Article: Does Matt Boldy Only Score Against Bad Teams?

[Justin Hein]

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[Imyourhuckleberry]

Matt Boldy scores against good teams and good defenses about as often as the bad ones. 

The Wild are a top 10 defense so far and he cannot play them, so it would make some sense that the average team he scores against is below average.

All players are going to score less against top 10 defenses, on average, simply by definition, so I'm guessing most players have higher scoring stats when facing teams in the bottom half of goals against averages from year to year. I agree that it seems there is nothing to worry about right now.

[Citizen Strife]

Boldy and Hartman seem to be out of their scoring slumps, so that's what matters.  They just need their defensemen back before the drop in the standings get out of hand.

[Pewterschmidt]

Identifying Boldy as the problem this team needs to fix or replace makes as much sense as moving Wall-E to first line center. 
Boldy is second only to 97 as a player who’s capable of creating offense and creating turnovers.  If bro didn’t have nojo on his back and he was given an offensive center to work with he’d be in the superstar conversation. 
does he play 82 games at elite level?  No, but he’s 14 years old and he’s second only to 97 in terms of creating offense.  

[FredJohnson]

31 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

moving Wall-E to first line center. 

[FredJohnson]

32 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

If bro didn’t have nojo on his back and he was given an offensive center to work with he’d be in the superstar conversation. 

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[IllicitFive]

I think we would love if we had other guys who only scored against bad teams (see our bottom 6 scoring). Seems like a big ol nothing burger to me. Now if the wilds number 2 offensive producer wasn't scoring, even against bad teams, then that would be a big problem. 

[mnfaninnc]

I remain unconvinced about this. I think a lot of it has to do with who is on his line. He was scoring very well when Kaprizov and Ek were his linemates. But when you look at Rossi and Zuccarello, against good teams, he disappears. It's not just scoring but chances too, he simply plays the invisible man. 

Since hockey is a team game, perhaps we should be looking at that whole top line right now. With Kaprizov out, it has not been Boldy picking up the slack this time. Rossi has done it and passed Boldy on the scoresheet. 

Boldy is 23. He looks like he's younger than Spurgeon. He tries to be real fancy when the right play is just going north and firing. Sometimes, there's a time to be creative, but other times a defense has already created a lane for you, he doesn't always take this, because that lane will also come with some pain. 

Just by looking at him, I don't think he realizes how big and strong he is. Physically, he should be dominating some defenders yet, he doesn't. Too much finesse in his game when the answer is power. I'm not saying he has no power, I'm saying he's out of balance. Defenders can play him to finesse instead of take it to the goal. He needs to have more tape of him taking it hard north to keep defenders off balance not knowing what he's going to do. There are a lot of times he button hooks when he should be cutting left to the front of the net to shoot. 

This isn't just on Boldy either. There are 2 guys on this team who should be button hooking: MaRat and Zuccarello. Both are very talented at it. Kaprizov doesn't do it well, but he's got a very nice 360 pass move. When you watch the team play, look at how often they enter the zone and button hook. This is a sign of a perimeter-soft team. Johansson does this sometimes, but he doesn't have the edges so he just perimeters deep and takes himself out of shooting lanes looking to pass. 

But the real problem is this team does this so much, they consistently don't back off defenders and often times do not get the puck deep causing a quick transition into their end. They were far better going north at the beginning of the season than they are now. 

Boldy's got power but rarely uses it. In his personal video coaching, the coaches should be pointing this out consistently.

[mnfaninnc]

I also think that Ek is a better center for Boldy because he helps bring that edge. Boldy can play with anyone, but he adapts his style to the play of his linemates. For instance, if he's playing with Rossi and Zuccy, he plays a true finesse game. If he plays with Ek and Hartsy, you'll see a harder game. 

Yes, this is part of his Swiss Army Knife ability, but it's also frustrating to not use that big knife when other guys are using the fish scaler and magnifying glass. Sometimes you just need that big knife to come out, not the toothpick or tweezers.

[FredJohnson]

33 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

Now if the wilds number 2 offensive producer wasn't scoring, even against bad teams, then

...then we would be a bad team. 👍

[MNCountryLife]

21 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

This is a sign of a perimeter-soft team

Agreed.  Would like to see players entering the zone fight to the net right away.  Be willing to skate faster and put pressure on the D... and why do we designate the centers on the team as the guys to go to the front of the net.  That should be everybody's top priority in the zone.  Get to the net.  First one in goes there.

[Justin Hein]

29 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I also think that Ek is a better center for Boldy because he helps bring that edge.

I'm looking forward to Kaprizov's return, and hope Rossi centers Kaprizov with Ek centering Boldy. 

[MrCheatachu]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Identifying Boldy as the problem this team needs to fix or replace makes as much sense as moving Wall-E to first line center. 
Boldy is second only to 97 as a player who’s capable of creating offense and creating turnovers.  If bro didn’t have nojo on his back and he was given an offensive center to work with he’d be in the superstar conversation. 
does he play 82 games at elite level?  No, but he’s 14 years old and he’s second only to 97 in terms of creating offense.  

December 2024:

• Boldy: 2 goals, 5 apples, -7 
• MoJo: 1 goal, 4 apples, -5

One of these two routinely gets time on PP1, and skated over 40% of the time with a combination of Rossi/Ek and Kaprizov/Zucc and the other is on PP2 and centered by Hartzy

One of these guys we read countless takes on how he is the boat anchor of the team, and the other guy we wouldn't dare to even question his contributions?

Yet you want to jettison MoJo into the sun while you don't want to visit any criticism of Boldy?

Why can't we talk about how Boldy has been pretty disappointing?  Why can't we mention the guy who's got boatloads of talent and has the opportunity to carry a team in Kaprizov's absence has been invisible for large stretches this season?

Edited 1 hour ago by MrCheatachu

[Pewterschmidt]

12 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Yet you want to jettison MoJo into the sun while you don't want to visit any criticism of Boldy?

Yes we need to send Nojo into the sun.

Yes while Boldy goes hot and cold and that needs to be fixed, which Wild player after 97 has to same offensive upside as Boldy?  Rossi, while he's taken another nice step forward this season I'd bet on Boldy's larger frame as the player who becomes a bigger difference maker than Rossi.  Ek?  he's awesome, but not offensive minded.  Zuccy?  he's in his final innings.  And let's not include Ogz or Yurov until they are proven NHL'rs.

[MrCheatachu]

13 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Yes while Boldy goes hot and cold and that needs to be fixed

wait, i thought it was:

3 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

If bro didn’t have nojo on his back and he was given an offensive center to work with he’d be in the superstar conversation. 

Boldy played like dogshit in December.  Calen-Fucking-Addison looked like a point producer with the right linemates.  Hartzy between Kaprizov/Zuccarello topped the list of Points/Salary.

If a player is going to be in the superstar conversation they need to elevate their linemates rather than need to be put on a line between generational talent.

[Pewterschmidt]

59 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

wait, i thought it was:

Boldy played like dogshit in December.  Calen-Fucking-Addison looked like a point producer with the right linemates.  Hartzy between Kaprizov/Zuccarello topped the list of Points/Salary.

If a player is going to be in the superstar conversation they need to elevate their linemates rather than need to be put on a line between generational talent.

Boldy has gone hot and cold

AND

Boldy (when hot) has been able to produce in spite of his linemates, not because of his linemates.