Wild and Kaprizov may be at another stalemate
Michael Russo of The Athletic: The Minnesota Wild’s training camp opens next Thursday and RFA Kirill Kaprizov is still without a contract. Wild GM Bill Guerin has said all offseason that “these things take time.”
Guerin said yesterday that “there are gonna be some obstacles.”
At this point it’s looking like Kaprizov won’t be with the team at the start of training camp. If he were to sign right away, he’d still need to go through the work visa process, do the COVID testing and quarantine for a week. Kaprizov will also have to be fully vaccinated by a U.S./Canada approved vaccine to be eligible to play.
For the contract talks side of things, it appears the sides have hit a stalemate again. Sources said a couple of weeks ago that the Wild have made offers of around $9 million per season with several ‘term’ options.
“I will say this, we are at a point where we feel we’re being extremely fair,” Guerin said. “How far apart are we? Not very, but sometimes those can be the things that take a while. I mean, that’s the way I see it. You could ask Paul or Kirill and they might say something very different.”
Recently the Wild haven’t been giving out signing bonuses, and maybe that is one area that is causing an issue.
Senators and Tkachuk still talking eight-years
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Ottawa Senators are still trying to get Brady Tkachuk signed to a long-term deal and continue to talk with agents Craig Oster and Don Meehan.
It’s believed that though talks have been good, the sides may now be holding strong on what they want. Usually, when the 11th hour comes the sides find a way to get a deal done. Tkachuk is staying in St. Louis and not expected back to Ottawa until he has a contract in place.
Talks on an eight-year deal continue.
September 23rd is when the Senators take to the ice for the first day of training camp.