Wild’s Matt Boldy is driven to be the best — what’s his ceiling? ‘A superstar’

WASHINGTON — Kirill Kaprizov is the Minnesota Wild’s best player, and the NHL’s highest-paid player.

But watching Matt Boldy the past couple of years, especially the playoffs last spring and the start to this season, he doesn’t seem that far behind. Teammates and opponents alike have seen what he’s growing into.

“A superstar,” teammate Brock Faber said. “The sky is the limit, being that big and that good on the puck, that good of hands, that much of a goal scorer. He’s got the tools to be one of the best players in the league. And he’s been that to start the year. That’s not surprising to anyone here. He’s one of the most underrated — if not the most underrated — players in the league, from what he does on a night-in, night-out basis, and the amount he’s talked about. I think he kind of likes it, though.”

This isn’t just about numbers, though they do reflect it. After progressing from 39 to 63 to 69 to 73 points in his first four seasons, he has eight in four games in 2025-26. He’s also scored at least 27 goals in each of the past three seasons and had five goals and seven points in six playoff games in the spring.

It’s also not just about size (6-foot-2, 201 pounds) or skill.

President of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin said what he’s seeing from the 24-year-old winger is maturity and playing “winning hockey” all over the ice. He’s an example. A leader. He’s driven and determined to get to the hard areas of the ice.

Only a few years ago, Guerin had a tough-love talk with Boldy after the team’s playoff loss to the Dallas Stars, telling him he had to get his “nose dirty.”

That is no longer an issue.

“He’s one of the guys that drives the bus for us,” Guerin said. “He’s on every night. I don’t feel like it’s so much him trying to put up points. I feel like it’s a bigger thing of him trying to take the team to another level.”

Guerin points to the 4 Nations Face-Off last winter as a turning point. Boldy got to be around the game’s top players, like Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk. Many of his U.S. teammates had won Stanley Cups. Boldy said he picked their minds and paid attention to how they prepared, practiced, played.

Faber noticed during the tournament that Boldy was getting plenty of attention, too. “People realized that, ‘Holy s—, this guy is right up there with all the players,’” Faber said.

Matt Boldy and Sidney Crosby go toe-to-toe at the 4 Nations Face-Off. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

And one of the league’s best bargains, at $7 million AAV for the next five years.

“You want to be the best player you can be,” Boldy said. “I’ve been that way my whole life. You want to be the best player on the ice, the best player in the league. You set your goals high. You don’t set them low. It just pushes you to work harder and try to be a better player.”

There wasn’t one conversation or moment that sparked Boldy as he’s evolved. But you can tell how much winning is a driving force for him now.

“You have to go through that,” Guerin said. “Experience is a great thing. Everybody wishes you had a 40-year-old brain and 20-year-old legs, but you have to go through — I don’t know if I want to call them failures, but those struggles.

“Going through those struggles and then pushing yourself to do what needs to be done, I think that’s elevated him. He’s willing to go to the places, to play a certain way, to get where he is. He’s going to have to continue that to go even further.”

By nature, Boldy is more of a by-example leader than a vocal one, but those around the team see him taking more ownership in his way. It’s not just that he invited top prospect Zeev Buium to live with him over the summer, paying it forward for when Jordan Greenway did the same for him. It’s Boldy’s work ethic, how he’s always one of the last players on the ice in practice. As is Kaprizov.

“When your top guys do the right things, that’s very impactful,” Guerin said.”When they do the wrong things, it’s very impactful. And Matt is doing the right things.”

Boldy said his game is better and his offense is better when he’s playing the right way, winning puck battles. His focus is on being predictable and making his teammates better.

“I mean, all I want to do is win,” he said. “The other things come with it.”

Fans can see it.

On Monday night, during a shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings, when Boldy popped on the ice for the team’s second attempt (Kaprizov was first), the sellout crowd at Grand Casino Arena came alive. They started chanting his name, “Boldy! Boldy!”

“He wants the puck. He wants to be in the big moments,” Faber said. “He wants to go in the shootout with the game on the line. He wants to be on the ice in OT in an important game. He wants to be on the ice in a playoff series. He lives for those moments and shows up for those moments. Just special.”

From ‘Boldy Bars’ to bad dancing to a #mnwild turn, best friends dish on Matt Boldy’s rise to “star in the making”
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Boldy has expanded his role over the past year, becoming a key penalty killer. And he takes a lot of pride in the defensive side of his game. But the offensive gifts are what Boldy has been known for since his early days growing up outside Boston. Guerin has said he could see Boldy putting up 50 goals and 50 assists in a season.

“He’s so skilled. He tries certain things … I would have never tried to do some of the things he can do,” Guerin said. “If he shoots it a little bit more, he’s such a good playmaker, a creative guy and he sees things. But if he shoots the puck even more, I definitely think he can get 50 goals.”

Boldy had 17 shot attempts in Tuesday’s loss in Dallas (10 on net). His line with Marco Rossi and Kaprizov was broken up during the game but reunited for Thursday’s practice at Capital One Arena. Coach John Hynes likes how Marcus Johansson adds another dynamic as a “puck transporter” on the second line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Vladimir Tarasenko and believes they’ll eventually break through.

The Wild have gone three games without an even-strength goal, with their streak of nine straight power-play goals the third-longest since the 1933-1934 season. Three of Boldy’s four goals this season have come with the man advantage.

“He puts himself in some of the best scoring areas I’ve ever seen a player,” Guerin said.

Boldy has heard about Guerin’s 50-50 comment and thinks he’s capable, though it’s not something he focuses on.

“I believe in myself, but that’s not in the back of my mind every game,” he said. “You want to make the biggest difference you can.”

Where did Boldy’s confidence come from?

“My competitiveness,” he said. “I was raised that way. My dad raised all of us like that. We were raised not with the expectation, but that you should have the character in you that you should want to be the best player, biggest difference-maker. That’s the baseline when you’re a little kid, and I think it just grows and grows and grows.”

What does Boldy eventually grow into? What’s his ceiling?

“He can be one of the top players in this league,” Guerin said. “You tell me. What wingers are better than him?”