As Penguins’ stars shine, Wild know it’s a matter of time before Kirill Kaprizov breaks out
December 19, 2023
As Penguins’ stars shine, Wild know it’s a matter of time before Kirill Kaprizov breaks out
8 comments
Kaprizov needs to hit that next gear that we’ve come to expect from him, or else this team won’t ever meet its potential. But I think he’ll catch fire at some point here.
I try and reorient myself and think about Kaprizov logically, especially after these kinds of losses. He’s the rare talent that can take over a game and make things happen just on his own. He’s not at all what we expect him to be right now – but he still has 25 points in 29 games. We would’ve killed to have that kind of difference maker on the wing during the Parise and Suter days (and before)
So I agree with Hynes here
At least we hope so. He looks off this season, not making the plays he used to and forcing passes all the time. Hopefully whatever is causing it clicks one day and he’s back to his old self.
He looks completely off, there isn’t even flashes of pre injury Kaprizov. If there was flashes of him skating like before I’d be more optimistic.
His hamstrings are huge. One was partially torn. If it doesn’t heal this is who he is.
I don’t know it’s a matter of time. In fact I’m quite worried this is the new norm
There have been a few plays where he dangles between three guys and gets a good shot or pass off, but clearly he is still working through his injury. Second half of the season will be quite telling as to what he’ll look like in the coming years.
He doesn’t look like the same skater to me. He doesn’t have the same burst and ability to abruptly change directions like we used to see. I don’t know if it stems from the injury, but I go back to the fact that he asked for it to be looked at after a game earlier this year. That says to me that he doesn’t feel comfortable, even if the scan came back “clear”. Concerning to say the least.
Injury aside, he has got to get his passing game under control. He is consistently throwing passes up the slot in the defensive zone and when one does make it through, it typically lands in the receivers skates or 8ft behind them.
I think this is Zucc’s superpower, that dude can thread a needle tape to tape from end to end. If we could just get Kaprizov to pick up just 10% of that skill he would be more than just a dangling, occasional goal scorer.
8 comments
Kaprizov needs to hit that next gear that we’ve come to expect from him, or else this team won’t ever meet its potential. But I think he’ll catch fire at some point here.
I try and reorient myself and think about Kaprizov logically, especially after these kinds of losses. He’s the rare talent that can take over a game and make things happen just on his own. He’s not at all what we expect him to be right now – but he still has 25 points in 29 games. We would’ve killed to have that kind of difference maker on the wing during the Parise and Suter days (and before)
So I agree with Hynes here
At least we hope so. He looks off this season, not making the plays he used to and forcing passes all the time. Hopefully whatever is causing it clicks one day and he’s back to his old self.
He looks completely off, there isn’t even flashes of pre injury Kaprizov. If there was flashes of him skating like before I’d be more optimistic.
His hamstrings are huge. One was partially torn. If it doesn’t heal this is who he is.
I don’t know it’s a matter of time. In fact I’m quite worried this is the new norm
There have been a few plays where he dangles between three guys and gets a good shot or pass off, but clearly he is still working through his injury. Second half of the season will be quite telling as to what he’ll look like in the coming years.
He doesn’t look like the same skater to me. He doesn’t have the same burst and ability to abruptly change directions like we used to see. I don’t know if it stems from the injury, but I go back to the fact that he asked for it to be looked at after a game earlier this year. That says to me that he doesn’t feel comfortable, even if the scan came back “clear”. Concerning to say the least.
Injury aside, he has got to get his passing game under control.
He is consistently throwing passes up the slot in the defensive zone and when one does make it through, it typically lands in the receivers skates or 8ft behind them.
I think this is Zucc’s superpower, that dude can thread a needle tape to tape from end to end. If we could just get Kaprizov to pick up just 10% of that skill he would be more than just a dangling, occasional goal scorer.