Article: This Was the Year Of Matt Boldy

[Tony Abbott]

View full article

[Citizen Strife]

Boldy's been pretty consistent for being so young too.  It's pretty fair to say he's the best goal scorer other than Kaprizov.  Putting them together on a line seemed like a no-brainer than either didn't work, or Evason and Hynes didn't think would until now.

You have your top line.  Now it's just a waiting game to see what the wild can load up behind them.

 

[Burnt Toast]

In baseball, players develop  specific skill sets and become defined by their strengths. We have home run hitters and fantastic second base, double play specialists. Then there’s the rare “5 tool” players. When I think about Boldy, he’s big, good skater, great hands, skilled, and competitive. If I’m an opposing coach I’m not sure what brand of kryptonite I’m going to use to get him off his game. 

[mnfaninnc]

54 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Putting them together on a line seemed like a no-brainer than either didn't work, or Evason and Hynes didn't think would until now.

I think this is a difference in the way Heinzy and Deano see the game. Deano liked to find chemistry and once he did he kept those guys pretty much together. Heinzy is a proud owner of a Ninja line blender. Heinzy also doesn't mind loading up on one line whereas Deano liked some balance. 

Now Heinzy's got to build a 2nd line, and it's not looking too pretty.  Deano had one with Ek and Johansson, and he also had a less productive top line with Zuccarello and Kaprizov. Hartman wasn't always the greatest, but he adequately performed. 

I don't believe Johansson had that much to do with Boldy's success last season, it appears pretty apparent, that Ek was the main factor. Since these guys have been able to work their chemistry together on the PP, they ironed out some problems they had when it was Zuccarello-Ek-Kaprizov a couple of seasons ago. 

Now we've got to figure out how to build around Rossi. If he gets a couple of dynamic players next to him, that could be another great line, though, I concede the need for Rossi to build up even more strength this offseason as well as learning how to draw better. Just spitballing, but, I wonder what a Beckman-Rossi-Dino line would look like?

Pieces are starting to come together for this team, and while this article was mostly just about Boldy, I think leaving him up on the top line is definitely the way to go. I cannot put the elite title on him yet, however. He needs that power aspect in his game and to quit making these stupid little soft half fan passes that get taken back the other way. Cut those in half and I'm on board. 

[B1GKappa97]

typical billy guerin signing this guy before he had to! what was the GM thinking giving him a 7 year deal!? 

[Protec]

Guerin has signed enough good deals and avoided terrible ones, that the 2M to Fred or NoJo, or the 4M to Foligno for four years is totally acceptable IMO. Nobody bats 1000%. 

In terms of Boldy being elite, I would say he could be. Not quite yet. We'll know. Ek has proven himself consistently in a way that confirms his value. Boldy has value. He's on a nice pace but he's also had plenty of non-factor games. I.e. Boldy could be 5 or 10 points ahead of his current numbers. 

If he keeps it up and can be a guy who leads a playoff charge to make it and win a series, there would be more consensus about his elite levels or just very good regular season guy who golfs pretty hard late into the Summer. 

Edited February 26 by Protec

[Tony Abbott]

4 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

typical billy guerin signing this guy before he had to! what was the GM thinking giving him a 7 year deal!? 

Congrats to Guerin for signing one guy before turning 35.

[Outskated]

On The Athletic comment boards, weak hockey minds still rip on Boldy all the time.  They were hard at it just a couple weeks ago.  I've always been convinced Boldy was going to be a star and just think where he'll be when he's in his prime.  100pt seasons are not out of the realm.  Tony Abbott has been beating the Boldy drum also since day 1 and for good reason.  I'm very happy with where this kids game is at as a 22yr old.  Sky is the limit.  

[Pewterschmidt]

Bolds needs a little more dog in him.  It comes out from time to time and when it does he’s a game breaker.  Just needs to maintain that intensity more consistently.  Brochella is only 22.  We got a good one here

[FredJohnson]

17 hours ago, Protec said:

Guerin has signed enough good deals and avoided terrible ones, that the 2M to Fred or NoJo, or the 4M to Foligno for four years is totally acceptable IMO. Nobody bats 1000%. 

I'm bothered by the trade restrictions in those deals.

But yeah, GMBG has done mostly good deals.

[Up North Guy]

16 hours ago, Outskated said:

On The Athletic comment boards, weak hockey minds still rip on Boldy all the time.  They were hard at it just a couple weeks ago.  I've always been convinced Boldy was going to be a star and just think where he'll be when he's in his prime.  100pt seasons are not out of the realm.  Tony Abbott has been beating the Boldy drum also since day 1 and for good reason.  I'm very happy with where this kids game is at as a 22yr old.  Sky is the limit.  

A hardfast rule of mine: Never read the comments in the Athletic or Star Tribune.

[raithis]

On 2/26/2024 at 11:22 AM, mnfaninnc said:

Now we've got to figure out how to build around Rossi. If he gets a couple of dynamic players next to him, that could be another great line, though, I concede the need for Rossi to build up even more strength this offseason as well as learning how to draw better. Just spitballing, but, I wonder what a Beckman-Rossi-Dino line would look like?

I don't have much faith in Beckman.  I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like he ends up being a sweetener in a trade at some point.

I'm definitely with you on Rossi doing round 2 of his summer training.  He still gets thrown around too much yet.

I'd leave the first as is.

Building around Rossi on the 2nd I think involves Yurov.  I'm thinking more Zuccarello - Yurov - Rossi.  Work Yurov at the center role a bit.  If he's struggling, swap him with Rossi.  

Third, I'd do Foligno - Hartman - Khusnutdinov.  Get Khusnutdinov some minutes at center, and move Hartman there as needed.  Year after, Khusnutdinov hopefully takes Zuccarello's spot on 2nd.

Fourth, ? - ? - ?.  Likely a combination of Gaudreau, Dewar (if kept), Shaw (if things go well for him), Lettieri (if kept), Lucchini (if kept).  Obviously some of these guys won't be on the team next year, but wouldn't mind a 4th line with any mix of them.  Eventually the year after, add Ohgren, and he nudges one out and hopefully plays well enough to replace Khusnutdinov on the 3rd if Khus moves to 2nd.

I'd healthy scratch Johansson for when someone gets injured.

 

Edited February 27 by raithis

[joebou15]

On 2/26/2024 at 5:54 PM, Outskated said:

On The Athletic comment boards, weak hockey minds still rip on Boldy all the time.  They were hard at it just a couple weeks ago.  I've always been convinced Boldy was going to be a star and just think where he'll be when he's in his prime.  100pt seasons are not out of the realm.  Tony Abbott has been beating the Boldy drum also since day 1 and for good reason.  I'm very happy with where this kids game is at as a 22yr old.  Sky is the limit.  

Glad Tony's brother checked in to give him his due!

 

But seriously, Boldy got down hard early with his freshman year at BC starting off very slow. It turned out it was just shooting luck, because he found thr back of the net late in the season. He had no issues making the jump to the AHL, and he's been really solid. All while answering the questions of whether it was Newhook, or Fiala, or Johansson l, and even now, Kaprizov that makes him look better than he is.

And the answer is a resounding "YES." He's a great player and capable of so much, but when paired with great players he elevates his game AND theirs too. It's perfectly OK to be a player that can co-pilot a line's success. It doesn't have to be either/or. 

It's great that he's on this team for the long haul and I can't wait to watch.