He took part in the “Tendy Tandem” event like most other non-goalies.
Kaprizov said he was willing to compromise and do something else, but the league had each event assigned to other players. Kaprizov also said he was ready to go, “but people came and said, ‘You’re not going to go,’ and that’s it.” Trust me, he didn’t want to not participate. Monday, Guerin confirmed what sources told The Athletic: “Kirill was willing to do it at the very end and was told they didn’t have room. So about three minutes before the event, Kaprizov was relieved of his duty. By that point, though, the league had room for only five skaters. However, according to sources, on the bus ride to the arena, the former Wild teammates talked and decided they would both take part in the event. But around 3 o’clock Friday, the league confirmed to the Wild that Kaprizov would be in the competition because Kings forward Kevin Fiala had also bowed out because of injury concerns.įiala was squeamish about the fastest skater competition because in 2017 he broke his left femur crashing into the end boards during the playoffs. Kaprizov again told the league he didn’t want to participate. He asked to be removed, but the request either wasn’t received or was declined because when the competitors were announced Thursday, he was assigned to the event anyway. “The thing is that I’m not the fastest player,” Kaprizov said Saturday. One problem: Kaprizov didn’t want to do it. The league said no problem and instead assigned Kaprizov to the fastest skater competition. That followed two days of horse-trading behind the scenes that are a window into how these skills competitions come together.Īccording to sources in the league office, about a week before All-Star Weekend, Wild general manager Bill Guerin called to tell the officials Kaprizov was dealing with nagging upper-body soreness and to ask if Minnesota’s leading scorer could be left out of shooting events. The games Saturday came after the skills events Friday, when Kaprizov became a story for not taking part in any competition. “It’s hard when you don’t play for two hours,” Kaprizov said, laughing. He said he got confused because the Central played in black jerseys in the first game and he forgot he was wearing the lighter jersey in the second. He also accidentally passed the puck once to Detroit’s Larkin on the other team. It was one of the highlights of an interesting All-Star Weekend for Kaprizov, who didn’t have a point in either game he played as the Central Division lost to the Tkachuk brothers, Dylan Larkin and the rest of the Atlantic Division in the final after beating the Pacific in the semifinal. “The guy goes, ‘Yeah.’ So I gave him one of my sticks, and then I got one from McDavid. “I go, ‘McDavid?’” Kaprizov said, laughing again. “‘Connor asked if he can have your stick,’” Kaprizov recalled, smiling. A few minutes later, another person approached Kaprizov.
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