Top Wild prospect arrives in Minnesota ahead of 2020-21 season

With the NHL now targeting a start date of January 13th for the 2020-21 season, players are beginning to return to their home cities to prepare for training camps.

On Wednesday morning, Michael Russo of The Athletic announced that Minnesota Wild top prospect Kirill Kaprizov has passed his fourth COVID-19 test in seven days, and joined his teammates on the ice this morning.

#mnwild winger Kirill Kaprizov has passed his fourth COVID-19 test in 7 days since arriving in Minnesota and was expected to skate for the first time with his teammates at TRIA today.— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 9, 2020

Having Kaprizov for the upcoming season will be a massive addition for a Minnesota Wild team in desperate need of an elite goal scorer. Kaprizov has led the KHL in goals the last two seasons with 30 in 2018-19, and 33 in 2019-20.

This won't be his first time being around the Wild. In July, he signed a two-year entry-level contract, and entered the bubble in Edmonton with Minnesota. He was ineligible to play in the playoffs though, and spent the time practicing with the team's scratched players, and getting to know his new teammates.

Kaprizov, 23, was drafted in the fifth round, 135th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2015 NHL entry draft. He has spent the last six seasons in the KHL with Metallurg Novokuznetsk, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, and CSKA Moscow. In 293 regular season games, he had 230 points (113 G, 117 A), 122 penalty minutes, and was a +89. In 47 career playoff games, he put up 31 points (11 G, 20 A), 12 penalty minutes, and was a +7.

He won the Gagarin Cup with CSKA Moscow as KHL champions during the 2018-19 season.

Internationally, Kaprizov has represented Russia on numerous occasions, the most recent tournament being the 2019 IIHF World Hockey Championships. In 9 games, he had 2 points (2 G), 2 penalty minutes, and was a +2 as Russia won the bronze medal by defeating the Czech Republic.

Kaprizov represented the Olympic Athletes from Russia, at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. In 6 games, he tallied 9 points (5 G, 4 A), 2 penalty minutes, and was a +7. He led the Olympic tournament in goals, which included the gold medal winning goal in overtime against Germany.

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