Article: Wild's Faber, Boldy Lose In Heartbreaking Fashion At 4 Nations

[Thomas Williams]

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[Imyourhuckleberry]

Faber looked really good out there. Clearly the coach agreed or they wouldn't have let him play 28 minutes in the biggest game of the tourney. Very promising for the future of the Wild. He was looking so solid defensively that I wonder if they might actually pair him with Buium as early as next season.

Great learning experience for him and Boldy. Boldy didn't stand out to me as one of the elite forwards, but he wasn't at all out of place either, which is rather good for 23 year old guys in this environment. Very solid tournament overall for Wild players on multiple teams.

[Fezig]

Boldy definitely failed to impress in the Chipper and did nothing to change the perception people have of him shrinking in the big game.

[SkolWild73]

44 minutes ago, Fezig said:

Boldy definitely failed to impress in the Chipper and did nothing to change the perception people have of him shrinking in the big game.

He had 5 shot attempts, and played the most minutes of any forward on team USA.        Only thing I saw was he, like some other players, tried to make the extra pass on two occasions when he probably could have taken the shot.  Just because you do not show up on the score sheet does not mean you shrunk in the big game.

[OldDutchChip]

Boldy wasn't good this game. Faber was a bit unnoticeable (which is good for D) and most of the time slavin just took care of things, so Faber just "assisted" him. 

The best player was Brady. To think the guy who never performed on the big stage, and was not that physical and wouldn't ever be someone who Kap wanted to play with ..... 

 

[SkolWild73]

2 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

Boldy wasn't good this game. Faber was a bit unnoticeable (which is good for D) and most of the time slavin just took care of things, so Faber just "assisted" him. 

I wouldn't say that Boldy wasn't good.  He wasn't great but played a solid game against some of the best players in the world.   He led the forwards in ice time, had two shots on goal and his 5 attempts was tied for first on the team.  He was also third amongst forwards with two blocked shots.  He was probably at worst the 6th best forward on the ice last night for team USA behind Matthews, Guentzel, Larkin, B. Tkachuk and Eichel in my opinion. 

Faber, I thought was very noticeable.  I remember two occasions when he was one on one with McDavid, once at the end of the power play and another towards the end of the third period and he knocked the puck away both times.  Not to mention that he logged over 28 minutes and was not on the ice for any of the goals scored against them.  I personally thought this was his best game of the tournament.

[M_Nels]

43 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Faber, I thought was very noticeable.  I remember two occasions when he was one on one with McDavid, once at the end of the power play and another towards the end of the third period and he knocked the puck away both times.

Learning well under Brodin's tutelage, it's like poetry in motion watching Brodin defend McD. Might have to stick them on a pair together next time EDM comes to town. Faber played him extremely well in those 1on1's last night and had a fantastic tournament overall. Maybe we should still trade him for Pettersson or Svech anyways..  

[FredJohnson]

10 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Great learning experience for him and Boldy. Boldy didn't stand out to me as one of the elite forwards, but he wasn't at all out of place either,

Boldy lead the USA forwards in TOI while having a 0+/-. I haven’t looked it up, but I’ll bet he had a majority of defensive deployments.

[Dango]

I would sit Faber for Saturdays game  ,let him recoup and ask Boldy if he needs to Aswell 

[OldDutchChip]

1 hour ago, SkolWild73 said:

I wouldn't say that Boldy wasn't good.  He wasn't great but played a solid game against some of the best players in the world.   He led the forwards in ice time, had two shots on goal and his 5 attempts was tied for first on the team.  He was also third amongst forwards with two blocked shots.  He was probably at worst the 6th best forward on the ice last night for team USA behind Matthews, Guentzel, Larkin, B. Tkachuk and Eichel in my opinion. 

Faber, I thought was very noticeable.  I remember two occasions when he was one on one with McDavid, once at the end of the power play and another towards the end of the third period and he knocked the puck away both times.  Not to mention that he logged over 28 minutes and was not on the ice for any of the goals scored against them.  I personally thought this was his best game of the tournament.

I heard about boldy being a breakout star of the tournie, but only watched yesterday, so maybe games prior to lat he was a beast. To my eyes - he is the same boldy regardless of shots on goal. He was better than Hughes I give him that. And Kreider and Connor.

[SkolWild73]

5 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

I heard about boldy being a breakout star of the tournie, but only watched yesterday, so maybe games prior to lat he was a beast. To my eyes - he is the same boldy regardless of shots on goal. He was better than Hughes I give him that. And Kreider and Connor.

I wouldn’t even say he played great in the tourney.  He played good to very good.  But he showed he belonged with the best players and was one of the top 4 wingers on the team in my opinion anyway.

[Willy the poor boy]

10 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

I wouldn’t even say he played great in the tourney.  He played good to very good.  But he showed he belonged with the best players and was one of the top 4 wingers on the team in my opinion anyway.

He was also one of the youngest forwards on the team.

[SkolWild73]

1 hour ago, Willy the poor boy said:

He was also one of the youngest forwards on the team.

Great point.

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, OldDutchChip said:

He was better than Hughes I give him that.

Hughes was a little disappointing.  Given his linemates he wasn't very noticeable.  I was watching for him.  He made some nifty passes but I'm not sure he belonged with Matthews.  Bottom six maybe, but not top six IMO

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, SkolWild73 said:

I wouldn’t even say he played great in the tourney.  He played good to very good.  But he showed he belonged with the best players and was one of the top 4 wingers on the team in my opinion anyway.

I imagine people might argue both Tkachuk's, Eichel, and Guentzel were better as forwards. Those 4 had more goals, more points, or scored their 3 points in fewer games than Boldy. I realized after I wrote some of this that you specified "wingers", not forwards.

Boldy was a +2 for the tournament, and no US forwards other than those listed above were able to finish ahead of him. Boldy being arguably a top 6 talent at age 23 for this roster is pretty impressive.

For the Tage Thompson fans, he had 35 NHL points through his age 23 season. Boldy is at 219 NHL points, and counting. Tage Thompson is really good right now and probably deserved to be in the tourney, but not necessarily ahead of Boldy--there were others who were more replaceable.

Also worth noting that only Nathan MacKinnon and Joel Eriksson Ek finished with a better +/- than the +3 that Faber finished the tournament with.

Boldy very much belonged and didn't play small. He scored a key goal, and had a couple timely passes for assists. This could be a huge stepping stone for his development. The Wild could make a big leap forward next season.

The Wild players were up against a team where Sidney Crosby isn't even a top 2 C on the team and they all looked like they belonged--including Sweden players here. That's huge. MacKinnon and McDavid make guys look bad most nights in the NHL, but the Wild players were hanging with them.

I'll add that I didn't want to see the US lose, but I was somewhat relieved to verify that Boldy and Faber were off the ice when the US left the best player in the world wide open in front of the net for the game winner.

Great hockey and excellent showing for the Wild players!

[OldDutchChip]

2 hours ago, M_Nels said:

Learning well under Brodin's tutelage, it's like poetry in motion watching Brodin defend McD. Might have to stick them on a pair together next time EDM comes to town. Faber played him extremely well in those 1on1's last night and had a fantastic tournament overall. Maybe we should still trade him for Pettersson or Svech anyways..  

i believe svechnikov was suggested for boldy  and i still stand by it, as i have seen nothing new from boldy. still same figure skating hockey player he was before the tournie. 

as for Petterson slide - i am not sure if it's skill or stress or nerves or what - but he is a bit of a let down. But i would still keep an eye on him.

[OldDutchChip]

1 hour ago, SkolWild73 said:

I wouldn’t even say he played great in the tourney.  He played good to very good.  But he showed he belonged with the best players and was one of the top 4 wingers on the team in my opinion anyway.

i think top 4 is being too generous. maybe he blew everyone away before, but last game it was 

Brady T, Matt T, Auston M, Jack E. Jake G, Dylan L. 

Then the rest of the field. so he'd be top 7 i'd say. not higher. which isn't bad. but he wasn't likely the main point of emphasis for canada's D so he got a bit more freedom to do his figure skating. 

[OldDutchChip]

20 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Hughes was a little disappointing.  Given his linemates he wasn't very noticeable.  I was watching for him.  He made some nifty passes but I'm not sure he belonged with Matthews.  Bottom six maybe, but not top six IMO

he was knocked down EVERY time he touched the puck. seems just like Bedard. too soft when it matters. 

[M_Nels]

1 minute ago, OldDutchChip said:

i think top 4 is being too generous. maybe he blew everyone away before, but last game it was 

Brady T, Matt T, Auston M, Jack E. Jake G, Dylan L. 

Then the rest of the field. so he'd be top 7 i'd say. not higher. which isn't bad. but he wasn't likely the main point of emphasis for canada's D so he got a bit more freedom to do his figure skating. 

I'm in somewhat agreement here. The forwards you listed "looked" more impactful. I knew Larkin was good but holy smokes he had a good tourney.

I think what Skol was getting at was his TOI was obviously earned and it could've been for his defense and Sully trusted him to play a responsible game. 

[OldDutchChip]

18 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I imagine people might argue both Tkachuk's, Eichel, and Guentzel were better as forwards. Those 4 had more goals, more points, or scored their 3 points in fewer games than Boldy. I realized after I wrote some of this that you specified "wingers", not forwards.

Boldy was a +2 for the tournament, and no US forwards other than those listed above were able to finish ahead of him. Boldy being arguably a top 6 talent at age 23 for this roster is pretty impressive.

For the Tage Thompson fans, he had 35 NHL points through his age 23 season. Boldy is at 219 NHL points, and counting. Tage Thompson is really good right now and probably deserved to be in the tourney, but not necessarily ahead of Boldy--there were others who were more replaceable.

Also worth noting that only Nathan MacKinnon and Joel Eriksson Ek finished with a better +/- than the +3 that Faber finished the tournament with.

Boldy very much belonged and didn't play small. He scored a key goal, and had a couple timely passes for assists. This could be a huge stepping stone for his development. The Wild could make a big leap forward next season.

The Wild players were up against a team where Sidney Crosby isn't even a top 2 C on the team and they all looked like they belonged--including Sweden players here. That's huge. MacKinnon and McDavid make guys look bad most nights in the NHL, but the Wild players were hanging with them.

I'll add that I didn't want to see the US lose, but I was somewhat relieved to verify that Boldy and Faber were off the ice when the US left the best player in the world wide open in front of the net for the game winner.

Great hockey and excellent showing for the Wild players!

I imagine people might argue both Tkachuk's, Eichel, and Guentzel this shouldn't be an argument - they were better.  add to the list matthews and larkin. that is your clear top 6. i am sure there are some stats that will show Boldy as "better" but using stats from such a small sample size is not really fair 🙂 this was a battle that must be judged by your eyes. and boldy took a back seat and allowed the others to lead. no shame, he is still 23.

US left the SECOND best player in the world wide open fixed that for you. Kap is the best. but otherwise good post. 

[OldDutchChip]

5 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

I'm in somewhat agreement here. The forwards you listed "looked" more impactful. I knew Larkin was good but holy smokes he had a good tourney.

I think what Skol was getting at was his TOI was obviously earned and it could've been for his defense and Sully trusted him to play a responsible game. 

🍻

and i don't mind that he played as much as he did - good for him and wild. just i was looking for beast boldy. but didn't see anything i haven't seen before. 

now - brady - that is eye opening. that train has left long ago (where we had some hope of prying him away from OTT.... and that debate from long ago whether or not brady would have helped us....that could be settled now i imagine). right Tony? 😉

 

 

[SkolWild73]

11 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

i think top 4 is being too generous

I did say top 4 wingers, not forwards for the entire tournament.  That would take Matthews and Eichel off.  M. Tkachuk is obviously better but did not play as much, so that is why I said top 4 wingers

[OldDutchChip]

2 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

I did say top 4 wingers, not forwards for the entire tournament.  That would take Matthews and Eichel off.  M. Tkachuk is obviously better but did not play as much, so that is why I said top 4 wingers

oh sorry i missed that 🍻

[FredJohnson]

40 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Boldy and Faber were off the ice when the US left the best player in the world wide open in front of the net for the game winner

Better fire the coaches and never let them onto onto a hockey bench again. 😳

Edited 4 hours ago by FredJohnson
Grammer

[SkolWild73]

18 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

Tkachuk's, Eichel, and Guentzel this shouldn't be an argument - they were better.  add to the list matthews and larkin. that is your clear top 6.

I will give you that these are the top 6 forwards with Boldy coming in 7th, given M. Tkachuk a break for playing hurt and missing games.  If you look at the 6 that are listed ahead of Boldy, and they were on the Wild, would anyone suggest trading them?  I would assume the answer is no.  So why then do some of you want to trade Boldy, who is 3+ years younger to everyone besides B. Tkachuk?  

How about if we make a trade for another top 6 forward this offseason, we find a way to do it without giving up a no question top 6 forward in Boldy?  Wouldn't that be what's best for the team?