Wild’s Matt Boldy out week-to-week with lower-body injury

Questions arose about the health of the 23-year-old as he was a noticeable omission from the team’s practice. The team did not specify what Boldy hurt.

Head coach John Hynes spoke to the media following practice, saying Boldy’s injury is not severe and that he is expected to rejoin the team before the end of the training camp.

Minnesota opened its preseason schedule this past Saturday on the road against the Winnipeg Jets. Hynes said Boldy wasn’t sure what was wrong until the team returned home.

The Wild begin the new season on Oct. 10 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Hynes confirmed the team expects Boldy to be back in the lineup by then.

Boldy is coming off one of the best seasons of his young career. He registered 40 assists and 69 points in 2023-24, both totals the most in a single campaign in his three years in the NHL. Despite missing a few games, Boldy finished second in the Wild in scoring, trailing only Kirill Kaprizov’s 96-point performance. Boldy was also one goal shy of hitting the 30-goal mark for the second consecutive season.

Boldy was originally taken by the Wild in the first round, 12th overall, of the 2019 NHL Draft. After two years at Boston College, where he was once a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, he signed his entry-level contract with Minnesota in March 2021. He quickly shot up the depth chart, debuting with the Wild during the 2021-22 season, and has become one of the team’s consistent scoring threats. Boldy’s sophomore season, which saw him score 31 goals, was enough to earn him a seven-year contract extension, with an AAV of $7 million. The 2024-25 campaign is the second year of the deal that will go through the 2029-30 season.

In 203 NHL games, Boldy has scored 75 goals and 96 assists for 171 points, including a goal and four points in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances.