Wild Re-sign Forward To Huge Contract Extension

The Minnesota Wild have been at work trying to lock up one of their young stars before he pops off. They did just that when the team re-signed Matt Boldy to a seven-year, $7 million AAV contract starting next season. He was set to become a RFA after the season and is currently finishing up his entry-level contract that has a cap hit of $880,833.

Boldy burst onto the scene last season with 15 goals and 39 points in 47 games as a rookie. He really clicked with former teammate Kevin Fiala, but Boldy has regressed a bit without the point-per-game player on his line. He has spent time on both the second and third line this season to help with depth, but the Wild will continue to have issues with depth considering the buyout penalties for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter are only increasing for the next two seasons.

It was a smart move for general manager Bill Guerin to lock Boldy up early so that he knows where the team stands in terms of cap space heading into the summer. With over $6 million added to the cap next season due to this extension, that means there will be some subtractions from the roster. Someone like Matt Dumba is definitely gone by the summer.

Boldy is just 21 years old and doesn't appear to have come close to his potential yet, but the Wild are also taking gamble on a young player who hasn't played 100 regular season games yet. He will be a top-six player for the Wild for a long time and this contract is setting up to be very good down the line when the Wild hope to become real Stanley Cup contenders.