ST. PAUL, Minn. — The “Bromance” is back for another season and hasn’t missed a beat.
Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, who hit it off instantly when Kaprizov debuted with the Wild in 2021, were among the first two on the ice for training camp Thursday. Reunited on the top line after being separated in the second half of last season, Zuccarello teed Kaprizov up with saucer passes, seeing-eyes through traffic and backdoor tap-ins during an intense first practice.
Then, as Kaprizov talked with reporters in impeccable English for the first time since the spring, he was asked what it was like to be back skating alongside his bosom buddy at least for Day 1 of camp.
A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Good.”
Unknowingly to everyone, including Kaprizov, Zuccarello had sneaked into the room and was eavesdropping behind a sea of cameras. Kaprizov, as well as the dozen reporters and PR people, cracked up at the comedic timing.
“He was a little bit grumpy today,” Kaprizov said, laughing. “I don’t know, maybe his daughters don’t sleep all night.”
“I’m never grumpy,” Zuccarello yelled.
Kaprizov in a great mood today. English impeccable. Already stitches under his left eye pic.twitter.com/G0NzTyCLEI
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) September 19, 2024
In the past few offseasons, Kaprizov hasn’t been able to visit Zuccarello because Russians aren’t able to fly via plane into Norway without a special permit due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But this past offseason, Kaprizov returned home for the first time in two offseasons. Remember, the Wild asked Kaprizov not to go back to Russia in 2023 because it was so hard for him to travel back to the United States two years ago because he didn’t have his U.S. work visa yet completed. The Wild had to jump through all sorts of legal hoops, finally getting him to a U.S. consulate in Europe and ultimately across the ocean.
But last month, Kaprizov wanted to play in Zuccarello’s charity game in Lillehammer. Teammates Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, Filip Gustavsson, Marcus Johansson, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber were going to attend and Kaprizov wanted to go along for the ride.
Along with his team at The Zuccarello Foundation, Zuccarello figured out a way.
Kaprizov had a visa to get into Sweden that was good for a year, arranged by the NHL and the Wild so he could play in last November’s Global Series in Stockholm. If he could get to Sweden, Zuccarello’s team got written permission from the government that Kaprizov would be allowed to travel into Norway via helicopter.
So Kaprizov flew from Moscow to Istanbul, Turkey, to Gothenburg, Sweden, then took a chopper to Oslo before getting to Lillehammer.
“He is James Bond. He is an agent,” Zuccarello said. “It was kind of last-minute. … Once he said yes, the whole world stopped to get him to Oslo and then to Lillehammer.
“So it was real fun. … It was really successful. And I think we had a really good time playing some games and a skills competition and fun outside, too. I missed all the guys having been many months without them. It was real cool.”
For Kaprizov, it was fun seeing where Zuccarello grew up and lives. His pal is the all-time leader scorer amongst Norwegian-born players with 636 points in 835 games.
“I think it was 5,000 people (for the skills competition) and the game next day was 10,000,” Kaprizov said. “A lot of emotion to take from this game. Zuccy, I think, did a great job for people in Norway. For the players, too.
“(Norway) is a little different. Not like in Russia or in U.S. — Norway’s a little different country. It’s not big buildings there or something like that. It was fun.”
Kaprizov, 27, who has hit the 40-goal plateau three consecutive years, and Zuccarello, 37, hope to rekindle the chemistry they’ve had throughout their time in Minnesota. To start camp, Ryan Hartman will center that line. Three years ago, Hartman scored 34 goals playing mostly with those two, and the Wild’s hope of reuniting these three and, at least to start, dislodging last year’s dominant Kaprizov-Eriksson Ek-Boldy line is to spread the wealth and create more offensive depth throughout the lineup.
As Zuccarello noted four different times Thursday, the Wild need “more lines to produce 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 an instant.
But the other big reason the Wild are starting this way is because Zuccarello dried up at even strength last year when removed from Kaprizov’s right wing.
In 439 five-on-five minutes without Kaprizov, Zuccarello scored two goals and five assists in a year he scored 63 points in 69 games.
“Obviously (there was) a year where we (Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello) scored some goals and were productive,” Zuccarello said. “So hopefully we can do that, and we can get some more lines into scoring chances, and get some more production from four lines. We’re a four-line team, and you need production from every line.”
It’ll be a long buildup to the start of the season on Oct. 10 against Columbus, and the message during Wednesday’s team meeting from Hynes and president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin was that a better start than they’ve had the past two years is essential.
The Wild open with two games at home, then hit the road for seven. While some could look at that as daunting, both Kaprizov and Zuccarello are taking the opposite approach.
Kaprizov, whose 160 goals during his four years in the NHL ranks sixth-most in the league over that span, said when you don’t see your teammates for most of the offseason, getting away together at the start could be beneficial.
“It’s maybe more fun if we go on the road with the team at the start,” he said. “Whole team together and make some fun. … It’s better to do it before than end of the season because we all summer don’t see each other and now we just go on the road, make some fun, play there and then I think second month we have a lot of games at home.”
Zuccarello pointed out last year’s slow start caused the Wild to chase the season all year long. He said the Wild can’t afford to use the early trip outside Minnesota as an excuse.
“We want to get back to the playoffs,” he said. “Everyone can talk about the Cup. Everyone wants to win that, so there’s no point in saying that, but first we gotta get to the playoffs, and it starts with Game 1, and then go on from there. Last year, we were chasing behind almost, well, the whole season, So that was tough. So hopefully we can get a good start and be in the mix the whole year.
“We can start off positive now. We haven’t lost a game yet, so we can smile and then have fun and hopefully have a good year and get back to it.”
A lot of Minnesota’s success will depend on the two best buds.
(Photo of Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello: Bailey Hillesheim / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
