Monthly Archives: September 2025

Hockey News, The Hockey News

Minnesota Wild Sign Superstar Kirill Kaprizov To NHL Record-Setting Contract Extension

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The Minnesota Wild and superstar Kirill Kaprizov have agreed on an NHL record-breaking contract extension.

Kaprizov signed an eight-year deal carrying a $17 million average annual value, the team announced following reports from ESPN's Kevin Weekes, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and The Athletic's Michael Russo.   

That $136-million contract, which runs from 2026-27 through 2033-34, is the most expensive in NHL history. The previous high, in terms of total value, was Alex Ovechkin's 13-year, $124-million contract he signed with the Washington Capitals in 2008.

Kaprizov's cap hit is also the richest in NHL history, being a $3 million increase over the $14 million Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl agreed to last September.

This new contract for the Russian left winger comes weeks after he reportedly rejected a $128-million deal, which was likely spread out to $16 million across eight years, earlier in the month.

Kaprizov is entering his sixth NHL season with Minnesota. He’s never played a full 82-game campaign as he battled injuries over the last few years. However, he’s proved to be one of the best offensive minds in the league.

Last season, Kaprizov played 41 games and scored 25 goals and 56 points. Despite only featuring in half the season, he was still the third-highest scorer on the Wild, just four points behind second-place Marco Rossi and two goals behind leading scorer Matt Boldy.

After missing some time, Kaprizov made it back before the Stanley Cup playoffs. He led the way for the Wild, scoring five goals and nine points in six games during a first-round loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Kirill Kaprizov celebrates his game-winning overtime goal with Marco Rossi on Dec. 3, 2024. (Matt Krohn-Imagn Images)

The 28-year-old has proven his value to the Wild, and he's received Hart Trophy votes in four of his five seasons to date. His best finish in Hart Trophy voting was in 2021-22, when he recorded a career-high 47 goals and 61 assists for 108 points in 81 appearances. The then-sophomore finished seventh in the Hart race.

Kaprizov has the third-best odds of winning the Hart Trophy this upcoming season, according to  sportsbook BetMGM. Sitting behind Connor McDavid of the Oilers and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Kaprizov’s odds are set at 9.00 (+800).

Despite only being a member of the Wild for five seasons, Kaprizov owns a few franchise records, including the most points in a season (108 in 2021-22).

He is also fifth in all-time scoring for the Wild. Going into the 2025-26 season, Kaprizov has 386 points as he chases Mikko Koivu's franchise-leading 709 points.

Kaprizov was one of the NHL's top pending UFAs in the summer of 2026. He skips the free-agent market, while McDavid has yet to sign a contract extension with the Oilers. Other pending UFAs include the Golden Knights' Jack Eichel, Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor, New York Rangers' Artemi Panarin and the Capitals' Ovechkin.

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Hockey News, The Hockey News

NHL Rumor Roundup: Could Malkin Help The Panthers? Will The Blackhawks Trade Reichel?

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The Florida Panthers' hopes for a Stanley Cup three-peat were dealt a significant blow last week when captain Aleksander Barkov suffered a serious knee injury during training camp.

Barkov is expected to miss the entire regular season, and there's no certainty he'll return for the playoffs.

Barkov's injury generated conjecture over how the Panthers intend to replace him. With their captain out for the season and left winger Matthew Tkachuk sidelined until December or January, they have plenty of cap flexibility once both players are placed on long-term injured reserve to bolster their roster.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now's Dan Kingerski cited a rumor circulating that suggested the Panthers target Evgeni Malkin. The 39-year-old center is eligible for UFA status next summer.

Kingerski debunked that rumor, pointing out that it was tied to comments made by Malkin that were misunderstood when he was asked if he would consider a trade this year. He mentioned Brad Marchand's trade to the Panthers last season worked out for the former Boston Bruins captain, but he didn't know how he would react if the Penguins attempted to move him.

If Malkin were willing to accept a trade, Kingerski believed the Panthers could be a good fit.

For now, the Panthers intend to look to within their roster and their system to offset Barkov's absence. If they do go the trade route at some point, they might have younger targets than Malkin in mind, preferably someone who plays a solid two-way game like Barkov.

Like Sidney Crosby, Malkin Deserves To End Career On His TermsLike Sidney Crosby, Malkin Deserves To End Career On His TermsThere are certainly a lot of stories coming out of Pittsburgh Penguins' training camp in 2025, even if the pre-season is still in its infancy. 

In Chicago, Blackhawks left winger Lukas Reichel was the subject of recent trade speculation. On Sept. 7, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Timesreported Reichel thought he would be traded to the Edmonton Oilers at one point during the summer.

Chosen in the first round of the 2020 draft, Reichel has struggled to establish himself as a top-six winger. On Sept. 11, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said it was understood that the Blackhawks could move the 23-year-old if they found a suitable trade partner. He added that Reichel understood it might be time for a chance.

On Monday, Scott Powers of The Athletic reported the Blackhawks had informed teams that Reichel is available. However, he isn't certain if the young forward will be traded, demoted or remain on the roster when the season opens next week.

In the past, the rebuilding Blackhawks could afford to be patient with Reichel's development. However, with several promising youngsters in their deep prospect pool pushing for NHL spots, it may be time to move him to a club where he'll have a second chance to reach his potential.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.

Fantasy, Hockey News

2025-26 Fantasy Hockey Preview: Vegas Golden Knights Outlook

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I shudder to think what the Knights may do with a top-five offense that added Mitch Marner, a perennial 100-point threat with excellent playmaking and defensive ability that you can play in any situation.

It does make a lot of logical sense to play Marner and Jack Eichel, a worthy MVP candidate last season, on separate lines given their ability to drive play themselves. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case, at least early in the season, with the Knights toying with the idea of stacking their top line. It’s not something they’ve ever had the luxury to do; while they’ve gone after some big names, an Eichel-Marner combo would be the best they ever had, and arguably a top-five duo in the league.

That Marner cost them nothing but cap space should push the Knights offense to an even higher level. To date, only one team in the cap era, the 2021-22 Panthers with Jonathan Huberdeau (115 points), Aleksander Barkov (88 points) and Sam Reinhart (82), has ever averaged more than four goals per game. Can the Knights do this? On paper, I think it’s totally possible. THN Yearbook & Fantasy Guide projects Eichel and Marner to combine for 199 points this season.

It won’t cost the Knights a balanced lineup, either, considering Tomas Hertl and William Karlsson are as good as you can get with your No. 2 and 3 centers. Mark Stone is still a fantastic Selke-level winger when healthy, and Pavel Dorofeyev (35 goals in 82 games), Ivan Barbashev (21 even-strength goals) and Brett Howden (22 even-strength goals) can provide scoring from the other lines. The Knights can throw out three scoring lines on a nightly basis no matter how they configure their players.

There are no shortage of quality fantasy options here with Eichel and Marner both worth first-round picks in standard 12- or 14-team leagues, and then having a minimum of three others – Dorofeyev, Hertl, Theodore – worth rostering even in the shallowest of leagues.

Where the Knights will certainly feel a hit, however, is the absence of Alex Pietrangelo due to injury. There’s no replacing a player of his caliber and it puts a lot of emphasis on their current top trio, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and Noah Hanifin, to pick up the slack. Zach Whitecloud joins the top four, but the jury’s still out on a defensemen entering his age-29 season who has never averaged more than 18 minutes per game. Jeremy Lauzon, who will likely anchor their third pairing, is worth noting due to his significant potential for hits, who played himself into banger league relevance after leading the league with 386 hits in 2023-24.

Goaltending is somewhat dicey if only because the Knights have zero depth behind Adin Hill. At one point they had a parade of capable backups, but Akira Schmid played in just five games last season and through four seasons has started just 36 games. Hill is coming off the first season in which he appeared in at least 50 games, and his play held up a lot better than I thought, but there’s little margin for error. At least with Ilya Samsonov last season, he brought plenty of experience and still had stretches where he was very reliable, including a perfect 4-0-0 in December last season with a .948 SP and 1.25 GAA.

Prediction:

Even with some question marks regarding their depth on defense and in net, the Knights win their third division banner in four seasons with an outstanding offense. Even with a new team, Marner acclimates himself well with the Knights in the Western Conference, where he can live with relative anonymity compared to being the hometown franchise savior in Toronto.

A looming free agency for Eichel has very little cause for concern given how well he’s fit on the Knights. With plenty of deals expiring this season and the next – Karlsson, Stone, Reilly Smith, Brandon Saad, Jeremy Lauzon among them – the Knights have the cap space and plenty of proof they can be a contender for season to come, making it easy to convince Eichel to stay.

As the Central Division teams beat each other into oblivion with the divisional playoff format, the Knights will have a clear path to the conference final and beyond. Their main rival remains the Oilers, who don’t offer as much depth as the Knights and have even bigger questions in goal.

All stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com, moneypuck.com, hockeyviz.com, allthreezones.com, hockey-reference.com, eliteprospects.com unless otherwise noted.