Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello are ready to reignite the Wild's top scorer record

ST. PAUL, Minnesota – The “Bromance” is back for another season and hasn’t let up yet.

Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, who hit it off when Kaprizov made his Wild debut in 2021, were among the first two on the ice at training camp on Thursday. They were reunited on the front line after being separated during the second half of last season. Zuccarello set Kaprizov up with saucer passes, seeing-eyes-through traffic and backdoor tap-ins during an intense first practice.

When Kaprizov spoke to reporters in flawless English for the first time since the spring, he was asked what it was like to be running alongside his best friend again, at least on the first day of camp.

A voice from the back of the room said, “Good.”

Unbeknownst to anyone, including Kaprizov, Zuccarello had sneaked into the room and was listening from behind a sea of ​​cameras. Kaprizov and the dozens of reporters and PR people laughed heartily at the comic timing.

“He was a bit grumpy today,” Kaprizov said, laughing. “I don't know, maybe his daughters won't sleep all night.”

“I’m never grumpy,” Zuccarello shouted.

Kaprizov is in a great mood today. His English is perfect. He already has stitches under his left eye pic.twitter.com/G0NzTyCLEI

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) 19 September 2024

During the last season breaks, Kaprizov was unable to visit Zuccarello because Russians cannot fly to Norway by plane without special permission due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But this past offseason, Kaprizov returned home for the first time in two offseasons. Remember, the Wild asked Kaprizov not to return to Russia in 2023 because it was so difficult for him to return to the United States two years ago because his U.S. work visa had not yet been filled. The Wild had to overcome all sorts of legal hurdles to finally get him to a U.S. consulate in Europe and eventually across the ocean.

But last month, Kaprizov wanted to play in Zuccarello's charity match in Lillehammer. His teammates Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, Filip Gustavsson, Marcus Johansson, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber wanted to be there and Kaprizov wanted to come along.

Together with his team at the Zuccarello Foundation, Zuccarello has found a way.

Kaprizov had a one-year visa to enter Sweden, obtained by the NHL and the Wild, so he could attend the Global Series in Stockholm last November. If he could get to Sweden, Zuccarello's team would receive written permission from the government for Kaprizov to enter Norway by helicopter.

So Kaprizov flew from Moscow to Istanbul in Turkey, then to Gothenburg in Sweden, then took a helicopter to Oslo and then traveled to Lillehammer.

“He's James Bond. He's an agent,” Zuccarello said. “It was kind of last minute. … When he said yes, the whole world stopped to get him to Oslo and then to Lillehammer.”

“So it was really fun. … It was really successful. And I think we had a really good time playing some games and a skills competition and having fun outside as well. I missed all the guys after being without them for many months. It was really cool.”

For Kaprizov, it was a pleasure to see where Zuccarello grew up and lives. His buddy is the leading scorer of all Norwegian-born players with 636 points in 835 games.

“I think there were 5,000 people (at the skill competition) and at the game the next day there were 10,000,” Kaprizov said. “The game is very emotional. I think Zuccy did a great job for the people of Norway. For the players too.”

“(Norway) is a little bit different. Not like Russia or the US – Norway is a little bit different country. There are no big buildings or anything like that. It was fun.”

The 27-year-old Kaprizov, who broke the 40-goal mark three years in a row, and the 37-year-old Zuccarello hope to rekindle the chemistry between them from their time in Minnesota. Entering training camp, Ryan Hartman will be the middle of that line. Three years ago, Hartman scored 34 goals playing primarily with those two. The Wild's hope of getting those three back together and, at least initially, displacing last year's dominant Kaprizov-Eriksson-Ek-Boldy line is to spread the power around and create more offensive depth throughout the lineup.

As Zuccarello noted four times on Thursday, the Wild need “more opportunities to score than we had last year.”

Again, this is the first day of camp and coach John Hynes plans to experiment with different line combinations throughout camp, so things could change in a heartbeat.

The other major reason for the Wild's start, however, is that Zuccarello was unable to perform at consistent strengths last year after being moved from Kaprizov's right wing.

In 439 five-on-five minutes without Kaprizov, Zuccarello had two goals and five assists in a year in which he scored 63 points in 69 games.

“There was obviously a year where we (Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello) scored some goals and were productive,” Zuccarello said. “Hopefully we can do that and get more lines to score and get more productivity out of four lines. We're a four-line team and every line has to be productive.”

It will be a long road before the season opens on Oct. 10 against Columbus, and the message at Wednesday's team meeting from Hynes and President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin was that a better start than the past two years is essential.

The Wild start with two home games and then hit the road for seven away games. While some might consider that daunting, both Kaprizov and Zuccarello are taking the opposite approach.

Kaprizov, who scored 160 goals during his four-year NHL career, the sixth-highest in the league during that span, said that when you don't see your teammates for much of the offseason, it can be beneficial to get away together at the beginning.

“Maybe it's more fun if we go on tour with the team at the beginning,” he said. “The whole team together and have a little fun. … It's better to do it before the season than at the end because we don't see each other all summer and now we're just going to go on tour, have a little fun, play there and then I think in the second month we'll have a lot of games at home.”

Zuccarello pointed out that last year's slow start left the Wild chasing the season all year long. He said the Wild can't afford to use the early trip out of Minnesota as an excuse.

“We want to get back to the playoffs,” he said. “Anyone can talk about the Cup. Everyone wants to win it, so there's no point in saying that, but first we have to get to the playoffs, and that starts with Game 1, and then we go from there. Last year we were behind for most of, well, the whole season, so that was tough. So hopefully we can get off to a good start and be in the mix all year long.”

“We can start positively now. We haven't lost a game yet, so we can smile and then have fun and hopefully have a good year and then get back on track.”

Minnesota's success will depend in large part on the two best friends.

(Photo of Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello: Bailey Hillesheim / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)