Matt Boldy’s next step: Can the budding star be the ‘big-time player’ the Wild need in the playoffs?

Sports

add

ST. PAUL, Minn. — When you’re a young player in the NHL — even one brimming with the inward and outward confidence that Matt Boldy so noticeably possesses — it’s still not easy to stand up in front of a locker room and tell it like it is to your teammates.

There’s a pecking order, and when the going gets tough, Boldy has mostly sat back and listened for the majority of his first four seasons with the Minnesota Wild, leaving the harsh words and wake-up calls to the Mats Zuccarellos, Marcus Folignos and Jared Spurgeons.

After all, they’ve been in the NHL forever. They’ve earned the respect of their teammates.

But at 24 years old, Boldy is one of the Wild’s most skilled and important players. Everybody in the locker room knows it. And since his NHL debut Jan. 6, 2022, when he scored the winning goal in his hometown of Boston, Boldy has scored the second-most goals (102) and second-most points (244) on the Wild, behind only Kirill Kaprizov’s 145 and 296.

He’s more than earned the right to raise his voice during the rough times.

There have been a lot of those this injury-plagued season, but few rougher than the egg the Wild laid on Long Island two weeks ago when they ended a winless road trip to the New York metro by losing convincingly to an Islanders team that had lost six in a row and had begun the process of playing out the string.

It felt like the Wild were just buying time and trying to stay afloat until the returns of Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek. After the game, when the locker room door remained closed to the media for an extended period, a players-only meeting usually led by veteran leaders suddenly had an added voice: Boldy.

“He spoke,” Foligno said. “It was good as a young kid to do that. He just speaks about what is needed, and it was all positive. I’ve been in that position before when I was young. A 24-, 25-year-old kid, when you speak up, you get a little more hair on your arms. You just feel like you’re involved in the room a little more that way. It is big for guys to take steps like that. You don’t always need the older guys to step up and say something.”

Foligno said Boldy reminded teammates of how hard they had worked to make it through the bad luck with injuries. And now they were blowing it.

“He’s been a constant, and that’s what he vocalized in the room,” Foligno said. “It was more about staying positive and staying on the course. When you get that from a young guy, I mean, he said all the things that needed to be said. And then he comes back the next game against Dallas and has a heck of an effort — gets (the) first star and is a force in why we won that game.”

Early in the third period against the Dallas Stars, Boldy got to the meat of the slot and scored on a spectacular second effort to tie the score before assisting on Marco Rossi’s overtime winner.

But he wasn’t done there. When Eriksson EK and Kaprizov returned the next game against San Jose to combine for six of the Wild’s eight goals, Boldy assisted on four. And then in Tuesday’s regular-season finale against the Anaheim Ducks, Boldy assisted on Eriksson Ek’s tying goal in the waning seconds to force overtime, clinch a playoff berth and secure the top wild-card spot for the right to meet the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round — then scored his fourth career overtime goal to deliver Marc-Andre Fleury his 575th and final regular-season victory.

THAT’S ALL, FOLKS! 🫡

Matt Boldy caps off the @mnwild‘s regular season with an @Energizer overtime win! pic.twitter.com/WOhcM55WT5

— NHL (@NHL) April 16, 2025

“I think if you’re going to talk or call someone out or call yourself out or the team, then you better be ready to answer the bell,” Boldy said. “I think everyone does that. Everyone that’s ever stepped up, since I’ve been here, answers and has a response. It’s that leadership we have and that comfortability we have with each other in the locker room, and the respect we have, and I think that goes a really long way.”

But that evolves with time. Boldy may have been one of the Wild’s best players from Day 1 and earned his seven-year, $49 million extension two seasons ago, but he was still a young pup who had not yet established his voice and stature on the team.

He sure has now, especially after leading the Wild with 27 goals, 46 assists and 73 points this season, ranking seventh in the NHL with 271 shots and tying for second in the league with 10 game-winning goals (which doesn’t include his two shootout-deciding goals).

“It’s scary when you first come, a little bit, with older guys that have been doing it for so long, and you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” Boldy said. “And I think a lot of credit goes to Moose and Jerry (Spurgeon) and Kirill and all our leaders in our room that I feel like we don’t really have that type of locker room where you don’t feel comfortable.

“It’s not scary anymore. I think everyone has their voice and everyone respects everyone’s opinion and their voice. So I think sometimes, yeah, you lose it a little bit and you snap and stuff gets said, and whether it’s good or bad, whatever it is, I think we all have each other’s backs and we’re all just trying to pull on the same rope and trying to find a way to win.

“So if you say something that’s pushing it a little bit toward the team or a player, it doesn’t last. Guys get it’s for the good of the team because we all want to win and go far and do something special.”

MATT BOLDY 🗣️

He ties the game late with the 100th goal of his career!

📺: @NHLNetwork pic.twitter.com/xIu0yjVkF3

— NHL (@NHL) April 1, 2025

And if the Wild are going to do something special this postseason, Boldy’s going to have to be Robin to Kaprizov’s Batman.

Just like it was a step for him to become comfortable as a leader in the locker room, Boldy needs to evolve into a playoff performer.

The criticism Boldy has faced in his first two postseasons, from fans and media as well as GM Bill Guerin, is that he was too perimeter. He didn’t get to the guts of the ice, the inside where playoff goals are scored. In 12 career playoff games, Boldy has scored once on 37 shots. He was much better in the Dallas series two years ago, assisting on three goals and taking 24 shots in six games after having only 13 shots in six games in 2022 against the St. Louis Blues.

Boldy went through some long goal droughts this season, but of late, he’s getting to the dirtier areas and scoring goals like he did against Dallas.

ALL KNOTTED UP 🪢#EasyToCelebrate x @budlight pic.twitter.com/IBxigxnKj6

— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 6, 2025

This is the type of player he hopes to be in the Golden Knights series.

“It’s so hard to score,” Boldy said. “You see it all year long. Every guy in the NHL has their ups and downs. Get hot, get cold. It’s so hard. Our goalies in this league are so good. So you try to find different ways to score, I think. Especially playing with Ekky a lot the last couple of years, it becomes a little bit more natural. I feel like playing with him, you get put in those areas more because he’s always there.

“So you try to learn from other guys, too. Look where Marco scores his goals. He’s always at the net, always in the blue paint there. Sometimes maybe I try to be too pretty, but there’s no pictures on the scoresheet. They all count the same. So, yeah, I think the one thing I want to do in the playoffs is find different ways to score, and that means getting to the harder areas.”

Since John Hynes arrived in Minnesota two Novembers ago, he has seen Boldy continue to mature on and off the ice.

He scored 28 goals and 61 points in 63 games after Hynes’ arrival, then led the World Championships in scoring for the Hynes-coached U.S. roster. Boldy then was named to this year’s 4 Nations Face-Off American roster and saw an elevated role throughout the tournament.

This is the player Hynes wants to see in the playoffs after playing so many high-stakes games the past 12 months. He wants to see him get to the inside for the chance to score goals like he did against Dallas.

“And when he does it, he can be very dominant,” Hynes said. “It’s nice. You’re seeing the maturity of a player and the confidence of a player and understanding that, yes, he’s good, and he knows he’s good, but how is he dominant and how can he be a major impact? He knows how, and now we’d like to see him get to that more consistently.”

As United States coach Mike Sullivan said of Boldy at the 4 Nations, “One of the things that’s impressed me in just observing him in the time that we’ve been here is he has a quiet confidence about him. He belongs, and he knows it. It’s very easy in these environments for a young player to get intimidated, and he’s not.”

None of this shocks Foligno.

“You invest in a player like that for a reason,” Foligno said. “The character, we could all see it coming with Bolds. He’s still so young, and that’s why you give him a contract that he has. At the end of the day, he’s still got lots to learn and he knows it. That’s the scary part for opponents. He’s still growing into his body. He’s still trying to become a power forward on a nightly basis. And right now, this season, he’s been our best player.

“So, I am proud of him the way he has matured. He’s someone we need in the playoffs to be a big-time player, and he knows that. It’s exciting for our team, but for him — to see him Day 1 in the (St. Louis) series, he came in and gave (us) a little jolt. Just seeing where he is now is impressive.”

The Wild made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth Tuesday night. Had Eriksson Ek not come through with 22 seconds left, they could be practicing Thursday not knowing if their season was over.

It’s a new season now, and Boldy wants to continue to do his talking in the locker room and his walking on the ice.

He wants to speak, then deliver when it matters.

“We were all disappointed about last year and the season we had and missing the playoffs,” Boldy said. “So for our group to get back, I think we have a lot of confidence in each other and in our team and how we play and how good we could be.

“We definitely are looking forward to it. You want to prove some people wrong.”

(Photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Raiders could draft quarterback as high as Round 2 as they seek Geno Smith’s backup

Sports

Next

trending_flat

Ten Michigan players (besides Bryce Underwood) to watch in spring game

Sports