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
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.
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
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.
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
🤣 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!