Kaprizov, Kirill Olegovich

As a child, Kaprizov lived in the village of Kuzeydeevo , located an hour from Novokuznetsk ^[3] . At the age of four, his father and his brother, who played hockey under 16 years old, took him to the ice arena located on the outskirts of the city. Cyril, unlike his brother, immediately liked hockey. He began to engage in this sport, which is why his father had to take his son every day to train and back for the next four years. In a hockey school, he began to play as a defender due to his good backing, but a year later he was transferred to the attack ^[4] . He showed an effective game at a youth level. With the team “ Metallurg ” born in 1997 under the leadership of Andrei Luchansky, he played three times in the final tournaments of the Russian championship ^[5] . The tournament of 2012 was the most successful for the striker, when Kaprizov earned 11 points in 4 matches ^[6] .

In an interview, he says that the first coach Andrei Luchansky raised him from childhood in a professional sense, and it was this man who played a very big role in his formation as an athlete. He showed severity of character, but at the same time maintained a good attitude. Under the leadership of Luchansky, it turned out that Kaprizov could play any role except goalkeeper. At Luchansky, Kirill Kaprizov trained until the age of 16 ^{[7] [8]} . In January 2018, after the inclusion of the Whims in the Russian national team, he presented the Hyundai Creta crossover as a sign of respect and gratitude to his first coach.

From the age of 15, Kaprizov took part in training and friendly matches as part of the Kuznetsk Bears Youth Hockey League team ^[9] , but could not play in the MHL championship until the start of the 2013/14 season due to league regulations prohibiting hockey players who have not reached 16 years of age ^[10] . He made his debut in the MHL only on September 3, 2013 in a match against the Kirov-Chepetsk Olympia , in which he managed to earn an effective score by giving an assist ^[11] . However, in subsequent games of the starting segment, he did not manage to consistently gain points. Only after the middle of the season, Whims began to regularly earn scoring points ^[12] . As a result of the regular season, he became the fourth scorer in the team, gaining 34 (18 + 16) points in 52 matches. He also performed with the Bears in the playoffs . Novokuznec residents reached the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference, where they lost to Barca . Kaprizov spent eight games in the first two rounds of the playoffs, in which he scored one abandoned goal and two assists ^[13] . In the published after the end of the MHL season, the rating list of the most talented league debutants hockey players took first place ^[14] .

In May 2014, Novokuznetsk Metallurg chose Kaprizov under the first number in the draft KHL juniors draft ^[15] . Kaprizov was preparing for the new season as part of the main team. The head coach of the “metallurgists” German Titov praised the talent and prospects of the young striker, noting that Kaprizov became one of the best players in the pre-season training camp ^{[16] [17]} . On September 6, in the match against Sibir , he made his debut at the adult level ^[18] , and exactly one month later he managed to earn his first point in the KHL, giving an assists in the game against Severstal ^[19] . On November 7, 2014, in a match with Medveščak , he scored the first goal for Metallurg, becoming at that time the youngest player to score a goal in the 2014/15 season ^[20] . During the season, he was the main player of Metallurg, but occasionally missed the KHL matches due to the rest provided by the coaching staff ^[21] . In total, in the debut season for himself in the KHL, he played 31 matches, in which he earned 8 points. At the end of the KHL regular season, Kaprizov was sent to strengthen the “Kuznetsk Bears” preparing for the playoffs of the MHL ^[22] , but the Novokuznetsk team failed to defeat the rival in the first round - “ Polar Bears ” ^[23] . As a result of the season, he was rated among the 30 best players in Europe for the upcoming NHL draft of 2015 , which allowed the player to rely on the choice of one of the teams of the National Hockey League ^[22] . The greatest interest in the draft in the Novokuznetsk player was shown by the Minnesota Wild club, which chose Kaprizov in the fifth round under the general 135th number ^[24] . At the same time, Kaprizov became the first Russian hockey player in 12 years to be selected by the Wild on the draft ^[25] .

He was chosen as one of the participants in the KHL Stars Match , which was held on January 23, 2016 in Moscow. He scored three goals and assisted, speaking for the East team. January 26 received the honorary badge "Sports prowess of the Kuzbass" from the hands of the Governor of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev ^[26] .

May 2, 2016 signed a two-year contract with the Ufa club Salavat Yulaev ^[27] . For the transition, Metallurg received 80 million rubles from Ufa residents ^[28] . Transfer Kaprizova became the most expensive in the history of the Novokuznetsk club ^[29] .

On May 1, 2017, as a result of an exchange for monetary compensation, he moved from the Ufa “Salavat Yulaev” to CSKA ^[30] , on August 10 it became known that Kaprizov signed a new three-year contract with CSKA ^[31] .

In the season 2018/2019, together with the team, he won the Gagarin Cup. The vagaries for this season in 74 games scored 65 points. ^[32]

Kaprizov has rich experience playing for the junior team of Russia . He took part in the Glinka Memorial , which ended unsuccessfully for the Russian team. He played at the World Challenge Cup and the Tournament of the Five Nations, which brought him bronze and gold medals, respectively ^{[33] [34]} . In 2015, he was included in the final composition of the Russian national team for participation in the junior world championship ^[35] , while he was appointed assistant captain ^[36] . The tournament was unsuccessful for the player: the Russian team lost in the quarterfinals to their peers from Switzerland , and Kaprizov was injured in one of the matches of the group round ^[12] .

In 2015, he made his debut for the Russian youth team . Due to the large playing time received by the striker in matches for the Novokuznetsk Metallurg, he was not invited to the CHL Canada Russia Series , but took part in the tournament in Finland ^[37] . Despite the fact that Kaprizov failed to prove himself at the international tournament, he was first included in the expanded list of players of the Russian national team to prepare for the 2016 World Youth Championship ^[38] , and then in the final squad ^[39] . At this world championship, together with the national team, he reached the finals, where the Russians lost to the Finnish national team with a score of 3: 4 ^[40] . Kaprizov played in the tournament in seven matches, in which he earned 3 (1 + 2) points for performance ^[41] .

At the 2017 World Youth Championships, he was elected captain of the Russian national team and together with the team won bronze medals ^[42] . Becoming the best sniper (9 goals) and scorer (12 points), he was recognized as the best striker of the tournament and ended up in the symbolic team of the tournament ^[43] . On May 2, 2017, he was included in the expanded composition of the Russian national hockey team to participate in the 2017 World Cup , but was not announced during the tournament, so on May 12 he was announced to leave the team ^[44] .

On January 25, 2018, he was included in the hockey team of Olympic athletes from Russia to participate in the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang ^[45] . He was the youngest member of the team. At the tournament in Pyeongchang, he scored a hat-trick in a match against the Slovenian national team ^[46] . In the final match, he scored the winning goal in overtime against the German team . As a result of the games, he entered the top three snipers and took second place among the scorers, recorded 9 points in his asset (five goals and four assists) ^[47] .

In the quarterfinal mast of the 2018 World Cup between the Russian national team and the Canadian national team in overtime, he violated the rules, which led to his removal and contributed to the loss of the Russian national team with a score of 4: 5 ^[48] .

At the 2019 World Cup, he and his team won bronze medals. Cyril in 7 games was marked by two goals. ^[49]

Kaprizov plays in the position of an extreme striker and is considered a technical hockey player who knows how to play good pass and is able to realize scoring chances ^{[50] [51]} . They note good physical fitness and psychological stability of the hockey player ^[14] . The drawback of Cyril is the underdeveloped dimensions ^{[13] [52]} . According to The Hockey News, at the beginning of 2017, it was in the TOP 10 of the most promising hockey players in the world ^{[53] [54]} .

Club career

Team

According to: Eliteprospects.com and Eurohockey.com

• Order of Friendship ( February 27, 2018 ) - for high sports achievements at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in 2018 in the city of Pyeongchang (Republic of Korea), the will to win, perseverance and determination ^[55] .
• The badge of honor "For Merit to the City of Novokuznetsk" (February 1, 2016) - was awarded by the Head of the city of Novokuznetsk Sergey Kuznetsov ^[56] .