[Hollywood42]

I haven't gotten into the hockey segment of the hobby so don't have any pickups or comments on Kaprizov cards to share, but did jut want to add a few things to this as a Wild fan-

It's certainly true the Wild are in salary cap hell right now, and they'll be there for a few more seasons until the bulk of Parise/Suter's contracts come off the books. But honestly they've positioned themselves very well to be competitive throughout that span. It's tricky because it basically rules out signing any top or even mid tier FA, and requires us to get production out of guys on their rookie deals, but so far it's looking good. And I love that right when Parise/Suter do come off the books is when we'd want to get Rossi/Boldy signed to their next deals, that timing should work out nicely

The Wild will have essentially the same roster as last year minus Fiala, who is definitely leaves a good chunk of goals needing to be replaced. I don't want to downplay that loss because it's definitely notable, but Fiala was also incredibly streaky and too often a liability defensively, so I am hopeful the Wild will be able to be more or less the same without him

The X factors are going to be those rookie deal guys I mentioned earlier. Boldy was up last year and played extremely well. Rossi is joining him this year and may have an even higher ceiling. A lot hinges on those two playing well from the get go. The rest of the team looks pretty solid. Kappy, of course, and his chemistry with Zuccarello has been incredible to watch, the GREEF line continues to be one of the better 2nd lines in the league, and the team has a few good defensive pairings as well. Overall it should be a good team again, but we'll have to see exactly how good

Specifically on Kappy, I'm personally not sure if I see 50 goals in him or not - His playmaking ability and insane skating/puck control skill has always been obvious, but it has seemed a little more slanted to seeing others up for goals rather than scoring himself. Last year no doubt impressed me with getting to 47, and it's perfectly reasonable to think he could find a couple more here and there and cross that 50 goal mark. But he doesn't seem like a pure goal scorer to me, a la Ovi for example. That's not a knock on him at all, he's clearly a big playmaker and the best player on the Wild. I just think he's a little more rounded than pure goal scorer

Overall as a team though, I'm really looking forward to another season and think the Wild should have another playoff appearance in them. I can't say if they are a true Cup contender yet, but I think we're starting with a solid baseline

Originally Posted by forest

He's 5th in Hart Trophy odds behind McDavid, Matthews, Draisaitl, and MacKinnon.

40 goals in his 59 games last year once the calendar flipped to 2022. That's a 55+ goal 82 game pace. If Matthews struggles I could see Kaprizov winning the Rocket.

Originally Posted by anusinha

I kind of have a bad feeling about the Wild this year, not sure if they can repeat what they did last year and they are in a pickle with their cap situation.

Originally Posted by The_Reverend

The cap is definitely a problem, but if Boldy and Rossi can produce, anything is possible. Kirill Kaprizov will get 50 goals and top 100 points again in my opinion. We are talking hockey and that is a good thing.