DALLAS \u2013 Minnesota Wild winger Matt Boldy has been down this road before. His second NHL season ended in the playoffs versus the Dallas Stars. He had just turned 22 at the time, and contributed with three assists in the six-game series loss.<\/p>\n
It was only three years ago, but looking back now, it seems like a different life for Boldy, who went into Saturday\u2019s Game 1 in Texas coming off his first 40-goal regular season with the Wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like, looking back at that, I was so young and not as comfortable in my own game, and confident in myself,\u201d Boldly said, following the team\u2019s Friday practice at American Airlines Center. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know as much about myself and how to win, and try to be a leader, and stuff like that, as I do now. So, that seems like a long, long ways away.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a guy who just turned 25 earlier this month, it has been a long journey for Boldy \u2014 from his childhood outside Boston, playing with USA Hockey\u2019s National Team Development Program in Michigan, getting picked by the Wild in the first round of the 2019 draft, a two-year stint at Boston College, and a rapid climb up the ladder to being a vital part of the offense in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s not even counting the gold medal he won with Team USA two months ago at the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
But in addition to posting a career-best 42 goals this season \u2014 second on the team behind Kirill Kaprizov\u2019s 45 \u2014 Boldy\u2019s line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson has become a powerful two-way force for the Wild, known as much for stifling opponents as the offense they provide. The winger is solidly a part of the opponent scouting reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s probably got one of the hardest sticks in stick battles. He\u2019s strong on his stick, right?\u201d Stars forward Jason Robertson said, reflecting on myriad regular season battles with Boldy. \u201cSo, you notice that playing against him for all these years. Guys have to try to equal, and match that and not be surprised by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Kaprizov missing half of the 2024-25 season due to injuries, the Wild offense ran primarily through Boldy and Marco Rossi, who was traded to Vancouver in December. That allowed opponents to focus their defense on shutting down Boldy, and his numbers dropped as a result. By contrast, with Kaprizov healthy this season on the Wild\u2019s top line, coach John Hynes could spread the offensive wealth, and the result was a pair of 40-goal scorers for the first time in franchise history.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s such an impact guy when he\u2019s moving his feet, he\u2019s playing physical, hard on the puck, great execution,\u201d Hynes said of Boldy. \u201cJust what he does is really sticking to his identity. He\u2019s been like that, you\u2019ve seen it all year long with us. You saw his impact in the Olympics. He\u2019s a play driver. He\u2019s a highly, highly competitive guy that\u2019s got high-end skill, and if he brings that type of game, he\u2019s going to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That competitive nature stays well-hidden in the face Boldy shows to the public and media. He is soft-spoken with microphones in his face, taking his time to think out answers, keeping an even keel, win or lose. But teammates say that quiet side disappears when the puck is dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not (quiet) and he shouldn\u2019t be, with what he\u2019s capable of and what he\u2019s done this year,\u201d Johansson said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best players in this league, I think, and he\u2019s proven it all year. It\u2019s fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his 6-foot-2 frame and that aforementioned strong stick, Boldy thrives on play close to the net, muscling his way into the dirty areas and often not leaving until he sees the red goal light illuminated. Asked about his individual success, Boldy talks about the advantage of playing with his linemates, and learning from more veteran players about the grit it takes to be effective and productive, especially in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to give a lot of credit to playing with Ekky over there for the last handful of years,\u201d Boldy said. \u201cI think he\u2019s taught me so much about that. Demanded it from me, too. So, when you play with a guy that\u2019s always in the trenches, it\u2019s hard not to be there with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three years ago, the Stars managed to keep the 22-year-old Boldy from scoring a goal over the course of six playoff games. This season, the 25-year-old version of the Wild\u2019s breakout young goal-scorer may have the chance to write a new chapter in Minnesota playoff history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2013 Minnesota Wild winger Matt Boldy has been down this road before. His second NHL season ended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5119],"tags":[5,38,2409,231,5281,4,2410,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-555459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nashville-predators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-minnesota-wild","10":"tag-nashville","11":"tag-nashville-predators","12":"tag-nashvillepredators","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-predators","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116427302039178294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555459","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=555459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}