The Minnesota Wild have announced they have signed exciting young forward Matt Boldy to a seven-year, $49 million contract extension.
Starting off the week with a BOLD statement 😤
🗞 https://t.co/Vdo4kj9zWq#mnwild pic.twitter.com/XCzpH1exBT
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 16, 2023
Boldy’s new contract carries a salary cap hit of $7 million a season.
#mnwild announce Matt Boldy extension: 7 x $7 million.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 16, 2023
His new deal begins in the 2023-24 season and runs through the 2029-30 season. In addition, in the final two years of his deal there is limited no-trade protection.
There’s no-trade protection in final two years of Matt Boldy seven-year deal (a 10-team no trade list). #MnWild https://t.co/5ockHQdB9K
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) January 16, 2023
The 12th overall selection of the 2019 NHL Draft, who debuted during the 21-22 season made an immediate impact with 39 points in 47 games. This season the 21-year-old has continued his stellar play for the Wild.
Through 89 career games, Moldy has accumulated 68 points (27 goals and 41 assists). Through 42 games this season with the Wild Boldy has 29 points (12 goals and 17 assists) including five power-play goals and 15 power-play points.
What makes this deal so good is that Matt Boldy has yet to show his full potential which makes his salary a steal in a few years.
Matt Boldy's market value is already $7 million, and he hasn't even peaked yet in Minnesota. The Wild going 7×7 this early into the winger's career should pay off pic.twitter.com/FQJQczLlOv
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) January 16, 2023
On Sunday, things between Boldy and the Minnesota Wild started to heat up as Kevin Weekes reported.
**Keep eye 👁️ on**
I’m told @mnwild and F Boldy are making some ground on a potential new contract. The situation remains fluid.@espn @NHL @NHLNetwork @TSNHockey @DKSportsbook #HockeyTwitter— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) January 16, 2023
But nobody knew how quickly things were going to develop between general manager Bill Guerin and the young forward. However, like with every signing in the NHL, there is always a plan behind it.
Joe Smith of the Athletic: Boldy was set to be a restricted free agent this summer, and the Wild wanted to get his deal done first to see how much cap room they’d have left for several others. With Boldy at $7 million AAV, that leaves around $9 million left for Filip Gustavsson, Sam Steel, Calen Addison, Mason Shaw, Brandon Duhaime, plus UFAs like Freddy Gaudreau. It also likely means the Wild could make a deal or two to clear space.
Do not forget since Guerin bought out the contracts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, the Wild have less cap space than others. Minnesota has $14 million in dead cap space for those two players.
They still have some tough decisions moving forward, but having Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson-Ek, and Boldy locked up on offence gives the Wild a good starting point moving forward.