The Minnesota Wild have entered their championship window and with that comes the need for some financial gymnastics. The Wild will be adding Kirill Kaprizov’s contract on the books this year and they could have another massive deal coming if Quinn Hughes agrees to a contract extension that could pay him in the same neighborhood.
It’s a challenge the Edmonton Oilers have had to face with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the payroll and one the Wild must accept to win the Stanley Cup. But Minnesota has put itself in a strong position to maximize its championship window due in part to Matt Boldy’s contract.
The seven-year, $49 million pact feels like a steal and something that Wild fans may want to hang in the rafters of Grand Casino Arena someday. But even though Boldy was snubbed on a list of the best contracts in the NHL composed by The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn, his model paints great things moving forward and gives Minnesota something they can build around for the next few years.
Matt Boldy’s contract with Wild remains elite going into 2026-27 season
According to Luszczyszyn’s model, Boldy is making nearly half of what he should on the open market. The model values an average player at $4 million per season but adds somewhere between $400,000 to $600,000 per season for each goal a player scores above average depending on their positional value.
The average player in the NHL scores about 20 goals per season and if we take the middle ground and value each goal above average at $500,000, Boldy could command $15 million per season in the current market – over double than the $7 million annual average value that’s in his current contract.
Finding value is important for any team looking to win the Stanley Cup. But it’s even greater when doing so with a player like Boldy.
Since debuting for the Wild during the 2021-22 season, Boldy has scored 144 goals and added 329 points. Boldy ranks higher if you begin the stats during his first full season in the NHL during the 2022-23 campaign, ranking 29th in goals (129) and 34th in points (290).
With General Manager Bill Guerin claiming Boldy can someday be a player that records 50 goals and 50 assists in a single season, it’s a bargain even if he never hits those lofty marks. But it also allows the Wild more roster flexibility as they push for a championship.
Matt Boldy’s contract can help the Wild land their next superstar
If Hughes gets a deal similar to Kaprizov’s it could put the Wild in a bind. While the salary cap is increasing, the Wild need to find players around their core to fill the gaps. This is becoming increasingly harder as teams use their cap space to re-sign their core players, and as a result, teams have resorted to overpaying players that are available or hitting the trade market to find better values.
This will have teams calling for Boldy in the future, but it also allows the Wild to take a big swing as the salary cap increases. The immediate benefit could be acquiring Dylan Larkin, who is on a similar bargain at $8.7 million per season. But if a potential deal with the Red Wings falls through, it could put the Wild in play for Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews or even McDavid if they appear in the future.
The process that led to Boldy’s contract as well as Brock Faber’s could also be replicated down the road. Bobby Brink bet on himself to return to the Wild this offseason, but if he has a solid year, he could be the next player to cash in on a deal that returns value. Maxim Shabanov could also be in line for an extension if his one-year gamble pays off and it could help the Wild continue to bring in solid talent around them.
The bill for Boldy will eventually come due, but his contract expires after the 2029-30 season, so the Wild have a clear window to operate. That could mean keeping Hughes in Minnesota for the next few years, but it could also continue to keep talent coming to Minnesota and help them create a championship-caliber roster.
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