The National Hockey League (NHL) today announced Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov and goaltender Cam Talbot will represent the club at the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend, Feb. 4-5, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. This is the first NHL All-Star Weekend appearance for each player and the fourth time in team history the Wild will have more than one representative (2004, 2011, 2017).
Kaprizov, 24 (4/26/97), will be the Wild’s sixth forward in team history selected to represent the club at the NHL All-Star Game. The 5-foot-11, 202-pound native of Novokuznetsk, Russia, owns 40 points (14-26=40), a plus-12 rating, two powerplay goals (PPG), eight power-play points (PPP), two game-winning goals (GWG) and 110 shots in 32 games this season. He leads the Wild in assists, scoring and even-strength points (32), ranks second in even-strength goals (12), PPP and shots, T-2nd in goals and GWG and T-3rd in PPG. He ranks T-3rd in the NHL in EVP, T-7th in scoring and T-12th in assists. The left-shot winger registered a career-high seven-game assist and point streak (5-9=14) from Nov. 26-Dec. 9. He recorded a career-best four points twice this season: Nov. 18 vs. DAL and Nov. 26 vs. WPG. Kaprizov has 91 points (41-50=91), a plus-22 rating, 10 PPG, 21 PPP, five GWG and 267 shots in 87 career NHL games with Minnesota (2020-22).
Talbot, 34 (7/5/87), will be the Wild’s fourth goaltender in team history, sixth appearance by a goalie, to represent the club at the NHL All-Star Game. The 6-foot-4, 196-pound native of Caledonia, Ontario is 15-8-1 with a 3.00 GAA and a .909 SV% in 24 contests this season. He ranks T-8th in the NHL in wins – his most wins in the first 24 starts of a season. He started the season 5-0-0 for the first time in his career and became the second goaltender in franchise history to start a season 5-0-0. The left-glove backstop set a season-high six-game win streak, Nov. 24-Dec. 9, tied for the eighth-longest win streak by an NHL goalie this season. His win on Nov. 13 at SEA completed his feat of earning a win against every NHL team to become the second NHL goaltender to earn a win against every NHL opponent (Jonathan Bernier, per NHL Stats). Talbot is 184-138-31 with a 2.63 GAA, a .915 SV% and 24 shutouts in 371 career NHL games (357 starts) in nine seasons with New York Rangers (2013-15), Edmonton (2015-19), Philadelphia (2018-19), Calgary (2019-20) and Minnesota (2020-22).
The Vegas Golden Knights and the city of Las Vegas will host the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend, from Feb. 4-5, including the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook, on Friday, Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN and the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. CT on ABC and ESPN+.
The 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game will once again consist of a three-game tournament, played in a 3-on-3 format, featuring four teams – one for each NHL division. Each team will be made up of 11 players from the respective division: six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.
Minnesota Wild players that have been selected to play in previous NHL All-Star Games: Marian Gaborik (2003, 2008), Filip Kuba and Dwayne Roloson (2004), Brian Rolston (2007), Niklas Backstrom (2009), Brent Burns and Martin Havlat (2011), Mikko Koivu (2012 – did not play due to injury), Ryan Suter (2015, 2017), Devan Dubnyk (2016, 2017, 2019) and Eric Staal (2018, 2020). Bruce Boudreau coached the Central Division at the 2017 NHL All-Star Game.
(info courtesy of Wild)