{"id":412952,"date":"2026-01-17T17:59:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/412952\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T17:59:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:59:29","slug":"wild-have-to-survive-without-boldy-eriksson-ek-in-the-lineup-the-hockey-writers-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/412952\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Have to Survive Without Boldy & Eriksson Ek in the Lineup – The Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Wild have faced quite a bit of adversity this season and found a way to overcome, and they\u2019ll have to do so again as they\u2019ve been hit hard in the injury department. Thursday afternoon, Jan. 16, right around the time the team left for Buffalo, it was announced that Joel <\/a>Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy were placed on injured reserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were already without Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin on defense<\/a>; now they\u2019ve lost two of their keys on the offense as well. They\u2019re already in a bit of a slump<\/a>, and they\u2019ll have to find a way through this if they want to get back in the win column. In this article, we\u2019ll look at what it means to lose Boldy plus Eriksson Ek, and what they have to do to win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild\u2019s Boldy & Eriksson Ek Critical to Offense<\/p>\n

While Kirill Kaprizov<\/a> has been one of the Wild\u2019s leading scorers all season, Matt Boldy has been right alongside him. He\u2019s found a way to find another level to his game, and he\u2019s easily one of the best players on the team. When this injury hit, he was one point behind Kaprizov but two goals ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s found his scoring stride and his moves along with it. The Wild have started to lean on him when it comes to scoring, and he\u2019s had the puck on his stick a lot this season. While his offense has been the main priority, he\u2019s also been strong defensively with 32 hits and 32 blocked shots. Speaking of defense, that\u2019s where his teammate, Eriksson Ek\u2019s, injury comes in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Everyone who knows Eriksson Ek knows he\u2019s one of the best two-way centers in the league. This season, his defense has shone a bit brighter than his offense<\/a> because he\u2019s had some trouble scoring goals. He does have 32 points this season with 11 goals and 21 assists, so not horrible numbers, but could be better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Defensively, he\u2019s produced 68 hits and 19 blocked shots, also not terrible numbers, but the blocks could be a bit better. Regardless of his numbers, he\u2019s provided a lot of defense behind the scenes and unnoticed. It\u2019ll be interesting to see who steps up and fills the hole he leaves in terms of defense. <\/p>\n

Wild\u2019s Boldy & Eriksson Ek Lead by Example<\/p>\n

Neither one of them currently wears an \u201cA\u201d or \u201cC\u201d on their jersey, but they both lead by example with their play. When one of the other current captains of the team is unable to be on the ice, Eriksson Ek is usually the first to wear the \u201cA\u201d. His play both offensively and defensively is a great example for the rest of the team to follow. Not everyone can play that style, but the more that can, the better for the team overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"JoelMinnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek celebrates a goal with left wing Matt Boldy after scoring on the Dallas Stars (Matt Blewett-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Eriksson Ek\u2019s efforts in front of the net are what the Wild could use more of as well. They\u2019ve been able to tip quite a few goals in this season, and that\u2019s his specialty. The Wild are going to miss that part of his play if no one else steps up and fills the void. Normally, it wouldn\u2019t be too much of a worry because they would have Boldy, but now that he\u2019s out, it\u2019s going to be difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boldy\u2019s leading by example has been his willingness to take charge of the play rather than passing the puck right away. Before, he wouldn\u2019t always be the most assertive, but this season he\u2019s been jumping into the play and making things happen. His absence will be quite hard to fill, especially with his goal scoring this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild Need More From Others<\/p>\n

Every time an injury happens to the lineup, it\u2019s expected that the rest of the team will find ways to step up and fill that void until the injured can return. The Wild have done that time and time again as they\u2019ve hit the injury bug quite often. They\u2019ve managed to be healthy for about a week or two this season before losing someone again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Boldy and Eriksson Ek out, they have to get more from Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello<\/a>, Marcus Johansson, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Ryan Hartman. All of these players have contributed to the lineup, but with this much offense missing, they\u2019re going to need these players to find a way to do even more. It also wouldn\u2019t hurt if Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber got in on the scoring a bit more as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: Minnesota Wild Candidates for the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be interesting to see how the Wild adjust the lines with these guys out, but they do have others they can rely on. They\u2019ve struggled to score goals as of late, and if they want to win, someone has to step up, or even better, multiple players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Wild have had a tough stretch lately, and it\u2019s not going to get any easier as they play some tough<\/a> teams like the Buffalo Sabres, Montr\u00e9al Canadiens, and the Detroit Red Wings over the next week. Hopefully, some players will step up until they get their injured back and they can get some big wins.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Wild have faced quite a bit of adversity this season and found a way to overcome,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5118],"tags":[5,499,799,161,38,5280,4,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-412952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-joel-eriksson-ek","10":"tag-matt-boldy","11":"tag-minnesota","12":"tag-minnesota-wild","13":"tag-minnesotawild","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115911745196451735","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}