquire two or three players underneath the average salary last year as long as I don’t go over the $7 million. … And I was told that’s not the case.
“That’s not the way that this is going to work. You can acquire multiple guys, but they can only equal last year’s average salary. If you go down at $7 million and they want to add two or three guys, it can only equal the $3.8 million. So they’re going at this hard.”
As with all the new changes coming this season and next, Friedman and Bukauskas note it’s interesting to consider which situations from last season — including many of the Florida Panthers’ moves en route to their repeat as Stanley Cup champions — wouldn’t have been possible under the new rules, and what developments might unfold in the future as a result.
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