It’s finally time for the Minnesota Wild’s superstar to receive his report card for the season and while he didn’t have his best season, Kirill Kaprizov still made a difference. He started off with a scoring run and kept it going most of the season until right before playoffs when he was sidelined for almost a month with an injury.
While he did well during the regular season, he hit a brick wall when it came to the postseason. That may or may not have been due to his injury, but it was clear his game was not there. We’ll take a deeper dive into both his regular season and postseason stats to determine an overall grade for Kaprizov.
Kaprizov’s Wild Regular Season
While Kaprizov didn’t have the same record-setting season as he did in 2021-22, he still showed his talent in scoring and physicality. Fans got to see firsthand what his physical side looks like and an almost suspension following an altercation with one of his main foes, Drew Doughty. He played 67 games this season and scored 40 goals plus assisted on 35 others for 75 points. He even amassed 45 penalty minutes, the most of his short three-year career.
While his offense was on fire as usual, his defense improved in some areas and faltered in others. The areas he needs to improve on are blocked shots and takeaways. He blocked just 28 shots in those 67 games, one fewer than the season prior, and while many fans may not want their superstar blocking shots, it’s an integral part of the game. A team can’t win without playing defense and that means even their scorers have to block shots from time to time.
The same can be said about his takeaways, he had 50 this past season, seven fewer than the year prior, and again that may not seem like a big deal but that’s seven fewer scoring opportunities. While it seems like he had more struggles than successes in the defensive department, he did succeed in fewer giveaways which is equally as important. He dropped his giveaways from 72 in 2021-22 to 54 this past season, which is great considering how much he carries the puck. If he can improve in those two other areas, he’ll show he can be a two-way player.
Kaprizov’s Brick Wall Postseason
In the postseason, a player of Kaprizov’s caliber is supposed to thrive and show what he’s truly made of but that was far from what happened this past season. While he did make an impact in Game 1, that was the only offensive impact he had and while he had a number of shots, he couldn’t get past Dallas Stars’ goaltender Jake Oettinger.
While his offense may have stopped, his physicality didn’t and it took away from his overall game. He had 14 hits in six games which is way over what would be expected of Kaprizov. It’s great he wants to be more physical, but it can’t come at the expense of the more important parts of his game like scoring. His giveaways also increased from the regular season; he had seven during the playoffs and just two takeaways.
It’ll sound like a broken record but those are not the numbers that should be seen during the playoffs. On a final note, he only had one blocked shot during the postseason and it’s part of the reason their defense struggled so much. The forwards have to step up and help when the defense is struggling to block shots and move the puck out of the defensive zone. Hopefully next season he’ll be better in both areas during the playoffs.
Kaprizov’s Grade
Despite having a rough ending to the regular season, Kaprizov was still impactful in the first 75 percent of it. He found new ways to score and helped his teammates play better as well, even his defense got better in certain areas but he still has room to improve. He also nearly got himself suspended, which was not one of the finer moments of his season but he did seem to learn from it.
Overall he earned an A-. It could’ve been higher had he improved more defensively and been a bit more careful regarding his composure and the already-mentioned near suspension. A player of his level is expected to be better than that and he’ll need to remember that going forward.
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The postseason is when things took a turn and Kaprizov struggled greatly. Unlike in the season prior when he carried the team on his back, he couldn’t repeat the performance with just one goal scored. He earned a C- because he was not who they needed him to be. He did get a little slack because of his recent injury, otherwise it could’ve been lower but it couldn’t go higher because he had just one goal and little defense to show for it.
Overall that earned him a low B- because he did earn recognition for his strong regular season but that doesn’t account for much when it falls short in the postseason. If they want to win a Stanley Cup the whole team has to be in it starting with their leading scorer. Hopefully, this is a one-time issue and he’ll be back to 100 percent next season.
