As the Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov's camp continue to hold contract discussions and finalize a deal, rival teams around the league stand by and monitor the situation as it unfolds.
While these negotiations are the main priority in Minnesota land and the Wild have claimed they have zero interest in entertaining trade offers, free agency is still a question mark if the sides can't get a contract agreed upon before the summer of 2026.
With that in mind, opposing teams interested in Kaprizov's services will do everything they can to get an edge just in case the current stalemate continues into next offseason and the forward unexpectedly hits the open market. The lengths some teams are willing to go are a sight to behold.
Teams reportedly tampering with Kaprizov
Via insider Elliotte Friedman, he believes some teams around the NHL have been involved in funny business with the Kaprizov party. Friedman was quoted saying "I know there has been tampering slash whispering going on; I'll never be able to prove it but I believe it."
These are some bold accusations if true. But you can't really blame GM's doing whatever it takes to acquire one of the best players in the game as players of his caliber rarely become available. Of course it is possible a deal gets completed by Minnesota soon making it a moot point, but that remains to be seen.
The teams in question that Friedman is referencing as responsible for the tampering allegations is the question mark here. The New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes are some of the teams that have been most name dropped as pursuing the forward, making them the top culprits here.