NHL Rumor Mill – September 16, 2025
An update on Kirill Kaprizov’s contract negotiations with the Wild, and the latest on the Penguins, Canadiens, and Maple Leafs in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
SPORTSNET: During Monday’s “32 Thoughts: The Podcast”, Elliotte Friedman said he doesn’t think Kirill Kaprizov has informed the Minnesota Wild about a contract number he’d consider acceptable.
Last week, the 28-year-old winger rejected an eight-year, $128 million contract proposal from the Wild, with an average annual value of $16 million.
Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov (NHL Images).
Friedman said there’s some sense that there’s “no magic number” for Kaprizov. He pointed to Wild owner Craig Leipold’s comments last fall, where he said no other team could pay the winger the type of years and salary that they could.
That has Friedman wondering if the Kaprizov camp is waiting to see how far they can push this, and how comfortable the Wild will be with his final number. While some might think Kaprizov isn’t a $17 million or $18 million player, he could be worth that much to the Wild because of how valuable he is to the organization.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Leipold’s public comments may have put his club at a disadvantage in negotiations with Kaprizov’s representatives. However, given the winger’s value to the Wild, they may have taken this stance even if Leipold had said nothing.
Kaprizov is the most exciting player in Wild history. He set the single-season franchise records for goals (47), assists (61), and points (108) in 2021-22, and had 46 goals and 96 points in 2023-24. The game-breaking winger is crucial to their efforts to become a Stanley Cup contender within the next five years.
Signing Kaprizov to an eight-year contract with an AAV between $17 million and $18 million is expensive, and the deal might not age well if injuries and age catch up with him in the final half of the deal. However, if the Wild were willing to pay him $16 million, they should be willing to come up another million or two, especially with the salary cap projected to rise significantly.
If the Wild isn’t willing to do that, trading Kaprizov at the trade deadline or watching him depart as a free agent next July could be disastrous for a franchise that has only won four playoff rounds in 24 years. It sends the wrong message to their fans, creating the perception that Minnesota, the “State of Hockey”, isn’t a desirable location for the league’s best players.
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Matt Vensel wondered how much longer forwards Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust will remain with the Penguins.
Both forwards are signed through 2027-28, but they’ve been the subjects of frequent trade speculation throughout the offseason. It’s believed Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has set a high asking price for both, which would explain why they haven’t moved yet.
Vensel expects one or both could be moved at some point between now and the March 2026 trade deadline, or at some point down the road.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Dubas isn’t going to just move Rust and Rakell for the sake of making a trade. He’s hoping to get the best return possible, which means a first-round pick and a top prospect or a young NHL-ready player. With both players under contract beyond this season, he can afford to be patient.
THE ATHLETIC: Arpon Basu reports Montreal Canadiens management is happy with the club’s progress, especially with its roster core. However, they know that more work must be done.
They want to surround that young core with the right complementary pieces. GM Kent Hughes didn’t rule out overpaying to get a specific player who is important for the team’s future. Asked if the priority was pursuing a young player or a veteran in his 30s, Hughes said he’d answer that question by midseason.
Basu believes the Canadiens will focus on the start of this season to see which teams get off to a slow start and begin shopping veteran players in an effort to improve their chances of winning the 2026 draft lottery.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Finding a reliable second-line center remains the Canadiens’ priority. They will likely start the season looking internally, with Kirby Dach filling that role if he’s returned from season-ending knee surgery. However, they will keep their focus on the trade market.
TORONTO SUN: Lance Hornby reported that TSN’s Darren Dreger said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Maple Leafs attempted to sign Dillon Dube.
The 27-year-old winger was among the five former Hockey Canada players acquitted of sexual assault charges last month. Dube played for Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving during their days with the Calgary Flames.
Dreger felt Dube might help the Leafs as a possible top-six forward. However, Hornby believes the club would weigh that with the backlash they could face from fans and pundits. He doubted that Dube would dislodge one of the Leafs’ current top-six forwards after a year and a half away from the NHL.
Dubé in the lion’s den doesn’t sound like a good idea. The incident happened just down the road..
The only exception would be repentance to women’s issues and becoming a focal for sexual abuse causes. Then maybe. Otherwise hit the road jack and don’t you come back to play in Canada
Let’s see if Dach can make it to USA Thanksgiving. One never knows but history with this player is likely to repeat (including Junior)
Remember when most people thought Chicago was nuts trading Dach to Montreal for a first round pick?
Heh. I can remember an ongoing back-and-forth disagreement with someone in here a couple of years ago – can’t recall who exactly – re the concept of “injury prone” with the other party insisting that there was “no such thing.”
Dach could be the poster boy for something that IS – in all pro sports – an unfortunate and very valid reality with some poor souls for whatever reason.
Dillon Dube is a top 6 forward lol. Dreger needs to call it a day- this is getting embarassing- his best season 45 points. It’s getting to where I would rather read Eklund than listen to Dreger- just zero substance
Agree, but he is a good 3rd liner and played very well with Backlund and Coleman
🤣 so true
lmao, and that guy is never right, didnt he lose to Maggie the Monkey like 10 years ago on deadline day?
Getting near impossible to post comments. Constantly getting redirected to ads and app downloads.
I agree, the pop up ads are getting out of control here.
For those of you experiencing an issue with a pop-up ad for a gambling site, clearing your cache should rectify the issue. That ad was inadvertently placed on the site for about a day over the weekend. We removed it because it was a nuisance. My apologies.
I did what Lyle suggested after googling how to and site works much better.
After I typed that when I went to put my name and email in I got redirected several times to a different site again. Are we gonna have to clean or cache each time we come to the site Lyle?
No, clearing the browser cache should’ve rectified the issue.
Are you using a desktop/laptop or a phone/tablet? What type of browser are you using?
After about an hour of poking around the Web I routinely clear my history, which includes cache and cookies. Takes a few seconds and then I simply Google things like Spectors Hockey and Puckpedia. Again, a few seconds. Helps speed things up as well, with no problem on ads re-directs.
iPhone. Just typing yhus redirects me 6 times
Interesting. I tried it on all my devices (including my iPhone) and didn’t have an issue, but that obviously doesn’t mean you’re not having a problem. What type of browser are you using (Safari? Chrome? Firefox? Other?) And are you encountering the issue with another device?
I’m also checking with my tech support as well.
iPhone. 10 times redirected just trying to post this. Klook operacg. Just a couple of things opening when I try to push name or email or submit.
I energized by pop-up blocker.😁
Safari. Appreciate you looking into it! It’s making posting brutal.
No problem, I’ve passed it along to my tech guy. We’ll see what we can do. My apologies for the inconvenience.
Not sure it helps troubleshooting. But it happens whenever I try to click something like name email submit comment. It’s like instead of clicking those options I’m clicking a link to another site. And it seems to happen twice each time before it lets me actually click those sections of your site.
It’s been happening to me since yesterday morning.
I agree there Kent. He may take a bit to shake off the rust and get back to the pace of the NHL, but did play last season with Minsk of the KHL and he’s just 27y/o, so some time in the AHL would help to that end.
He’s not huge, as many C go, but solid at 5′ 11″ 185lbs, and did score 18 goals twice in his 325 NHL gp – in 2021-22 in 79gp and 2022-23 in 82gp – and has 82-game averages so far of 14g 18a 32pts.
He gets back to that – and into the mid- to high 40s in points – and some team could have a solid 3rd/4th line C quite capable of filling in on the top lines when necessary.
The one cloud that could dampen his development will be his handling of the public reaction, which is sure to be more pronounced in Canada than in the U.S. – especially in Southern Ontario.
I’m surprised that Dube is listed as a C, I have only seen him play wing.
I’m surprised that Dube is listed as a C, I have only seen him play wing.
In major junior in Kelowna he played mostly at C, but also appeared on both wings at times, and it was this versatility that apparently prompted Calgary to take him 56th overall in Round 2 of the 2016 draft. His willingness -and stated comfort – to play all three F positions resulted in the Flames using him mostly at wing as they had enough Centers at the time.
According to Friedman, 31y/o UFA LD Matt Grzelcyk may be the next one to sign a P.T.O., in this case with Chicago. That would bring to 26 the number of P.T.O.s with 12 different teams.
He would make for a decent 5/6 dman for any team, even a cup contender bring in a vet with experience on a min ctc.
I posted a thought a few days ago that, among the P.T.Os, I’d bet no more than 2 or 3 might get firm offers, my thinking being maybe Luke Glendening in NJ, Connor Sheary with the NYR, and Tyler Motte in Florida. Now I’d add Grzelcyk in Chicago who could bolster their pp.
Heh – just checked Puckpedia again and see that Utah has signed to P.T.O.s 5 AHL/ECHL veterans with zero to limited NHL experience. Looks like they’re assessing candidates for their minor league system
Centers Ryan McG regor and Samuel Walker, RWs Austin Poganski and Tyler Tullio and goalie Dylan Wells.
They bring to 31 the number of P.T.O. hopefuls on 13 teams -Florida, Dallas, St.Louis, NYR, NJ, Carolina, Minnesota, Columbus, Nashville, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Utah
No news yet on Grzelcyk, but San Jose becomes the 14th team to try the P.T.O concept with 6′ 2″ 205lbs RW Oliver Wahlstrom, last season16gp with the Bruins, but before that 5 seasons with the NYI. In 236 total gp he has 37g 36a 73pts.
Here are the top scoring forwards from last year:
RW:
Kucherov – 121
Pasternak – 106
Marner – 102
Rantanen – 88
Nylander – 84
LW:
Connor – 97
Hagel – 90
Panaren – 89
Bratt – 88
Roberson – 80
Centers:
McKinnon – 116
Draisatl – 106
McDavid – 100
Eichel – 94
Crosby – 90
No player on these lists won a Cup last year, and the only 4 players have won the Cup are unlikely to win again any time soon.
My point:
If the Wild think that signing oft injured Kaprizov at 16, even with projections of a rising cap, is their ticket to a Cup, they are flat out wrong.
Kaprizov is not close to being the most talented player in the league. McDavid and Draisatl in combination haven’t gotten the Oilers the Cup. We are well familiar with the Leafs situation with their elite forwards. The Bolts have several excellent offensive players.
The Wild may be in a bind but the expression “quit digging when you are in a hole” comes to mind. Signing him at more than 16 would mean bringing in an excavator.
In all fairness to Kirill the elite wingers in the NHL all have elite linemates Centers etc… Kaprizov is doing it on his own for the most part. Give Kirill the Thrill an elite center to play with and he will vault himself to one of the games most elite wingers. Imo he already has been for years. Honestly I believe he would be a perfect fit in Anaheim.
Nav, Boston isn t even close to having an elite center for Pasternak. Which makes last seasons 106 points unbelievable. The next closest scorer on Boston had 50 points less.
In all the speculation that I have read … he wants more money, he wants to be in a marquee city … I have not read much discussion of the fact that Kirill might not see himself winning there.
Shaun, the only “marquee” city in Russia is Moscow and the simple fact is, cities like Minneapolis/St.Paul, Buffalo, St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal etc. etc. are a helluva lot more “marquee” than Minsk, Yaroslavl, Magnetogorsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk et al.
George, you forgot about. St. Petersburg, that is a marquee glamour city, especially for Russian Art & History. It was the most popular city for tourist visiting Russia.
Yeah, have to agree there Nav .. oversight on my part … St. Petersburg is a beautiful city … be great if, some day, they could find where the Nazis hid the original Amber Room, although the replica is spectacular.
George, I was observing that the only things I have read speculate that Kirill wants more money or to play in a certain city. Maybe I missed the article that lays out the facts that prove Kirill has no character at all and is only in it for the biggest payday. I certainly agree it is better to be here than there — and even if you are a homesick Russian the real pay is here. I get that. My curiosity lies in whether Minny is putting together a team that can perennially contend for the cup and, if they are not, wondering if that is Kirill’s issue. I share your optimism that he’ll finish his career over here.
Deja Vu “the agent for Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Artemi Panarin says his client hasn’t signed an extension because he’s unsure he wants to stay in Columbus long-term”
Kucherov – 121
Rantanen – 88
Hagel – 90
Eichel – 94
I would say those four have a good chance of winning the cup again, Tampa is always a threat, Dallas seems to be close and are stacked on paper, Vegas could get there again,
A blank cheque for KK might be the only option for the Wild, I wonder if he is holding out hoping McDavid sets the bar at $20mill
What about Mackinnon? He has just as good of a chance to win a cup as well.
I’d day a better chance than either of Tampa or Dallas, who always seems to come up with a new way to lose.
And the last time Dallas was in the finals was 5 years ago and they haven’t won the Cup since 1999 – going on 27 years.
LJ,
I happen to agree with you on this, while I haven’t seen “a lot” of him , he appears to be a very good high end player that would improve any team he’s on……but he’s no McJesus.
Young fans today are learning what older folks have known, one dominant forward doesn’t win a championship, just like one dominant QB doesn’t win a championship.
A championship team is better than the sum of it’s parts and money needs to be spread out to pay those parts.
Top coaching staffs can scheme to neutralize or minimize one or two players , secondary and tertiary scoring tends to rise to the occasion on Cup winning teams.
HF30: I am well aware that I am just an enthusiast when it comes to making comments here, with way more misses than hits. What do I know? Not much, most of the time.
But if the Wild sign Kaprizov at 16 million it will be a rare case of my being a lot wiser than Leopold and co.
SR, Kaprizov had 108 point season not too long ago, and last season was in the Hart Trophy discussion prior to getting injured, and yes Pastarnak had an impressive season with no one else riding shotgun agreed.
Nav the only issue I see is his injury history .In his 5 seasons in the NHL he has been injured and missed many games in 3 of those.Pasternak has played every game the last 3 seasons.Pasta makes around11 million. Is this guy worth 5 million more a season.
SR, very valid point, biggest concern with Kirill undoubtedly is his injury concerns and history. Maybe he is best suited to play 72 games max. A little load management maybe his best course of action during the now new 84 game grind.
🤣 so true
KK turning down that huge offer certainly didn’t go over well here in the Peg as Kyle Connor is in the same boat. Not the exact same player but both wingers with comparable numbers for sure. Guérin is gonna find himself in such a tough spot as KK also has a no trade clause, giving him all the leverage. If McDavid and KK start camp in the coming days still u signed at least we will all have plenty to talk about and throw stuff against the wall lol. Wonder if Bowman has any hesitancy about bringing Carter Hart to Edm with all his baggage from his days in Chicago?? Looking forward to the drop of the puck soon, go Jets!
Looks like Oolers fans would be supportive (at s 3 to 2 clip) of signing one of the 5 2018 World Juniors players
Reporter David Staples (Edmonton Journal) who covers the Oilers; Reached out to Oilers fans (on X) to respond to the following question:
“Should the Oilers sign any of the UFA acquitted players, Carter Hart, Mike McLeod, Dillon Dube, or Cal Foote?”
Almost 2,200 Oilers fans responded
The tally came in at over 65 % saying YES
https://x.com/dstaples/status/1966280713134886980?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1966280713134886980%7Ctwgr%5Eb0df04d3321af9a635af2aca09c31053b75d32a8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnhltradetalk.com%2Fwrinkle-surfaces-as-oilers-fans-support-signing-reinstated-nhl-goalie%2F
35% – or roughly 6,300 – at an Oilers home game can be awfully loud.
One could also argue that many of those 6,300 might be so upset that they don’t go to the games; then subsequently filled with close to 6,300 that don’t have an issue
Once again I’ll say,
1) not only found Not Guilty; but judge was adamant in ruling that (a) EM had actually provided consent, (b) EM’s testimony was NOT reliable; (c) EM was NOT credible
2) Precedents set (to name a few:
a) Perry
b)Kane
c) Virtanen
d) Bowman
e) and let’s not forget the piece des resistance (sp?) : a convict who spent a year in jail and admitted to/found guilty of, ending another’s life: *McTavish
* spent 9 seasons with Oilers after his jail time; with over 700 regular season games; over 110 playoff games; 3 Cups; almost 390 points (reg season and playoffs)
Oilers (overall) seem to be a forgiving bunch.
Why wouldn’t they, overall/collectively forgive someone who is NOT only not guilty, but was given consent for what he did as a teenager; AND paid extremely (in lost $ millions) based on NOT reliable testimony by a NOT credible witness?
If EM had told the truth at the beginning; there would have been no trial; no settlement (NOTE without players knowledge) ; at least 4 of the 5 would have been mid NHL career right now; under good contracts; AND we would not be having this conversation
Look at all the public angst pre-trial when we only had one (self serving) narrative.
We (almost everybody) was ready to string up the 5.
My family fully included in that.
We (our family, and others) are completely guilty of prosecuting them before the facts
Once the facts were disclosed; 180!
That’s why pre-trial , most surveys had well over 80% supporting a jail term snd lifetime ban from hockey. You can count my family in those that supported that. We had been convinced they did atrocious things.
Now, post evidence, post trial, support for the 5 to be immediately reinstated has grown every week.
Last week on TV they mentioned a poll ; which would not have been player or city specific; that had over 90% supporting immediate reinstatement.
That is a dramatic turnaround
We’re (my family snd others) the wrong doers for castigating them pre facts disclosure
We’re hoping all 5 get contracts real soon and have another several years in the NHL
Put another way; I’d shake all 5 of their hands before I’d shake McTavish’s hand
He paid his dues; spent his time in jail; and we can forgive him. BUT, I’d still shake the 5’s hands before McTavish
Think about wearing latex gloves for that.
I hope no one ever asks you for the time. You’d wind up telling them how to build a clock!
How many people show up in elections, George, when there is way more directly at stake for them than a hockey game?
I’d be a good buck few of the 35% are ticket buying fans.
Correction: Not ticket buying fans.
Headline:
Wild Not Entertaining Trade Offers For Kirill Kaprizov