The Wild did what they needed to do to keep Kirill Kaprizov

The Minnesota Wild made NHL history on Tuesday, signing forward Kirill Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million contract extension that will pay him an annual average value (AAV) of $17 million, making him the highest-paid player ever.

The deal surpasses the record for the highest NHL contract in total dollars, previously Alex Ovechkin’s 13-year, $124 million extension signed with the Washington Capitals in 2009.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss Kaprizov’s extension and if retaining the Russian winger was a must for Minnesota.

Tyler Yaremchuk: When the news broke he turned down an eight-year, $16 million AAV extension, a lot of people called Kaprizov crazy, but he got his bag.

Carter Hutton: This was one for me that the Wild had to get done. They can’t lose a player like him, he needed to be there. The fact he waited, I guess if I’m looking back, I didn’t think it would get to $17 million, I thought he just didn’t want to be in Minnesota.

I guess I take that Russian quality into it, he wants to be in a big city, he wants to go somewhere else. But this is a guy Bill Guerin was able to get signed. It changes the landscape, because he’s a player that can be a difference maker.

When you look at Minnesota and you look at the Ryan Suter deal and the Zach Parise deal and what happened in the past, is this something that haunts them in the future?

With their younger core of guys, this is a good fit for them, and for a team that’s been consistent a ton in the last 10 years, they need something to push them over the top, and I think Guerin needed to get this done.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…