ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mats Zuccarello doesn’t fancy himself an exceptional cook like, say, his mom, whose meatloaf the Wild playmaker extraordinaire craves and can’t wait to consume every time he’s back in his native Norway.
But in the kitchen, Zuccarello can still whip up more than the apples he serves on a nightly basis to his linemate, protege, kid brother and “first son,” Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov.
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In fact, when Zuccarello and his wife, Marlene, have Kaprizov over to their home in the Twin Cities for dinner, Zuccarello always does the cooking.
What’s the entree of choice?
Perhaps Norway’s national dish of lamb stew and cabbage? Maybe some lutefisk? Or, maybe Zuccarello tries to make Kaprizov feel like he’s back in his native Russia with borscht and some pelmeni?
Nope.
“Tacos,” Zuccarello says. “I make him tacos every time he comes. Normal ground beef with some seasoning, and some vegetables are on it.”
Zuccarello’s first real offspring, a daughter, was born this summer, so now he jokes he’s “got two babies.”
“I’ve got the older one (in Kaprizov) and a little girl,” Zuccarello says. “So, a different life for me — less sleep.”
Zuccarello grabs Kaprizov’s left shoulder and cracks: “So, actually you’re going to have to backcheck a little this year.”
When Kaprizov’s not over for dinner, it’s become a nightly ritual to FaceTime with Zuccarello to wish his friend’s daughter sweet dreams.
“He sings goodnight songs for her every night,” Zuccarello says. “He’s Uncle Kirill.”
Kaprizov smiles: “She’s amazing. But I don’t know quite who she looks like yet, Marlene or Zuccy. … I’ve enjoyed getting to know her.”
At age 35, Zuccarello has had a terrific hockey career, especially since bursting onto the scene in the 2010 Olympics and turning that into a free-agent contract with the Rangers. In New York, the NHL’s all-time leading Norwegian scorer (506 points in 688 games) was a fan favorite, a popular teammate and a solid point producer who meshed with a ton of great teammates.
But nothing has compared to Zuccarello’s special chemistry and closeness with Kaprizov, who came to North America established internationally with an Olympic gold-medal-clinching overtime goal, a KHL championship and a couple of goal-scoring titles in Russia.
Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello during a preseason availability. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)They hope to continue that magic this season, beginning Thursday night, when Zuccarello’s old Rangers visit St. Paul for the Wild’s season opener.
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Zuccarello’s first year in Minnesota, after signing a five-year, $30 million contract in July 2019, was so underwhelming that the Wild worried about where he could be headed by the time Zuccarello reached his mid-30s. Now, in fairness, he was playing through an arm injury that had never fully healed after his short stint in Dallas and would ultimately undergo surgery late in the summer, which meant a late start to the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
That was also the season Kaprizov finally made his NHL debut, five and a half years after being selected by the Wild in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL Draft. He opened it with a bang, registering three points, including the winner on an overtime breakaway, in his first game, but by the time Zuccarello made his own season debut in mid-February, the Wild were scrounging to find Kaprizov consistent linemates.
Zuccarello had 11 points in his first seven games, and the rest is history, including a near-unanimous Calder Trophy victory for Kaprizov. Other than a few games in which the pair were separated last season in an attempt by coach Dean Evason to get each to “play the right way” and stop looking only for each other, they have been joined at the hip on and off the ice since February 2021.
Teammates joke that Kaprizov and Zuccarello are the “best bromance in hockey.”
“They’re with each other 24/7,” Marcus Foligno says. “Dinners on the road, they’re always together.”
Teammates also joke that whoever’s picked to be the center on their line is the “third wheel,” although trust Ryan Hartman when he says how proud he is to be the guy that finally fit like a glove once the trio was assembled last November.
“I’m glad it’s worked,” says Hartman, who scored a career-high 34 goals last season, with 18 assisted by Kaprizov and 12 by Zuccarello. “You still have to put the puck in the net, but it’s fun. It’s great to have two guys that have such chemistry, and then get to be the one to play with them. I hope it keeps working out, obviously, and I’m going to try to do my best to keep it going and make sure I get to be the guy that can still center them.”
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The incredible cohesion, production and how much fun they make the game weren’t just seen in all the career-best scoring totals. The pair helped the Wild amass a franchise-record 113 points.
“They look for each other all the time,” Foligno says, pointing to a most-recent example of an exhibition win over the Stars in which Kaprizov and Zuccarello combined for three goals and six points, with some doozy highlights. “They’re always trying to learn off each other and get better. It’s one of those things that clicked from Day 1. They push each other in a fun way. They also know they need each other to produce. They take things seriously and have fun doing it. It’s insane the passing plays they make. You saw the one (Thursday) night (against Chicago), where Kirill just whips it across to Zuccy for a breakaway.
“You’re going to see a lot more of that. They’re always on the same wavelength.”
Kaprizov and Zuccarello are 10 years apart. But as much as Kaprizov considers Zuccarello his mentor, Zuccarello doesn’t see it that way.
“I think we’re more brothers than mentor-protege,” Zuccarello says. “I can’t really teach him much. He can teach me a lot on the ice. You talk about a mentor, but it might be the other way around. I just think we’re good friends. Like brothers. We like to have fun with each other. But, it’s not just me and him. It’s the whole group.”
Coming over to North America for the first time is not easy for Russian players.
Unlike many European countries, English is not necessarily taught in Russian schools. There’s a massive culture change, from the language and the food to the daily way of life.
Then there’s trivial stuff, like knowing how to buy a car, a house, clothes, whatever.
“Everything is different,” Kaprizov says. “It wasn’t just Zuccy. It was (Jared) Spurgeon and (Dmitry) Kulikov, too. They noticed, in the beginning, it was hard for me. They always reached out and asked if I needed anything. They invited me over to participate in family events. They helped me out where they could and showed me around the city and Russian stores. I had a lot of help from a lot of teammates. That made it a lot easier in the beginning.”
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Another player who became close with Kaprizov early on was defenseman Matt Dumba. Dumba had Kaprizov over often, especially in December 2020 to watch the world juniors. They even had some friendly wagers during the Russia-Canada meeting.
“We communicated by using Google Translate a lot,” Dumba says. “He could get through a sentence, but maybe one word would catch him up. This guy cares. He’s just so outgoing. He’s willing to learn and battle through the language barrier, and it’s gotten better every year. He knows most words now and can try to spit it out through his Russian-English, but it’s his outgoing personality that allowed him to become friends with all of us right away.”
And Kaprizov and Zuccarello instantly became close.
“Kirill, you forget, he comes over to the States (knowing nobody in Minnesota), and you try to cling to something right away, and Zuccy was the person that he clung to,” Foligno says.
Evgeni Malkin, the longtime Penguins star, knows from his own experience how important it is for Russian players to have teammates to look up to and gain assistance from early in their NHL careers. Malkin leaned on countryman Sergei Gonchar, who had played in the NHL for more than 10 years when Malkin arrived in 2006. Malkin learned from and lived with the former defenseman. But, he says, it’s also critical for Russian players to eventually peel off and figure things out on their own.
That’s advice he shared with Kaprizov.
“Like, speak more English. You (will have) a better life,” Malkin says. “I know Kaprizov is practicing English. And I know he’s a leader to the team. But my point is, just don’t (rely on somebody for everything). Be yourself. It’s good if somebody helps with cars, to know restaurants, but just try to do it yourself (soon). I mean, it’s more fun to do your own life, to make it your goal.”
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Zuccarello says it’s not only Russian players who need mentors. It’s any young hockey player, and the teammate doesn’t necessarily need to be a veteran. In New York, he was mentored by everyone from Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis to Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan McDonagh, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.
Kaprizov arrived before the 2020-21 season and barely knew a lick of English. Now, he mostly speaks English in the locker room, other than occasionally Russian with Zuccarello, who picked up some words while playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk during the 2012-13 NHL lockout.
“I don’t speak that much. Only when I’m drunk,” Zuccarello quips.
But he advised Kaprizov that he should do his best to speak English: “It’s good for him.”
A lot of European players say their English improves by watching TV or YouTube, but Kaprizov says he’s mostly self-taught.
“I don’t watch a lot of TV,” Kaprizov says. “Just talking in the locker room or outside when we go to dinner or something (helps).”
Adds Zuccarello, “I mean, coming from not having any English is impressive, that with no teaching he’s learned this quick.”
In fact, after relying on a translator for much of the past two seasons, Kaprizov has begun talking more and more to reporters in English.
“I’m trying,” he says.
Foligno says it’s hilarious listening to Kaprizov and Zuccarello banter in the locker room. And on the ice, if one’s not ready to be the recipient of a pass or doesn’t see the other is open, they will give it to each other when they return to the bench. In fact, stare at the Wild bench, and the two linemates have in-depth conversations after many shifts.
“It’s been a great relationship for us and for them,” Foligno says. “They’re comical guys. It’s great, but the way they push each other is even better.”
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And the success on the ice has helped foster their friendship off it.
“It’s just one of those things where you don’t have to work for it. It just comes,” Zuccarello says. “I think on the ice helps a lot. If we didn’t click on the ice, maybe we would be worse friends off the ice. But he’s a smart player, and I think we just read off each other well.”
Part of the reason is they work at it.
Kaprizov and Zuccarello have one special relationship on and off the ice.
After every single practice or morning skate, they can be on the ice for up to an hour doing little contests together. pic.twitter.com/p931WnuAfu
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 24, 2022
After practices, you’re often liable to see the two spending a half hour or more working with each other on the ice. Usually, their drills turn into on-ice contests where they’ll try to hit the net from the other side of the ice or execute perfect saucer passes to each other or flip a puck into the dead center of a bucket.
“They’re always passing the puck at all times to each other,” Hartman says. “All practice. Between drills. After drills. After practice.”
It reminds Hartman of a connection he saw earlier in his career, when he played games on a line in Chicago with superstars Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane. Their usual No. 1 center, Artem Anisimov, advised Hartman to just go to the net and get open for them. “Easy,” he told him. “Easy. Easy. Easy.”
“(Anisimov) scored a lot of his goals just by being at the net, and I think those two — Panarin and Kane — have a lot of comparisons to Kirill and Zuccy, both with their on-ice chemistry and being good friends off the ice,” Hartman says. “I just try to get open. Teams respect Kirill and Zuccy, and they try to take those options away, and sometimes that leaves me unattended. Sometimes, they’ve got to have two guys on Kirill when he’s got the puck, which obviously creates an open opportunity for somebody.
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“It’s a blast playing with them. Kirill’s not just a shooter. He’s a great passer. And when Zuccy does shoot, he’s got a really good shot.”
When the pair aren’t feeding off each other on the ice, and Zuccarello isn’t feeding Kaprizov at his home, they’re known to have heated matches at the ping-pong table.
“We like to win … both of us,” Zuccarello says. “It’s just good ole fun. I think we have that with Flower, too. Every time you score (against Marc-Andre Fleury), you celebrate; every time he saves (a goal), he celebrates. It’s just the good, everyday trying to have some fun. There’s a lot of games, a lot of seriousness going into the game and a lot of pressure. So I think it’s a good way to relieve that pressure.”
Adds Kaprizov, “We just play and mess around and whoever loses has to stay and pick up the pucks or do something silly like that.”
Fleury gets a kick out of the whole thing.
“Those two, they make me laugh,” Fleury says … laughing. “They’re always joking around and trash-talking themselves or somebody chirping somebody else. They make the room a little bit more lively.”
Zuccarello is known as the Wild’s class clown, but there are few things funnier than when Kaprizov talks about “Zuccy.”
Heck, there are few things funnier than when Kaprizov says the word, “Zuccy.”
You can sense the affection in it. It’s a common sentiment around the room.
“Zuccy brings energy always,” Dumba says. “He’s a great guy to have in our locker room to lighten things up, and just make sure everyone’s feeling good, coming to the rink, smiles on their face, and also working hard.”
Adds Foligno, “When Zuccy’s going, everyone’s going. He’s just a guy that can pull guys into battle. He’s a guy who just gives off a lot of energy, in the sense that you know if he’s having a great night or not or if he’s just feeling it or not, he’s just a guy that can really up everyone’s vibe.
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“I think everyone wants to be his friend. He’s just one of those guys that you want to be close to. He’s also one of the best complainers in the league — but in a funny way. He will give anyone s—. He complains the most, but he works his butt off while complaining. It’s comical. You’ve got to really know how to take his humor. But he’s a guy that just can bring this team over the top.”
As good as Zuccarello and Kaprizov were together last season, general manager Bill Guerin believes they can be an even better tag team in 2022-23.
And that includes Kaprizov, coming off a masterful season in which he was scoreless in his first eight games before becoming the first top-five NHL goal scorer and point producer in Wild history.
“I think he’s got more,” Guerin says. “I think there’s more. I really do. I don’t think we’ve seen the most from Kirill.”
How much more can he do?
“Two hundred points,” Zuccarello jokes, adding that, “I’m one year older. I’m old now, so I need him to carry me and not the other way.”
Wild teammates, staff, the front office and the owner are ecstatic that Kaprizov is back at all after a stressful summer in which there were questions about whether he satisfied military obligations in Russia and problems with his return to the United States due to a lack of U.S. work visa.
After a harrowing offseason journey, the Wild were able to get Kirill Kaprizov back from Russia to the U.S.
“It was pretty tense, and we didn’t know if we were going to get him out of there.”@RussoHockey has more details:https://t.co/rEd5hIADtI pic.twitter.com/kFjJQDHF5I
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) September 22, 2022
Asked if the Wild will ask Kaprizov not to return home this offseason, owner Craig Leipold says, “We will make it as inviting for him to want to stay and hopefully his family will get here, but right now it’s not on our radar. It’s probably on somebody’s radar, but it’s not on mine. But we definitely would like to keep him here so we don’t have to go through that issue next summer.”
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Leipold adds that what Kaprizov has already done in transforming the franchise is astronomical, with their first true superstar in team history.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t sit and think about what he’s going to do for us. But I know what he’s done for us already,” Leipold says. “I watch his abilities and his skill level and he’s such a good kid. He doesn’t complain. He’s got a smile on his face. Our marketing guys talk to him about doing things and he’s all in. It’s fun to have that kind of player that we believe he’s going to be, if he’s not already, a top-five player in this league. He will be a top-five player for the next 10 years.”
Zuccarello is under contract for at least two more years, which can only help.
“Throughout your career, you make some special bonds with guys,” Dumba says. “I think all of us have that with one guy or another, and theirs is pretty evident. Playing on the same line, doing everything together, talking about the game, that just brings them closer together. I think that’s just where their friendship has flourished.”
Kaprizov says it just clicks, and always has.
“One thing I noticed is he kind of has the same values as me, as a human being: respect for elders, things like that,” Kaprizov says. “That’s something that’s important to me and the way I was brought up. I noticed that sometimes with younger players, he would say something to help them out in a joking way but obviously serious and something they should understand. I respected that in him. It’s something that I myself do as well. Some of those things brought us together and helped build our friendship.
“I hope to continue our relationship (for the rest of our lives). In hockey, there’s a lot of times where you’re really close with people and people get traded to different teams and you don’t have as good of a relationship. But I genuinely do hope that we can continue our relationship no matter what happens in both of our careers as we progress. And I can call him and continue to hang out in the summers and one day I can go see him in Norway and he can come see me in Novokuznetsk.
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“Yeah, God willing, we can continue being good friends.”
(Top photo of Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov: Brace Hemmelgarn / USA Today)
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