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Minnesota Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt and forward Matt Boldy celebrate a series win against the Dallas Stars after Game 6 of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Nick Wosika-Imagn Images)

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Wild 2025-26 Report Cards: Matt Boldy

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Aug 4, 2026 8:35 AM ET

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We’re still in the heat of the summer, but with every day that goes by, we’re one day closer to the start of the NHL season. The Wild had a disappointing end to their last season, but they showed a lot of improvement and have strong expectations for the coming season. However, before we start looking at the new, we need to look back at the past.

Ryan Hartman was the latest to receive his grade; next up will be a player who spent a lot of time on the first and second lines plus Team USA in the 2026 Winter Olympics, where he won a gold medal. That player is Matt Boldy, and he continued to make a name for himself as one of the Wild’s top forwards. In this article, we’ll take a look at how he did in the regular season as well as the postseason to determine an overall grade.

Boldy’s Rise to Stardom

Matt Boldy has shown true potential since his very first NHL game back in 2021-22, and since that moment he’s found ways to show he has even more to his game. He’s had his fair share of setbacks and growing moments, but he’s persevered and become a true star. He continued to demonstrate that talent this past season with 76 games played and 42 goals scored, plus 43 others he assisted on for 85 points total, just four points behind the Wild’s leader, Kirill Kaprizov.

That was a 12-point increase from the season prior, and while that doesn’t seem like much, he had a 15-goal improvement. He’s gained confidence in his game each season, but this past season he truly showed he was willing to carry the puck and initiate plays. He also kept himself out of the penalty box as much as possible, which allowed him to be on the ice more.

Boldy’s a player who likes to use his physicality, but in a responsible way; he had 60 hits this past season. A decent number, but not the kind of hits that caused him time in the penalty box, so he stayed disciplined. He paid attention to his defense also, as he contributed 58 blocked shots, not the best it could’ve been but not the worst either.

“Yeah, he definitely is. It’s hard to put it into words, but I feel like he’s just such a complete player both sides of the puck. And the confidence he’s been playing with all this year, it’s been fun to watch. He’s so good. And he’s so strong on the puck, and he competes like crazy. Yeah, I don’t think there’s a lot of guys that have that complete, and it feels like he’s just got everything,” said Marcus Johansson to the media in his end-of-season interview when asked about Boldy.

Boldy clearly had a strong season, and after going through his stats, he earned an A. It was hard not to give him an A+, but it’s easy to see that he has more to give. However, it wasn’t lower because he had a standout season, and nothing about any of his stats was a hindrance to the team.

Boldy’s Finds Another Level

It’s always stated that the postseason brings out another level in players, and that saying was true when it came to Boldy. He did find another level, and he was one of the main reasons the Wild got out of the first round, but the second round was tougher, not only for him but for everyone. He played in all 11 games of the postseason and scored seven goals, the most among his teammates, plus six assists for 13 points, two points behind the two players tied for the lead: Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes with 15 points each.

His hits stayed consistent with 18, not a high number but not low for the number of games he played. The same can be said about his blocked shots, although they were a bit lower than would’ve been expected with just eight. The Wild could’ve used more blocked shots, especially in the second round against the Colorado Avalanche.

While he had a solid first round, his second round performance left some to be desired, again not all his fault, the entire team couldn’t figure out how to win. Regardless, he earned an A- for his postseason, similar to his teammate Hartman. It wasn’t higher because he definitely could’ve been better, but it wasn’t lower because he did have a strong performance, just not quite strong enough.

Boldy’s Overall Grade

Boldy is already a star with the Wild, but after the Olympics, he is on his way to being a superstar, if he’s not already. He can score goals and defend them, something every team wants, and he’s on a great contract besides, at least for the time being. He earned an A for the regular season and an A- for the postseason, which means he earned a low A/high A- for his overall grade.

It was already stated it was hard to give Boldy a lower grade than the highest possible because of how well he played, but again there’s more to his game we have yet to see. He’s only 25 years old and has a lot of room to keep improving his play. While his game is solid, he does still have some areas to fix, and that comes with the territory.

In every season Boldy has played, he’s found a way to get more points, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep that going. If he finds a way to do the same this coming season, he could potentially hit 100 points or more, and the Wild could use that as they try to make another postseason run.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.

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