The Minnesota Wild almost missed out on Kirill Kaprizov

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild's best player -- and pick -- in franchise history got passed on 134 times in the 2015 NHL draft. According to recent comments by former Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher on Sportsnet's 32 Thoughts The Podcast, the team had a second-round grade on Kirill Kaprizov that year. 

However, they selected former Wild forward Jordan Greenway instead.

"We actually thought Greenway would go late first or early second. So, when he slid to us at 50, we took him. But if Greenway was gone, we were probably taking Kaprizov in the second round, believe it or not," said Fletcher. 

Historically, NHL teams have been wary of using premium draft capital on Russian prospects. There is uncertainty about when -- and sometimes if -- the player will leave Russia to play in America.

But Fletcher says the team was confident in Kaprizov's future, albeit with a few concerns.

"There was some concern about the Russian factor. Some concern about the size and skating combination, but we had a second-round grade on him," Fletcher said. 

So how did Minnesota land Kaprizov at such a late stage? Their 2015 draft class would have had only two NHLers without Kaprizov. 

The team selected center Joel Eriksson-Ek in the first round. That was a fantastic decision. We know about Greenway in the second, who the Wild traded to Buffalo last season.

Minnesota did not have a third-round pick because they traded it for goaltender Devan Dubnyk during the previous season. 

MORE HOCKEY: Minnesota kids well represented in the upcoming NHL Draft

So, the team kept waiting. They figured someone would take a chance on Kaprizov before they had another opportunity.

But in the fourth round, the Wild had another pick. Again, they decided to take a different player.

The team picked goaltender Ales Stezka, who has never played an NHL game.

Fletcher says they needed a goalie even though Kaprizov was "by far and away the highest skater on our list."

The Wild did not have a fifth-round pick that year.

After they took Stezka, Fletcher thought Kaprizov was no longer an option.

"So after that, it's every pick. You're sitting there [thinking], did he go, no he didn't go."

But pick 135 -- 24 excruciating picks after their previous selection -- the Wild made the call. They traded the following year's fifth-round pick with the Boston Bruins and were on the clock.

"We were incredibly lucky, let's not kid ourselves. We went by him [Kaprizov] in the second, we went by him in the fourth, and then we had to scramble to get a pick to get him in the fifth," said the former general manager.

It's interesting to hear first-hand how a draft table operates in the heat of the moment. 

Even die-hard hockey fans wouldn't recognize more than a handful of names picked alongside Kaprizov in that year's fifth round.  

Most fifth-round picks are usually an afterthought. But some can change the direction of a franchise. Kaprizov certainly has.

"It was a great break for the Minnesota Wild," said Fletcher. "A player like that should not be going in the fifth round."

Kaprizov signed a five-year, $45 million contract after his rookie year.

Then he broke the Wild's single-season points record with 108.

Not bad for a fifth-round pick.

Not all Minnesota Wild draft day trades are heists, however.

Fletcher's staff was on the losing side of a trade in the 2014 draft. 

The Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning swapped picks 79 and 80. That's right, just one pick in the same round. Tampa took center Brayden Point, the guy with 463 points in 499 games. The two-time Cup champ would've been the Wild's first-ever legitimate top-line center. 

At 80, the Wild picked Louis Belpedio.

You win some and lose some. That's the nature of drafting a bunch of teenagers from across the world every year.

Chalk up the Kaprizov trade as a win for Minnesota sports over Boston sports. No, it's not a championship. But it's more than a moral victory in a state over-saturated with those.

Kaprizov might eventually bring a Stanley Cup to Minnesota.

You should tip your cap to the much-maligned Fletcher and his former staff if that comes to fruition.

The first round of the NHL Draft is on ESPN at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Free agency begins July 1.