Article: Matt Boldy Is Closing the Gap Between Himself And Kirill Kaprizov

[Tony Abbott]

View full article

[Up North Guy]

My hope is that the team is just scratching the beginning of his productivity. His size, strength and skill make him a serious now and future star.

[Patrick]

KK is getting significantly more 5v5 ice time than Boldy. 

Boldy's line is tasked with shutting down the other teams top line 5v5.

KKs line is getting the best matchups Hynes can find.

Boldy is an elite penalty killer.

KK leads Boldy in turnovers by a country mile.

This season, Boldy is SIGNIFICANTLY better than Kaprizov.

[mnfaninnc]

I hate the awards, mostly because of the East Coast bias. But, in this conversation, could Boldy be playing himself into a Selke? He is a wing, but, I believe he is also the best drawman on the Wild. He should definitely practice that more. I'm not suggesting we make him a center, but I am suggesting that he take important draws and switch to wing after the face off. 

[MNCountryLife]

Thanksfully we got him for another 5 years before BG can overpay him.

[Enforceror]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

He is a wing, but, I believe he is also the best drawman on the Wild.

He's at 40.7% currently. Definitely not the best but passable for a wing. It's an interesting concept to have him playing center. A true 1c possibly if he could master it, and I think he could. It'd kill our line 2 for sure though...

[Dango]

Me being nothing more than a fan of hockey never played "except high school gym class plastic pucks and sticks "  and field hockey ,  ive always wondered how players get determined on what position they play or should they play ,  i mean do peewee , highschool or even college level coaches really have the expertise to determine that a player is a center or wing  etc ,  the reason i ask is maybe Boldy is better suited as a center just needs more practice ,  was Boldy 5-6 in high school and others were 6-0 so he took the wing spot and never looked at himself as a center .    Thats something ive always wondered a players physical growth through school years  if that made them change positions .

[Up North Guy]

3 hours ago, Dango said:

Me being nothing more than a fan of hockey never played "except high school gym class plastic pucks and sticks "  and field hockey ,  ive always wondered how players get determined on what position they play or should they play ,  i mean do peewee , highschool or even college level coaches really have the expertise to determine that a player is a center or wing  etc ,  the reason i ask is maybe Boldy is better suited as a center just needs more practice ,  was Boldy 5-6 in high school and others were 6-0 so he took the wing spot and never looked at himself as a center .    Thats something ive always wondered a players physical growth through school years  if that made them change positions .

My experience is many decades ago but it really is a combo of things you mention. Some players love the center position because of the responsibility and QB feel. Others like the free wheeling wing/goal scorer position. Often it is team needs, such as who is the best stick handler or who is the fastest or who likes to mix it up in the corners and likes the dirty area work.

[Pablo]

This is a great article and really gets me thinking about how great this team can be. I always expected Boldy to become a 1B to KK and its literally happened in the last 39 games.  The dude can flat out play at an elite level, every shift, every game. How do teams defend our top 6 and then throw in the elite blue liners.  Teams may get 40 SOG but if 38 of them aren’t high risk shots, are teams going to score more than a goal or 2 per game? I can see a lot of 5-2 or 4-1 games this season! 
seriously, who wants to even play us? 

Edited December 30, 2025 by Pablo

[Rohn]

I cringe seeing him out there on the PK, blocking shots.  Just a matter of time before he takes a bullet to the laces or an unpadded spot or a hand. We should protect him.  Put Trenin or Yurov out there instead. 

[mnfaninnc]

On 12/29/2025 at 4:54 PM, Dango said:

Me being nothing more than a fan of hockey never played "except high school gym class plastic pucks and sticks "  and field hockey ,  ive always wondered how players get determined on what position they play or should they play ,  i mean do peewee , highschool or even college level coaches really have the expertise to determine that a player is a center or wing  etc ,  the reason i ask is maybe Boldy is better suited as a center just needs more practice ,  was Boldy 5-6 in high school and others were 6-0 so he took the wing spot and never looked at himself as a center .    Thats something ive always wondered a players physical growth through school years  if that made them change positions .

This is a great question. At BC, Boldy was tried at center and then moved back to wing when he couldn't score. Yurov had the same thing happen to him in the K but he ended up making the position switch. Hartman did it on the fly with the Wild when asked to center Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Evason tried it in short spurts with Boldy coming out of the PK and centering Kaprizov and Zuccarello. 

From my time in the pee wees and up, generally the center was the best skater of that forward group. Defensemen were the guys who could skate the best backwards. Goalies were also kids who just loved the big pads. Generally, as they grew, the centers were converted to wings as the teams had more talent come in. 

Since centers needed to skate the length of the ice, and the wings did not, this meant that the centers needed to be better skaters. Taking draws were just what the centers learned to do. I have no experience in the high school leagues because I was too small and not good enough, but, I think the politics of a lot of feeder programs probably played a role in who was the center. I'm sure the coaches at major junior and in Europe do have the expertise to know where a guy can play best. If not, they probably aren't employed too long. The guys we had were just volunteer dads. The kids knew more where they would play. 

[Dango]

8 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

This is a great question. At BC, Boldy was tried at center and then moved back to wing when he couldn't score. Yurov had the same thing happen to him in the K but he ended up making the position switch. Hartman did it on the fly with the Wild when asked to center Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Evason tried it in short spurts with Boldy coming out of the PK and centering Kaprizov and Zuccarello. 

From my time in the pee wees and up, generally the center was the best skater of that forward group. Defensemen were the guys who could skate the best backwards. Goalies were also kids who just loved the big pads. Generally, as they grew, the centers were converted to wings as the teams had more talent come in. 

Since centers needed to skate the length of the ice, and the wings did not, this meant that the centers needed to be better skaters. Taking draws were just what the centers learned to do. I have no experience in the high school leagues because I was too small and not good enough, but, I think the politics of a lot of feeder programs probably played a role in who was the center. I'm sure the coaches at major junior and in Europe do have the expertise to know where a guy can play best. If not, they probably aren't employed too long. The guys we had were just volunteer dads. The kids knew more where they would play. 

Back when i was in school money was a huge difference maker as well you could tell who the poorer kids were by the equipment they had ,  i had  garage sale skates from 1944 i think and looked like a 45degree angle to my legs and other kids had brand new 70-100 dollar skates would fly circles around everyone .     everyone got addidas i got traxx from kmart .   Wouldnt have mattered though grades werent good enough i wonder if that benefits kids in  other countries that dont hold you off sports if your grades arent good enough  .    

[mnfaninnc]

14 minutes ago, Dango said:

Back when i was in school money was a huge difference maker as well you could tell who the poorer kids were by the equipment they had ,  i had  garage sale skates from 1944 i think and looked like a 45degree angle to my legs and other kids had brand new 70-100 dollar skates would fly circles around everyone .     everyone got addidas i got traxx from kmart .   Wouldnt have mattered though grades werent good enough i wonder if that benefits kids in  other countries that dont hold you off sports if your grades arent good enough  . 

I'm not so sure that money was the issue, but the kids parents were responsible for the equipment. I was right at the end of the full steel blade era, so there wasn't that much different from a skate level. Bauer, CCM were the most common, and most of the kids got trade ins from our skate shop. They were broken in and still had a lot more life in them. 

The politics I was talking about probably came from the travel team coaches who had some sway with the kids coming up. That might be where some money was spent for favor, like team bags or team sponsorships. I wasn't good enough to play on those teams so I really don't know first hand.

[Burnt Toast]

24 minutes ago, Dango said:

the poorer kids were by the equipment they had ,  i had  garage sale skates

Played goalie in HS and varsity goalie got hurt. I was in 10th grade and got called up. Coach noticed I had old regular skates. He bought me brand new white CCM goalie skates we could have never afforded. Played 3 years varsity and to this day Rod Magnusson’s kindness has stayed with me.