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NHL’s top stars break down Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov: ‘He’s got no weaknesses’

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — They’ve all come through the Xcel Energy Center in the first two months of the season:

Nathan MacKinnon. Sidney Crosby. Austin Matthews. On Thursday, it’ll be Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Kirill Kaprizov loves playing against them. “It’s even better to win against them,” he said recently. As the Wild winger has emerged among the world’s hockey elite in his two-plus NHL seasons, these players provide a measuring stick.

But, by now, aren’t the league’s top stars starting to feel the same way about him?

“I don’t know,” Kaprizov said, smiling. “Ask teams, maybe.”

So we did.

And what did we find? The feeling is, indeed, mutual. Some of the league’s best — we’re talking Hart Trophy winners — say Kaprizov is one of their favorite players to watch. They dig how he’s got skill — and is a little bit “dirty.”

The fact that Kaprizov finished seventh in league MVP voting last season, based on his peers’ reviews, is just a sign of things to come. As his 27 points in 21 games this season and current career-high nine-game scoring streak attest, he’s not slowing down.

“He’s got no weaknesses,” Crosby said.

“Hell of a player,” Nikita Kucherov said.

“He does everything well,” MacKinnon said.

You’ve heard Wild teammates sing Kaprizov’s praises enough. Here’s what the rest of the league thinks about Minnesota’s “engine.”

Since entering the league in 2013, Kucherov has won a Hart Trophy, a scoring title and two Stanley Cup championships. He was recently named to The Athletic‘s list of the 100 best players in modern NHL history, at No. 72.

But his beginnings were more humble. He knows what it’s like to be overlooked, having been taken in the second round in 2011. He was scratched healthy and traded in junior. When he scored his first NHL goal — on his first shot, against future Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist, to boot — long-time play-by-play man Rick Peckham called him “Dmitry.”

So one of Kucherov’s first questions, when asked about Kaprizov, was:

“What pick was he?”

The answer: 137th. A fifth-rounder in 2015.

“Whoever was the f—ing scout for Minnesota, he should be a GM now,” Kucherov said. “That’s for sure.

“Back then, they probably didn’t see him as the player he is right now. Now they’re talking about his skating ability, the IQ and all that. What? What are you talking about? Why didn’t you talk about that when he was getting drafted? They were too focused on other guys that they were so blinded to him.”

In 2015, some of the “other guys” were McDavid, Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner, to be fair. Still, every team — including the Wild — passed on Kaprizov several times. Minnesota took Joel Eriksson Ek (first round), Jordan Greenway (second) and — believe it or not — Ales Stezka (fourth) before plucking Kaprizov in the fifth.

There are very few players from that draft you would take over Kaprizov if it were re-picked today.

“I like him,” Kucherov said. “He’s a nice kid, funny. A hell of a player. He’s got some loose hips, that’s for sure. Good hips, fresh probably.

“He’s skilled, but he’s dirty — in a good way. He’s gritty. He’s going to bite you. He’s going to get there. ‘It’s my puck.’ He’s got that mentality. And he hates to lose. That’s good for (the Wild). They’ve got a good one there.”

What strikes MacKinnon about Kaprizov isn’t just the skills. It’s the skating ability.

“A lot of the Russian players are very fluid — Kucherov, (Artemi) Panarin,” MacKinnon said. “It looks like they’ve got no tension in their body. That’s what it looks like for (Kaprizov). The way he opens up his hips. His shot. He’s amazing. I really like watching him play.”

“Definitely one of my favorite players to watch in the league.”

It’s interesting to hear many people talk about Kaprizov’s skating — how strong he is on his edges and how deceptive he is in his movements.

“He never looks uncomfortable on his skates — ever,” said NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes. “He’s one of the few players in the league who are like that. (Cale) Makar is like that. MacKinnon is like that. Sid is like that. There are some guys who always look comfortable on their skates and he’s one of them.

“He looks like he’s on rails. He never looks like he’s going to tip. He can make plays in a unique way because he’s such a unique skater.”

What does that mean? Kaprizov can make defenders uncomfortable because when you think you can close on him, he maintains his edge and stays in control.

“When you get guys whose top half and bottom half are going in opposite directions — I was a defensive player, and you’re like, ‘Which way is he going?'” said 1987 Selke Trophy winner Dave Poulin. “He’s that deceptive. He really is in terms of his edge work and body control. You get guys that can continue to fake, but when everything is going in a different direction, where is he going?”

Crosby and Kaprizov couldn’t be any different when it comes to their entries into the league — Crosby the prodigious prospect, No. 1 pick and immediate franchise player, and Kaprizov the fifth-rounder. But the two are similar sizes (both listed at 5-foot-11) and both take pride in playing a strong two-way game.

That’s why Crosby likes Kaprizov’s game so much. It isn’t just Kaprizov’s shot or his puckhandling skills. He’ll go to the dirty areas for a tip-in. He’s hard to knock off pucks, a trademark of Crosby’s game.

What else does Crosby appreciate about Kaprizov?

“Everything,” Crosby said, walking to the parking lot in St. Paul after a recent morning skate. “His shot, his skating, the way he sees the ice. He’s just really complete. He can create a lot of different ways. That’s why he’s had so much success. When I played against him and watched him, he doesn’t really have any weaknesses. He can score from far out, he can beat guys one on one, and when he needs to make a play and someone is open, he can put it on someone’s tape. So he’s dangerous all the way around.”

MacKinnon also brought up Kaprizov’s all-around game — the shot, the skating, the vision — and pointed out how his strong lower half helps him protect the puck and drive the net. Teams gameplan around Kaprizov like they do for MacKinnon.

“He’s a superstar, there’s no question,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. “I love his attitude. He seems like he comes to the rink always in a good mood, having fun. His skill set — his feet, his hands, the package he’s put together — is super dangerous offensively. He’s highly competitive, super strong on pucks, hard to deal with down low and very creative as well. I find him equally as dangerous as a passer and shooter. Both of those are elite.”

Is there anyone Kaprizov reminds of Bednar?

“Connor Bedard,” Bednar said of the expected No. 1 pick next year. “I watch Bedard highlights in the WHL, and every time I watch him, I’m like, ‘That’s Kaprizov.’ This kid has a ridiculous release, it reminds me of the way they make things happen as a passer or shooter. An elite goal scorer.”

Martin St. Louis was a double threat, too.

The Hall of Famer was an elite setup man for the likes of Steven Stamkos, but he also scored 391 goals in his career.

St. Louis, the current Canadiens coach, wasn’t teammates with Kucherov for long, but that’s who he sees a lot of in Kaprizov.

“It seems like he’s always in motion,” St. Louis said. “He understands where the game is going. For that reason, he gets a lot of touches. It’s very similar to ‘Kuch’ in the sense that the puck seems to find him. It’s him playing in motion. It’s him understanding where the game is about to go.”

What makes Kaprizov different — like Kucherov or the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane — is that he can create like a No. 1 center, Weekes said. “You don’t need that driver down the middle,” Weekes said. And that helps the Wild, who don’t have a bona fide top center, as they’ve juggled everyone from Tyson Jost to Freddy Gaudreau to Sam Steel at 1C this season.

“He’s got a little Pavel Bure in him,” said Rick Tocchet, a 440-goal scorer, former NHL coach and current TNT analyst. “Kaprizov can go north-south fast, but the east-west part of his game is amazing. He can dart in and out. Bure was the same way. You don’t know where they are on the ice, and they come out of nowhere and go at it. It’s hard to defend. You think you’ve got a blanket on him, and the puck goes somewhere, he takes off and someone makes a seam pass to him and he’s gone.

“His ability to hold onto pucks coming out of corners with people draped over him, that to me is a special player. The McDavids, the Draisaitls, the Crosbys. They have that. He’s got that characteristic.”

Tocchet said Kaprizov is a top-10 player in the world not just because of his all-around skill but also because of his importance to the Wild. He’s their “home-run hitter.”

As former Cup champ and NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp says, “He’s the guy when you’re going against the Wild. That’s your gameplan.”

“I like Minnesota a lot,” Tocchet said. “It’s very consistent. But they don’t have the talent of Colorado. They don’t have the talent of Tampa. They’ve got good players, but when he gets 97, 100 points, and he does it for a Minnesota team that’s very structured, they don’t have high-flying offensive guys. That’s why he’s top-10 for me.”

Craig Button, the former NHL GM and current TSN analyst, was recently asked to put together a list of the top 50 players in the league — judging them by what they are right now, not based on body of work or past Cups. He had Kaprizov ahead of Kucherov, ahead of Crosby. The only players Button put ahead of Kaprizov were McDavid, Matthews, Makar, MacKinnon, Draisaitl and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“He was right there in the Hart Trophy voting last year,” Button said. “He’s one of the best players in the league. He’s always been a top player. So what he’s doing in the NHL isn’t a surprise. Any way you want to play, he does it. Want to intimidate him? Good luck. He’s so dialed into the game. His hockey sense is off-the-charts good.

“You’re going to gain an appreciation of him like you were watching Kucherov all those years.”

And that’s high praise.

(Top photo of Kirill Kaprizov and Sidney Crosby: David Berding / USA Today)

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