The Minnesota Wild have snatched their spot in the postseason for the eighth time in the last nine seasons. Yet, despite all those appearances they still don’t have anything to show for it. This season looks to be different however, the team as a whole seems different from years past for a one specific reason. 

The obvious reason the team has a different feel is my golden boy Kirill Kaprizov. I typically don’t pick favorites because I love the team as whole but this guy is something else. From his very first game this season to now, he’s been amazing. 

At first, I was extremely skeptical thinking there’s no way someone could be this good and play for us. That was the Minnesota sports curse talking, all of our teams do well in the regular season and then tank it in playoffs. However, watching Kaprizov’s progression all season, I have no doubt in my mind that he’ll be a big factor for us going forward and having success in the playoffs. 

He’s already set two scoring records for the Wild and is on his way to being the first Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) winner the Wild have ever had, even Marian Gaborik missed out on that feat. He managed to knock out Gaborik’s most goals by a rookie for the Wild as well as most points tallied. 

As of Wednesday morning, he has 24 goals in 51 games while Gaborik’s record was 18 goals in 71 games, so Kaprizov blew that record apart. In regards to points, he’s at 45 points in those 51 games and Gaborik had just 36 points in 71 games another record that was destroyed by “Dolla Bill Kirill”. 

Gaborik was a great player and one of the best the Wild have ever had, so I mean no disrespect towards his stats. Considering he was one of the greatest players we’ve ever had, showing that Kaprizov has already shattered those records means he’s something special. 

As I said before, I’m someone that believes in team first always and I’m not known for thinking one player can carry a whole team with the exception of maybe Wayne Gretzky, but he had a whole team behind him as well. In my opinion the best players are surrounded by players that make them better. 

Kaprizov kind of ruins that rule for me. He is surrounded by great players like Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello, Joel Eriksson Ek, and even Zach Parise but he doesn’t have to be. The thing that makes Kaprizov that much better is he can do things all on his own. 

He can get the scoring started or keep it going. He can carry the puck in circles around the offensive zone while everyone else watches. The amount of natural skill he has is something you see very rarely in players. 

Being in the National Hockey League, all of these players have some natural talent or they wouldn’t be there but as I keep repeating, Kaprizov is different and I’ve seen a lot of players come through Minnesota over the 20 some seasons they’ve been in existence. 

Going into the postseason the Wild need to focus on getting Kaprizov the puck as much as possible and telling him to take shots. Along with being a natural born skater, he has a natural scoring ability that seems to be hard for goalies to stop. 

So far it looks like the Wild will face either the Colorado Avalanche or the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round and thankfully for them, Kaprizov has had success against them both. He’s tallied points at least six times against both teams, something they’ll need him to continue to do when the playoffs do start. 

I believe this year will be different for the Wild and they will do well in the postseason and it all seems to come down to Kaprizov. Hopefully he can continue to blow everyone away and show us how good he truly is. The whole state would love to see the Minnesota Wild skate away with a Stanley Cup, and Kaprizov being named MVP.