Minnesota Wild

Wild prospect Kahkonen starts hot in Finland

Published Oct. 19, 2017 12:31 p.m. ET

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Ryan Lund

With signees and draft picks spread out across two continents and more than a dozen junior leagues, keeping up with the Minnesota Wild's various prospects can be a daunting task.

Whether it's managing streaming plans, tracking down cable channels, learning a few new languages (Puhutko suomea?) or mastering search engines, keeping tabs on the next generation can be a full-time job.

FOX Sports North has you covered.

From Finland to Fargo, we're bringing you a look at the Wild's prospect pipeline, highlighting three players each and every week.

So, let's take a look at this week's three-star selection in the inaugural 2017-18 edition of the Young Wild Tracker.

 



Kaapo Kahkonen, G, Lukko (SM-liiga)

The Wild don't have much goaltending depth in the system, but Kahkonen, a fourth-round pick in 2014, is making waves over in Finland. The 21-year-old leads SM-liiga with a 1.36 goals-against average and ranks second with a .936 save percentage through 15 games. He has two shutouts on the season, and leads the league with seven wins.

 

Kirill Kaprizov, LW, CSKA Moscow (KHL)

Since we last checked in with Kaprizov, the budding star has lost a little of his NHL-ready luster. Kaprizov is probably staying in the KHL until 2020.

The situation was a perfect storm for one of Russia's top young playmakers, who signed a three-year contract extension with CSKA Moscow over the summer and is now expected to play in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

However, if he keeps improving in the interim, the Wild could someday have an Artemi Panarin-like story on their hands. Kaprizov notched the 100th point of his KHL career Wednesday, scoring a goal and adding two assists to help CSKA to a 7-2 win over Metallurg to push his season totals to 11 goals and 10 assists in just 18 games.

 

Dmitry Sokolov, RW, Sudbury Wolves (OHL)

A year after ranking second in the OHL with 48 goals, Sokolov is back at it. After scoring just two goals in seven games to start the season Sokolov exploded for five points in a 7-1 win over the Ottawa 67's. He notched a natural hat trick in the win, scoring the Wolves' first three goals, then added a pair of primary assists in the third period.

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