Minnesota Wild superstar named MVP candidate

The Minnesota Wild are off to a historic start to the season. With a record of 4-0-2 in six games, the team has never trailed in a game. That's an impressive statistic considering they've gone 5-1 against tough competition like the St. Louis Blues and most recently the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Top-notch goaltending helped the Wild get off to a hot start, but credit also goes to superstar Russian forward Kirill Kaprizov. The team's best player is on the rise this year, with two goals and 10 points in six games, with four of those points coming on the man advantage.

His early performance was enough to catch the attention of several NHL writers and analysts, including Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. In a recent written edition of 32 Thoughts, Friedman made it clear that Kaprizov is entering the Hart Trophy discussion as the league's most valuable player. He compared Kaprizov to New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin, as both were overlooked for some time despite NHL MVP performances.

“You know this guy,” Friedman wrote. “The guy who never won the Hart Trophy. The guy who deserves more conversation but doesn't get enough love. The guy who suddenly hits the sweet spot where voters say in droves, “He deserves a bump.” (Artemi Panarin is another example.) Kaprizov shuns the spotlight and has never reached the second round of the playoffs – not just because of him.”

The comparison feels apt and accurate. Kaprizov and Panarin are both elite scorers who never got enough consideration in Hart Trophy voting. Friedman also points out that Kaprizov received no votes last year and only received one third-place vote the season before.

The closest he came was in 2022, when he received a handful of first- and second-place votes and even more fourth- and fifth-place votes. This came after he scored 47 goals and 108 points on the 53-win Wild team. A team that doesn't win half of these games without Kaprizov's performance.

However, that could change this year. Kaprizov and the Wild have the NHL in their sights through the first two and a half weeks. If they keep it up and he finishes another 100-plus point season, this could finally be the year Kaprizov gets more Hart Trophy consideration and maybe even Eve takes home the award.

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