It cannot be denied that the Minnesota Wild are making a lot of noise on the big stage with the way they are thriving in the Western Conference so far. They are not that far behind the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot, and even ahead of contenders such as the Vegas Golden Knights, Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and even the Edmonton Oilers. 

So far, Kirill Kaprizov’s case has been the impressive note for the MVP race this season, and it is surely has given him a big boost on his case for the said award. Now more than ever, the Minnesota Wild star is the leading candidate for the Hart Trophy, and his injury will surely affect those chances moving forward.

On top of that, Minnesota will also have to endure some games without their top star leading the charge, and this may play a huge role in their chances of keeping hold of a promising playoff spot in the coming weeks as well. Considering how the MVP odds are shifting from time to time, most of it will depend on how Minnesota will be successful with and without him for the time being.

Tough Injury for Kaprizov

At the age of 27, Kaprizov is now set to be for day-to-day after he’s had a knee-to-knee collision with Drake Caggiula in their 5-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers last week. He was opting to leave the game, but later decided to stay anyway. He did not, however participate in team practice the next day. 

So far, this spells a turbulent trouble for the Wild, but then going day-to-day with the rest of the team is going to be quite a nuisance considering how well they’ve performed this season so far. It complicates a lot of things with their chances of winning being what’s at stake at this point in time.

"There's kind of been a few guys that have been going down. We always say next man up, try to fill the void," Wild forward Ryan Hartman said. "Obviously, it's the leading scorer in the League. It's a big void to fill, but we've got to play a team game and roll out everybody."

Kaprizov has set a record of 11 games where he’s had a point in each road game, which is a franchise record. So far, this season has been a spectacular run for him, and it does seem that he is expected to keep up the performances had it not been for his injury.

MVP Odds Plummeting?

As of the time of writing, Kirill Kaprizov has the best odds of winning the MVP with +250, top of contenders such as Nathan MacKinnon (+400), Connor McDavid (+400), Nikita Kucherov (+500), and Artemi Panarin (+1000). However, it does seem that Kaprizov’s numbers would be going down in the later weeks with him playing limited games with that injury.

According to the medical staff of the Wild, Kaprizov surely did avoid a major injury, and that could have been catastrophic for the team’s chances of winning in the long run. Now more than ever, it seems that Kaprizov will need some time to recover and get back on track – hopefully continue to lead the way for the Wild to its first-ever Stanley Cup win in the NHL in a very long while as one of the franchises with no Presidents’ Trophy, Conference Championships, and certainly not even a league title.