LW Matthew Boldy - Boston College, NCAA (2019, 12th, MIN)

[Frk It]

I'm starting to think Boldy's hockey IQ isn't as good as I initially thought, but his skating and skill are better than I thought.

He works very hard and often finds himself in the right positions in all zones, but a lot of his puck decisions aren't the best. I don't think his hockey IQ is more than good. Not a bad outcome by any means, but I would've said his hockey IQ was better than good previously. I don't think he's fast, but he's able to skate past players without being that fast. I also think he has at least 60 puck skills. I would've said 55 a couple of months ago, but 60-65 having watched him play more recently.

Yeah, his hands are probably among the best in this class tbh.

He has some really good tools, but the reason I have him behind Turcotte and Zegras is those guys are super smart and have good vision. Not sure I’ve seen him enough to say his IQ is bad, but with the other guys it just stands out a ton.

 

[Killerjas]

My pick for the least talked about player in this board that gets picked in the top 15

 

[Kevin Musto]

 

[wings5]

Ok I really thought he was a meat a potatoes forward who does dirty work and gets the greasy goals he has some great puck skills. I want to see him skating more but his skills remind of Sonny Milano when he was in the program.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Ok I really thought he was a meat a potatoes forward who does dirty work and gets the greasy goals he has some great puck skills. I want to see him skating more but his skills remind of Sonny Milano when he was in the program.

He's not that much like Sonny Milano, aside from puck skills and good skating, despite not having great pure speed. Boldy is more of an all-situations player who plays in all areas of the offensive zone. Milano is a perimeter player.

 

[Vachon23]

Not normal that there only 2 pages for him. He is probably a top 10 prospect !

 

[Kevin Musto]

Not normal that there only 2 pages for him. He is probably a top 10 prospect !

Yeah kind of strange but the hype will probably build up towards the end of the year.

 

[Captain Clutch]

USNDTP kids generally get less attention than CHL kids, and that's totally understandable given how many more of the denizens of this board are Canadian. It's truly an exceptional year for forward talent for the USNDTP between Hughes, Boldy, Zegras and Turcotte; I can't remember a better bunch of forwards ever coming through the program. There is a school of thought out there that all 4 will go in the top 10. I don't ultimately see that as likely given there are certainly teams out there that are likely to fall in love with Kaapo, Dach, Cozens, Podkolzin, Byram, Krebs etc but its not too hard to imagine Hughes, Turcotte and one of either Boldy or Zegras going in the top 10and perhaps a 4th just outside the top 10.....wouldn't that be something.

As for Boldy, I have him ranked 4th among the Americans but who knows, he may end up being better than Zegras; some people think he's better than Turcotte, I am not one of them but its not so far fetched.

 

[wings5]

He's not that much like Sonny Milano, aside from puck skills and good skating, despite not having great pure speed. Boldy is more of an all-situations player who plays in all areas of the offensive zone. Milano is a perimeter player.

Yeah I was talking more about his puck skills, he seems to have alot more grit in his game. I will try an watch him more, seems like an exciting prospect.

 

[rt]

He’s 7th on the latest McKenzie poll. 8/10 scouts surveyed had him top ten. 5/10 had him top seven. One had him ranked 4th overall.

Given that he’s a goal scorer with size and speed, I’m pretty amazed at how little attention he gets around here. Big, fast, flashy goals and ranked by the real scouts way at the top of the draft, and yet, nobody talks about him.

Crazy.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He’s 7th on the latest McKenzie poll. 8/10 scouts surveyed had him top ten. 5/10 had him top seven. One had him ranked 4th overall.

Given that he’s a goal scorer with size and speed, I’m pretty amazed at how little attention he gets around here. Big, fast, flashy goals and ranked by the real scouts way at the top of the draft, and yet, nobody talks about him.

Crazy.

Nitpicking here, but I don't think he has speed. He skates well, but he's not a speedy skater.

Boldy's stats compared to his teammates are mediocre. His stats don't come close to Hughes, and not that close to Turcotte or Zegras either. He's not even within a good game or two of Caufield. Caufield's PPG stats also do his game a disservice because he's mostly a goal scorer. They are better if you analyze his goals per game instead of points per game. Boldy lags behind all of these guys in stats.

He probably will bring more in other parts of the game in the NHL than Hughes, Caufield and Zegras will, but his PPG average is behind Joel Farabee's from last season, and almost no one thinks Farabee will be a first line forward nor did Farabee have the amount of talent around him that Boldy had.

I like Boldy's game, and I would actually rank him ahead of Caufield and not that far behind Zegras because I think he'll add more in other parts of the game and he does have potential to improve the point totals because he's a very talented offensive player, but I think there's good reason why he's not as talked about as his teammates.

 

[rt]

@Pavel Buchnevich Agreed on speed. Poor word choice. I think he’s a good skater, a dynamic skater, but not necessarily a fast skater. I don’t see break away speed but he changes pace and direction well. Sneaky skater.

As far as statistical production, Brady Tkachuk has taught me a lesson on relying too heavily on that.

As far as stacking up against his teammates, the 10 NHL scouts in the McKenzie poll seem to like him (7th) more (on average) than Zegras(10th) and Turcotte(11th).

I think you’re conflating your opinion with the consensus. You’re saying you’re not surprised he gets talked about less because you have him rated lower. That’s not what the consensus seems to be. As a result, I’m not really buying your reason for why he’s talked about less. The pros seem to have him higher than a lot of kids that get talked about a lot more. I think the mystery still stands.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

As far as stacking up against his teammates, the 10 NHL scouts in the McKenzie poll seem to like him (7th) more (on average) than Zegras(10th) and Turcotte(11th).

I think you’re conflating your opinion with the consensus. You’re saying you’re not surprised he gets talked about less because you have him rated lower. That’s not what the consensus seems to be. As a result, I’m not really buying your reason for why he’s talked about less. The pros seem to have him higher than a lot of kids that get talked about a lot more. I think the mystery still stands.

Why would fans who form their own opinions be concerned with what NHL scouts think? NHL scouts were sure that Lawson Crouse was a top-level talent. Most fans disagreed. He might've been talked about more, but a lot of it was saying that the rankings didn't make sense, and he should be drafted lower. Some fans thought Pettersson had a 1OA resume and was the best player in his draft prior to the season. He got a lot of discussion amongst fans. The professionals ranked him 5th. Some of them prior to the draft didn't have him ranked high. Wasn't there some discussion on if he should be a first round pick?

Why should fans base their own opinions on what professional scouts think? Trying to say this is my opinion isn't even correct. I said that I have him ranked ahead of Caufield. I'm making the case why he doesn't get talked about as much. You asked why. Its lower statistical production and not as much of an overall style of play that leads to discussion.

 

[rt]

Why would fans who form their own opinions be concerned with what NHL scouts think? NHL scouts were sure that Lawson Crouse was a top-level talent. Most fans disagreed. He might've been talked about more, but a lot of it was saying that the rankings didn't make sense, and he should be drafted lower. Some fans thought Pettersson had a 1OA resume and was the best player in his draft prior to the season. He got a lot of discussion amongst fans. The professionals ranked him 5th. Some of them prior to the draft didn't have him ranked high. Wasn't there some discussion on if he should be a first round pick?

Why should fans base their own opinions on what professional scouts think? Trying to say this is my opinion isn't even correct. I said that I have him ranked ahead of Caufield. I'm making the case why he doesn't get talked about as much. You asked why. Its lower statistical production and not as much of an overall style of play that leads to discussion.

I think I wasn’t clear. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have your opinions or that they aren’t valid. I’m saying that given the consensus on Boldy, and the lack of red flags, I’m surprised he doesn’t generate more hype. That’s it. I don’t even actually have my own opinion on this player. I would definitely defer to you for any actual insight on the player. I’m speaking only about the lack of hype.

 

[Frk It]

You asked why. Its lower statistical production and not as much of an overall style of play that leads to discussion.

I think his size and skill set SHOULD be generating more discussion... but this is just a pretty stacked year for the US team at forward, so he is getting overlooked because of his teammates that all play center.

 

[kabidjan18]

Why would fans who form their own opinions be concerned with what NHL scouts think? NHL scouts were sure that Lawson Crouse was a top-level talent. Most fans disagreed. He might've been talked about more, but a lot of it was saying that the rankings didn't make sense, and he should be drafted lower. Some fans thought Pettersson had a 1OA resume and was the best player in his draft prior to the season. He got a lot of discussion amongst fans. The professionals ranked him 5th. Some of them prior to the draft didn't have him ranked high. Wasn't there some discussion on if he should be a first round pick?

Why should fans base their own opinions on what professional scouts think? Trying to say this is my opinion isn't even correct. I said that I have him ranked ahead of Caufield. I'm making the case why he doesn't get talked about as much. You asked why. Its lower statistical production and not as much of an overall style of play that leads to discussion.

Really? This type of argument again? My goodness. Would you adjust the doses of the medicines you take because "the doctors were once wrong, so why listen to them?"

Physicists are wrong sometimes. Doctors are wrong sometimes. We can point to the specific examples. There are a lot of them. At the end of the day, if you don't take what they say into account, you're pretty senseless. People hold up these tentpole cases of "when scouts failed", allegedly, debatably, etc. That anyone here would have counterfactually done better is a completely unsupported assertion. And these scouts have forgotten more about hockey than most people here have ever known.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

Am I the only one who thinks Boldy gets a bit overrated? He's a good player and could be a great complimentary winger in the NHL, but I don't see his upside being as high as some other guys. I don't have him in my top 10.

 

[rt]

Really? This type of argument again? My goodness. Would you adjust the doses of the medicines you take because "the doctors were once wrong, so why listen to them?"

Physicists are wrong sometimes. Doctors are wrong sometimes. We can point to the specific examples. There are a lot of them. At the end of the day, if you don't take what they say into account, you're pretty senseless. People hold up these tentpole cases of "when scouts failed", allegedly, debatably, etc. That anyone here would have counterfactually done better is a completely unsupported assertion. And these scouts have forgotten more about hockey than most people here have ever known.

Yeesh. Why be like this? He was respectful when he and I were arguing a bit.

 

[Dominance]

Am I the only one who thinks Boldy gets a bit overrated? He's a good player and could be a great complimentary winger in the NHL, but I don't see his upside being as high as some other guys. I don't have him in my top 10.

I’m a little confused by it as well. 43 points in 37 games as a top-6 player on “the best UNDP team of all time” (5.1 GPG per EP) isn’t impressive. Farabee had 76 in 62 last season (admittedly playing with Hughes) and went 14th on a pretty good team (4.5 GPG),right around or maybe slightly higher than most had him ranked. Norris had 61 in 61 on a weaker team (4.1 GPG) and went 19th, again slightly higher than most had him ranked. Both of these guys seem to me to be better skaters than Boldy, with similar puck skills and either comparable physical strength or superior two-way games.

Hopefully someone who watches him play a lot will enlighten me, but he definitely seems behind Hughes, Turcotte, Zegras (stats also inflated by playing with Hughes) and in the 15-25 range with Caufield.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I’m a little confused by it as well. 43 points in 37 games as a top-6 player on “the best UNDP team of all time” isn’t impressive. Farabee had 76 in 62 last season (admittedly playing with Hughes) and went 14th, right around or maybe slightly higher than most had him ranked. Norris had 61 in 61 on a far weaker team and went 19th, again slightly higher than most had him ranked. White had 54 in 54 on a weaker team and went 21st. All of these guys seem to me to be better skaters than Boldy, with similar puck skills and either comparable physical strength or superior two-way games.

Hopefully someone who watches him play a lot will enlighten me, but he definitely seems behind Hughes, Turcotte, Zegras (stats also inflated by playing with Hughes) and in the 15-25 range with Caufield.

I don't think Farabee, White or Norris are better skaters, nor have better puck skills. I think he has at least a tick or two higher offensive potential than all those players. Similar to those players, he will likely bring a well-rounded game, whether or not he hits his offensive ceiling, but I think the reason he is ranked higher than those players, despite the stats not being that great, as you mentioned, is due to having higher offensive potential.

 

[Dominance]

I don't think Farabee, White or Norris are better skaters, nor have better puck skills. I think he has at least a tick or two higher offensive potential than all those players. Similar to those players, he will likely bring a well-rounded game, whether or not he hits his offensive ceiling, but I think the reason he is ranked higher than those players, despite the stats not being that great, as you mentioned, is due to having higher offensive potential.

Alright, that makes sense. You’d only be able to understand that if you watched him play.

The same reasoning can be applied to a guy like Dach. It’s gotten to the point where his stats aren’t that impressive in a historical context, either, but watching him play the potential is obvious.

 

[Zaddy]

Really like this kid. Watching footage of him it's easy to see why the HockeyProspect guys are so high on him. Only people who have him ahead of Cozens I believe. Definitely an assessment I agree with. There's so much to like about Boldy. He's going to be a productive NHLer with his skillset.

 

[Nabrules]

US team has spread out the scoring recently, playing “4th” line with Beecher atm, so understandable if his scoring takes a bit of a hit.

 

[Steely Van]

Vancouver needs a lw for Pettersson and Boeser to play with. Is he a good fit for their style?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Vancouver needs a lw for Pettersson and Boeser to play with. Is he a good fit for their style?

He’s probably too much of a puck handler to play on the same line as Pettersson.