With the last week being taken up by the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and the start of free agency, the Minnesota Wild report cards were pushed to the side. The Wild weren’t expected to be extremely active during free agency due to limited cap space and needing to re-sign players like Filip Gustavsson, Brandon Duhaime, and possibly Calen Addison. That gives us time to finish up the last handful of report cards and we’ll start with Matt Boldy.
Many were wondering if Boldy would succumb to a sophomore slump but like Kirill Kaprizov he did the opposite. He set some new career records and continued to show what a scoring threat he can be, including stepping up when Kaprizov was out with an injury. We’ll dig through the regular season and then move on to his postseason results to determine a grade.
Boldy’s Career Season
In just his second NHL season Boldy put up some impressive numbers and played nearly the entire season. He played 81 games and scored 31 goals plus 32 assists for 63 points, all of which set new career highs for him. He also nearly quadrupled his minutes in penalties which isn’t great but not the worst thing in the world since he was producing offensively.
As far as his defensive stats go, he tripled his hits from 23 in his first season to 65 in his second but his blocked shots didn’t improve much. He blocked 24 shots in his rookie season and he added just two more in his sophomore season for 26 blocked shots. That area is something that could really use improvement, two more blocked shots are not enough.
Boldy’s giveaways doubled to 42, but his takeaways made up for that with 51 compared to 27 in his first year. His power-play stats were quite impressive though with eight goals and 26 points while on the man advantage. Hopefully, he can keep that up next season.
Boldy’s Less than Stellar Postseason
Boldy was one of the few players who found a way to get some offense going in the playoffs but unfortunately, it was minimal. He played in all six games and tallied three assists, two of which were on the power play, plus four penalty minutes which did not help his team in any way. The Wild struggled on the penalty kill and with Boldy in the box, it made it worse.
As far as his defensive stats, he improved his blocked shots with four in six games and he also had five hits. His giveaways were too high with six and just two takeaways, but his ice time was bumped up to 20 minutes a game. The one area he did excel in wasn’t defensive but back to offense with 24 shots on goal. Unfortunately, Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger was able to stop nearly everything.
The Wild could’ve really used Boldy to get his offense going, especially when Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello struggled plus the absence of Joel Eriksson Ek. If they make the postseason this year they’ll be relying on Boldy to help out in every way he can both offensively and defensively, and he’ll need to step up.
Boldy’s Grade
As far as the regular season goes, Boldy was fantastic, he had his ups and downs but improved his game and rose to the occasion when his team needed him the most. In March when Kaprizov went down with an injury, the Wild weren’t sure how they’d score without him, but Boldy came up big. He found ways to score and became the team’s hero for that month until Kaprizov returned right before the postseason. For those reasons, he earned an A-, again with room to improve but he did nearly everything expected of him. His penalty minutes could’ve been less and his blocked shots could’ve been better but nobody’s perfect and hopefully, he’ll improve those areas for next season.
Related: Minnesota Wild Prospect Pyramid: 2023 Draft Update
When the postseason comes into play, there are a lot more expectations, and things matter more. He was able to generate some offense but not nearly what was expected after the final month of the regular season when he was doing so well. He earned a B-, because he was still decent but they needed more from him. He showed great potential and just couldn’t find his game, but it’s important to remember he was only in his second NHL season and there’s still a big learning curve. That’s why his grade isn’t lower.
Overall he earned a low B+/high B and he showed he can continue to grow his game, improve, and that his first season wasn’t a fluke. He has a great hockey IQ and is strong on the power play which is something his team needs to help out Kaprizov from time to time. Hopefully, the two of them can spend more time on the ice together and show what they are capable of next season.
