Kirill Kaprizov has emerged into one of the National Hockey League's best players in 2024-25, and the Russian superstar led the way yet again for the Minnesota Wild on Friday night. The Hart Trophy front runner scored a goal and added two assists as the Wild downed the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 at the Honda Center.
In the process, Kaprizov established a franchise mark for the fewest games to score 40 points in a season; it took him 25 contests, per NHL Public Relations. That eclipsed the previous franchise best he set in 2022-23, when it took him 31 games to reach 40. It was also his seventh three-point game of the campaign, good for first league-wide.
Kaprizov has looked otherworldly for the Wild through over a quarter of the campaign; he's leading the league with 42 points, 17 of those goals.
“Team keeps winning and it's easy to play for myself and it's easy to play for the whole team,” Kaprizov said afterwards, per NHL.com's Dan Arritt. “You just keep coming to the rink and you just love to come here. Everybody's smiling and joking around and having some fun, you know. It's the same when you go in the game and jump on the ice, and you just try to do your best.”
Minnesota has benefited greatly from the incredible play of its best skater — the Wild are up to 18-4-4 and currently riding a five-game heater after dispatching the Ducks on the road. That's the longest run for the franchise in nearly two years, and the quickest the club has ever gotten to 40 points.
The Wild are in the driver's seat in what's shaping up to be a razor thin President's Trophy race. Minnesota is at 40 points; the Vegas Golden Knights, 39; the Winnipeg Jets, Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils, 38.
Still, it's been a storybook start in the North Star State, and the roster is showing no signs of slowing down.
Wild continue to surprise hockey world in 2024-25

After a mediocre 2023-24 season that saw the Wild miss the postseason in the Western Conference for the first time since 2018-19, the expectations weren't exactly high coming into this year.
But the outstanding play of Kaprizov, along with superstar goaltending from Filip Gustavsson and a breakout campaign from Matt Boldy, has turned this into one of the premier teams in the NHL.
And that was on full display on Friday night, when Minnesota continued its road warrior ways. The Wild are 11-1-3 as visitors this season and are riding a nine game point streak (7-0-2); that's tied for the fourth longest such run in franchise history, per NHL Public Relations.
Only three teams in NHL history have posted more points through their first 15 road games in a season: the 2023-24 Kings (13-1-1, 27 points), 2012-13 Blackhawks (12-1-2, 26 points) and 2006-07 Ducks (12-1-2, 26 points), per NHL Public Relations.
It's been an incredible start for the franchise, and Kaprizov has been a huge reason why. It'll be interesting to see if GM Bill Guerin tries to make the team even better ahead of the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.