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Who Will Be The First Wild Player In The Hall? |
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With yesterday's announcement of the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2023, it got me thinking, who will be the first Minnesota Wild to go into the Hall.
I immediately think of Kirill Kaprizov who has been everything that was projected of the Russian winger, prior to his arrival in North America prior to the 2021 abbreviated NHL season. Kaprizov won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year that first season and has continued to build on that success in each of the next two seasons.
Kirill established franchise single season records for goals (47) assists (61) and points (108) in just his second NHL season and first full season in the NHL. He has led the team in scoring in each of his three NHL seasons and the best by all accounts, is yet to come from #97.
There is no other player even remotely close to Hall of Fame discussion. Mikko Koivu will get some votes potentially, but he is nowhere near Hall worthy. Ryan Suter could be in the discussion once his career comes to an end, but he has never been even a top five defenseman during any part of his career.
So Kaprizov is surely the first really Hall worthy player in Wild history. Time will tell of course as he is just now establishing his legacy.
Congratulations to Henrik Lunqvist, Pierre Turgeon, Mike Vernon, Tom Barasso, Ken Hitchcock, the late Pierre Lacroix, and Caroline Ouellette on their election to the Hall as the class of 2023!
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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