Article: Team USA Could Help With Matt Boldy’s Consistency Problem

[Mikki Tuohy]

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[MacGyver]

Boldy has to decide between hockey and his golf addiction. Add in a little personal growth and he may just make it. 

[mnfaninnc]

Just keeping him on the ice and delaying that golf addiction probably helps. Boldy is still only 23, but he could use some chiseling. I think his playing weight is probably pretty good, it's getting more aggressive that needs the help.

He also likes to go against the grain on many of his moves, but to pull it off, his strength to do so needs a little help. This might be a combination of growing the core muscles (for Pewter, big butt muscles) and some balance skating techniques with Andy Ness. 

I like most of the moves as they turn defenders inside out, and they are very creative, it's just a matter of having the strength and balance to fully pull them off. 

I agree with many here that he is due a breakout season this year. I don't believe he, as a linemate to Kaprizov is going to help Kaprizov resign. I think that will be the development of defenders and secondary scoring. 

[Sam]

On 5/24/2024 at 9:19 PM, mnfaninnc said:

Boy, resigned and re-signed are 2 very different words with pretty much the same spelling. For clarity, Tulsky is the new GM in Carolina.

 

[Sviginak]

I would like to see some proof that Boldy is letting golf interfere with his job. It feels like it is just another one of those rumors that people latch onto. And then if you want to be one of the cool kids you have to bring it up when you have nothing better to say.

IMHO

[Protec]

27 minutes ago, Sviginak said:

I would like to see some proof that Boldy is letting golf interfere with his job. It feels like it is just another one of those rumors that people latch onto. And then if you want to be one of the cool kids you have to bring it up when you have nothing better to say.

IMHO

I began ripping Boldy after his start was weak and he got hurt as part of the Wild's early wheels falling off last season.

I found it somewhat conspicuous that striving for success in a golf tournament the last weekend in August led up to a lackluster start. 

I connected those dots and felt like Boldy's commitment to hockey should have been more like what we heard about Rossi given Boldy's fresh contract and lack of playoff impact against Dallas. 

Now Dallas was a much better team and Boldy had a good year but I haven't seen him step up in the big games the way the Wild need their big guys to do. I don't have numbers to really back it up but it seemed like Faber scored more important goals. Boldy had the one nice OT winner against Nashville in March but I think there's more he can do. We like Boldy and I think he's got another level in him. The golf joke is mostly that, not meant to be ultra-negative. There's some circumstantial evidence and truth behind our ripping him on that. My thought is just keep the golf under the radar and be ready to come out of the gate strong. Then there's no problem. 

MN fans have seen Gaborik race-car driving while the Wild need him. We've seen Fiala holdout when the Wild needed him. We've wondered if social-justice should be a priority for Wild players? Makes sense golf tourneys a few weeks before camp appears to be a conflict of interest.

[Sviginak]

So you got nothing other than Boldy was invited to a  pro get together in Brainerd in August of last year. The shame! He played poorly, he must not have been practicing.

I get that we are tired of waiting for the cap penalties to be over and therefore the negative perspectives are gaining ground. I just get tired of reading them sometimes and react. 

No offense meant to anyone. I was going to go on a little Mojo is not all that bad tirade, too, but I held off.

Edited May 27 by Sviginak

[Up North Guy]

Changing the subject here a little but one guy that I saw step up in the tourney was Spacek. He did a very nice job QB'ing the PP. I wish he was a little bigger but I do see a chance that he makes the big club in the next couple years.

[Protec]

59 minutes ago, Sviginak said:

So you got nothing other than Boldy was invited to a  pro get together in Brainerd in August of last year. The shame! He played poorly, he must not have been practicing.

I get that we are tired of waiting for the cap penalties to be over and therefore the negative perspectives are gaining ground. I just get tired of reading them sometimes and react. 

No offense meant to anyone. I was going to go on a little Mojo is not all that bad tirade, too, but I held off.

It takes a lot for me to be offended. I'm perfectly happy to defend my opinion but it's just that. 

I'm not ripping Boldy from a place of hatred or slanderous libel. Simply an observation and coincidental noticing of events. 

If he had been to San Diego for Navy Seal training or with Marco acting like he needs to find another level, I'd be posting atta-bois. 

Now if you begin to defend NoJo, that's where I draw the line. 😁

[Protec]

P.S. I didn't write the article about Boldy's consistency problem, nor was I making up a perception of invisibility in some of the most important must-win games. 

I think Boldy is a really nice player but the Wild need guys to emerge as big game players and ultimate winners. The four remaining teams are ripe with them. That's what Guerin needs to draft or pick up via free agency. Then the 7M dollar spotlight isn't so focused on one young skill guy.

Edited May 27 by Protec

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, Sviginak said:

So you got nothing other than Boldy was invited to a  pro get together in Brainerd in August of last year. The shame! He played poorly, he must not have been practicing.

If Boldy was going to play in a professional golf tournament, it only stands to reason he was going to focus a great deal on playing well. Golf has a lot of crossable skill to hockey, however strength and skating are 2 things it does not. 

When I was 22, I would focus on what was in front of me. I don't think his offseason was solely focused on getting better at hockey, thus, he wasn't as committed as he should have been. 

What did we see? We saw some whiffs and shanks and flubs on 1-timers. We saw a lot of finesse play, and not much of power moves. Lots of button hooks. And, a ton of weak turnovers, specifically at the beginning of the season. I thought his golf preparation was a little too much, considering, he was making a lot of money for hockey playing. 

It's also good to get away from the season, and let your mind refresh. Perhaps golf is a way to do that. But there's golf and then there's serious golf. Boldy was in the serious golf mode. 

The eye test indicated a correlation between the 2. What is interesting about all of this is that Boldy had problems while Evason was coaching, but Heinzy brought out the best in Boldy. Could Boldy's golf commitment have had a negative impact on how Evason saw him? That might be a worthwhile investigation.

[mnfaninnc]

For those interested, Saginaw is now 2-0 in pool play having 1 goal victories vs. Drummondville and Moose Jaw. Their last game in the pool play will be vs. London. 

Haight scored twice against Drummondville. London I believe is 1-0 and likely plays tonight. Semi-finals are Friday, finals are Saturday.

Moose Jaw has b2b games tonight and tomorrow vs. London and Drummondville. Saginaw gets London on Wednesday.

[Up North Guy]

20 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Could Boldy's golf commitment have had a negative impact on how Evason saw him? That might be a worthwhile investigation.

Deano is a big time golf fanatic and routinely brought his clubs along on warm weather road trips (per his comments on the Paul Allen show)

[Dango]

When the offseason begins i think its ok to step away from hockey a bit , i also wonder how difficult it is to practice hockey , finding guys to practice with , finding available places to practice , where are the ice rinks etc  .  I know the wild have the ex and probably a practice rink somewhere but can you even use them if you wanted to . And then there are probably bad ideas a guy shouldnt do ,summer mens leagues etc  .    

[viper3119]

18 hours ago, Dango said:

probably a practice rink somewhere but can you even use them if you wanted to . And then there are probably bad ideas a guy shouldnt do ,summer mens leagues etc  .    

The wild have TRIA rink available for practicing, that's where Rossi was a lot this past summer. As for summer leagues a lot of players play in "Da Beauty League" which includes a lot of NCAA and NHL players playing. Obviously they don't play super hard in Da Beauty League but still keeps the skills sharp.

[mnfaninnc]

20 hours ago, Dango said:

When the offseason begins i think its ok to step away from hockey a bit , i also wonder how difficult it is to practice hockey , finding guys to practice with , finding available places to practice , where are the ice rinks etc  .  I know the wild have the ex and probably a practice rink somewhere but can you even use them if you wanted to . And then there are probably bad ideas a guy shouldnt do ,summer mens leagues etc  . 

I get that, and do believe in cross training, developing skills in another venue that translate. But, specifically with Boldy, what has been noticed by the eye test is more of a tendency to button hook in the zone, instead of taking it to the net. A lack of strength, both upper and lower, for him to make his moves against the grain and dominate in front of the net. And, some specific skating tweaking. 

The timing factor between a golf swing and a wrist or slap shot should have translated a bit, but watching him, he shanked, flubbed, and whiffed far to many times. To me, it appeared like his timing was off. I thought his timing in other aspects was off a bit too, like getting to his spot a little late. 

His injury could have been being a little slow to the spot, but mainly it was an awkward board hit which I'm not sure if some extra upper body strength would have made a difference. 

As for the ice time, I think the team will help out Andy Ness any time a player is looking to work on skating. Was Boldy in town or out east for his offseason? I really don't know. If he was in St. Paul, getting ice time at an arena is probably not hard. If he was out east, I have no idea what the arena situation is. In my neck of the woods, there are few options. 

But what we did see was a very motivated Marco Rossi stay in the Twin Cities and work with Ness and whoever the strength guru is and the results were pretty fantastic for him. This would be the difference. 

Boldy still has holes in his game, and the offseason should be about shoring up those holes. It's very important for young players (of which Boldy is a part of) to take the time to improve and commit to becoming the best he can be. I don't think he did that. 

It's not often that you are good enough in 2 sports to compete at the highest levels. It was probably quite an honor for him to even be invited at all to the golf tournament. But, his priority needs to be hockey right now. 

This is one area that is risky for a GM. Do you give your young star the big contract at the end of the ELC, or do you bridge him? If you give him the big contract, will he be fully committed to improving, or think he has arrived? My conclusion on Boldy is that he sort of thought he'd have arrived. 

The same thing is happening now with Faber and Rossi. Does Shooter extend them for a biggie, or bridge them? My take on this is to wait until around training camp for both players. Let's just see what they did this summer and how committed they were. To me, I'm guessing that Rossi works hard again. He will see how much last offseason meant and will go the Ek route. Faber I am not sure about, but he appears to be the kind of guy that will shore up any deficiencies he has, and will probably recognize he needed some more strength in the corners and behind the net. 

Faber is a real wild card. He's not a letter wearer. Yet, he played like he was. He made big time plays when needed the most last season. He is in a unique position. He went home for the summer, about 10 miles. Last I heard, he still lives in his parent's home. He could work on his game by himself, or he might embrace the new contingent of defense and bring them in to train. Guys like Lambos, Spacek, Masters and Chisholm might join him as they take the summer to workout together, and he shows them some of the hidden gems of the area. I have no doubt that a group like that would benefit having time with Andy Ness, and strength guy.

[Protec]

On 5/26/2024 at 11:16 PM, Protec said:

MN fans have seen Gaborik race-car driving while the Wild need him. We've seen Fiala holdout when the Wild needed him. We've wondered if social-justice should be a priority for Wild players? Makes sense golf tourneys a few weeks before camp appears to be a conflict of interest.

I think it’s a fair question to ask Guerin, how’s Team USA GM helping you manage the Minnesota Wild?
 

Will it help you trade for Mike Kesserling or Brady Tkachuk? Or is it a distraction from your main gig where NoJo’s a 2nd line wing. 
 

If Guerin was really a tough guy, he’d let us ask him some questions. 
 

Taped interviews with softball media questions and spin makes ya wonder. Is it REALLY “about effin winning” or is it just about making money and hype?

😁

[FredJohnson]

On 5/27/2024 at 7:43 AM, Sviginak said:

I was going to go on a little Mojo is not all that bad tirade, too, but I held off.

I was going to posit that NoJo can produce more than 2 stats per game next season. (Goals+assists+hits+blocks) 😳