Matt Boldy practicing, may play this weekend with Iowa

Minnesota Wild head coach had some good news for the assembled reporters at Xcel Energy Center prior to tonight’s game: first-round prospect Matt Boldy could make his regular season debut with the Iowa Wild as soon as this weekend, returning six weeks after sustaining a lower-body injury in the preseason.

Ladies and gentleman of the Minnesota Wild fandom... it’s happening. Maybe.

At least, that’s what Evason said he was told.

Boldy has spent the last week or so in Des Moines practicing in a non-contact jersey, but this week he’ll be donning the regular full-contact garb. The Iowa Wild have a two-game set with the Tuscon Roadrunners this weekend. Should he get the green light to suit up for Friday’s series opener, it will mark a day more than six weeks since he fractured his left ankle in a preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks back on October 7th. The original timeline for recovery and rehab was four to six weeks.

Coming off a strong training camp, Boldy was undoubtably in the running for one of the starting spots that eventually went to Brandon Duhaime, who has been solid in a fourth-line role for the Wild this season, and waiver aquisition Rem Pitlick, who scored his first, second and third career goals against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

With his timeframe set back a bit and likely needing some time to get up to speed, along with the Wild currently leading the Central division with their current roster, Boldy can plan on spending a good amount of time in Iowa getting back up to full game speed. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the 2019 12th overall pick see at least some ice time eventually this season, either in replacement for Duhaime or as an injury call-up, but more likely than not the Wild will want to take their time with Boldy, seasoning him in the AHL before giving him a bigger role when the cap gets tight over the next couple years.

But that’s a worry for another day. For now, it would be great to see him back on the ice at Wells Fargo Arena playing competitive hockey...