Insider Believes 'Tampering' At Play in Kaprizov Contract Drama

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold said last year that he would spend more money than any other club in order to keep his superstar Kirill Kaprizov. He might be regretting that statement at this point, as Kaprizov earlier this month turned down the richest contract offer in NHL history, $128 million over eight years ($16M AAV).

How could he have turned down such an offer? Insider Elliotte Friedman posited this week on The Fan Hockey Show that "tampering" could be at play.

I do believe there’s been tampering - slash - whispering going on. I’ll never be able to prove it, but I believe it.

Could another team have "whispered" in the ear of Kaprizov's agent that they'd offer something far north of a $16M salary? Yes, that would be tampering, but Friedman isn't specifically accusing any particular team of doing it, and he has no smoking gun.

The Wild are worried about tampering in Kaprizov case

Wild insider Michael Russo, speaking on The Sheet with Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski, said he does believe that the team is wondering about the possibility of tampering.

"I know that the Wild are definitely worried about it, and if it's going on, they'll try to deal with it... It doesn't even need to be tampering, it could just be assumptions... All good agents look at other teams and try to figure out who can offer the most money... It's very clear that Kirill Kaprizov is going to be a wanted man if he ever gets to market. And there's definitely teams out there that would put out the Brink's truck for him."

Bottom line for Minnesota, however, at this point, is that there is no other team that can actually offer Kaprizov an eight-year contract—or any contract of any amount—at this time. Not until next July 1st at least. Which is why, Friedman suggests, the Wild must be saying to themselves, "Do we really want to bid against ourselves here?... Do we really need to offer one more dollar?"

Whether this is a case of the Kaprizov camp trying to squeeze the Wild for more, or whether the Russian star is not sure how committed to the team long-term he really is, is unknown. We do know that he has said he really likes it in Minnesota, and Friedman believes that.

Kaprizov talks at a standstill, Wild getting nervous

For now, talks remain at a standstill, and there haven't been any real conversations since that $128M offer was turned down, per Russo. He also feels that Leipold, who has all of a sudden gone quiet on the topic, is "getting absolutely nervous about this."