The last time Kaprizov, 27, finished a top-five scorer was when he posted career highs in goals (47) assists (61) and points (108) in 2021-22.
“It always feels good when it’s like this,” Kaprizov said. “Just play every game as hard as you can and show your best hockey and don’t think about how many points you have or stuff like this. Sometimes you can play 30 games in a row pretty good and 15 go down or something.
“For me, I think it should be better play all season same level, and this is most important for me — not like up and down. Play good all year.”
The Wild are giving Kaprizov ample opportunity to achieve that consistency.
Among forwards, only MacKinnon is averaging more ice time than Kaprizov, whose 22 minutes, 49 seconds are three seconds shy of MacKinnon. Double-shifting Kaprizov every game probably isn’t practical, but it has made sense for the Wild to rely on him more while he’s been locked in during a spaced-out schedule that hasn’t featured a back-to-back since the second and third games of the Wild’s season.
“He’s defensively responsible,” coach John Hynes said. “He’s extremely competitive on the puck. He’s playing big minutes. He’s producing 5-on-5 and on the power play.
