By Luke Sims -
On Thursday night, the Minnesota Wild played without Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Jonas Brodin, Filip Gustavsson, and Vinni Lettieri. Over half of the team's collective salary cap was unavailable to play.
The Wild have had horrible injury luck this year. They’ve lost captain Jared Spurgeon and Brodin, another elite defenseman, for long stretches, and Zuccarello for a month. But Minnesota initially warded off their injury luck with the “new coach bump” after hiring John Hynes.
However, last weekend, the Winnipeg Jets dealt another blow to the battered Wild roster. The Wild lost Kaprizov, Lettieri, Foligno and starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson. Lettieri and Gus are on IR, and Minnesota is calling Kaprizov week to week with an upper-body injury. Foligno’s status is still uncertain. Injuries have already cost the Wild tremendously. With a tough stretch of games that includes contending teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes, the Wild must lean on their other superstar.
The Wild are in their darkest hour. The city and team are hurting, and Hynes must look to his young bucketed Bostonian to save the team in their time of need. As bench bosses past have done, the grizzled leaders cast the vaunted signal into the sky. The Boldy Bat signal is lighting up the sky again, and he must answer the call.
When Kaprizov suffered an injury against the Jets at the end of last season, Boldy stepped up in a big way.
Boldy before the Kaprizov injury:
- 64 games played
- 17 goals
- 25 assists
- 42 points
- 0.66 P/G
Boldy after the Kaprizov injury:
- 17 games played
- 14 goals
- 7 assists
- 21 points
- 1.24 P/G
Boldy became an impact player when Minnesota needed him most. Stepping into the role Kaprizov vacated, Boldy became a driving force once the Wild acquired Marcus Johansson and put him on Boldy’s line.
During Kaprizov’s absence before the playoffs began, the Wild were 10th in the league in points with a 10-4-4 record. They solidified a playoff spot and locked up the third spot in the Central division with 103 points.
Once Kaprizov returned, the Wild offense largely failed to click in the playoffs, mustering only three goals over the final three games. Dallas came back from down 2-1 to close out the Wild in six games. Boldy only recorded three points and zero goals in those six games. Boldly has 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 29 games this season and will have to turn it on again.
But can he?
Earlier this year, Boldy was injured and struggling. One of Hynes’ priorities upon arrival had to be to get Boldy going, and now Boldy has 13 points in 17 games since the coaching change. Healthy and confident, Boldy will be getting time on the top line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Johnasson until one of the Wild’s premier scorers returns to the lineup.
Eriksson Ek is a valuable two-way center with a great presence in front of the net and in transition. Johansson is a fast playmaker who can occasionally make a good play. Boldy has done more with less.
Boldy is seventh on the team in GF% at 60.37%, first in CF% at 53.74%, and fourth in xGF% at 56.1% at even strength. That means Boldy is the most offensively dominant player on the team in puck possession, and he’s scoring at a clip a little higher than expected.
Boldy’s GF/60 is also fourth on the team at 3.16, while his xGF/60 is slightly less but second on the team at 2.8. That suggests that Boldy is a dominant offensive force but is currently outproducing his expected metrics. Recently, he’s been relatively quiet offensively. While he’s playing well, his shooting percentage is only 9.29% since the Wild hired Hynes, 14th on the team.
Without Kaprizov and Zuccarrello in the lineup, opposing defenses will focus on Boldy to hamper Minnesota’s scoring. That was true when Kaprizov went out last year, and that did not seem to stop the Boston native from scoring goals like a madman (0.83 goals per game).
While there is room for Boldy to reach the next level, it will be more difficult this time. At the time of Kaprizov’s injury, the Wild were among the best teams in the Western Conference, competing with Dallas for the top spot in the Central.
The Wild still had a healthy Zuccarello and Foligno, a productive Johansson, Brodin, and Gustavsson. They also had a more offensively-inclined blueline with Matt Dumba, John Klingberg, and Calen Addison. With the pair of Gus and Fleury in the net, the Wild were still in a good position to offer depth contributions with Boldy leading the way.
But Boldy faces more pressure to perform this year. Spurgeon is not 100%; Brodin, Kaprizov, Gustavsson, Zuccarello, Lettieri, and Foligno are out. To recap, arguably the team's top defensemen, starting goaltender, top-six winger, and two key depth pieces are not at full strength or not playing.
However, there is a positive. The Wild have a youth insurgence, with Brock Faber and Marco Rossi stepping up to play critical roles. Rossi is a huge asset in the 2C spot and can contribute to the power play. Faber produces some defensive stability to *woof* this…
Boldy stepped up in Kaprizov’s absence last year to carry the Wild into the playoffs. But the Wild are in an even dire situation this year, with more setbacks to overcome than the last time Boldy needed to be the hero. Can No. 12 come fully alive and carry the Wild through this plagued era?
Time to find out.
All stats and data via NHL.com, Evolving Hockey, and Hockey DB unless otherwise noted.
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