Tonight is the night Wild fans have been waiting for as their two prized prospects Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy will be making their NHL debuts as the Wild faceoff against the Bruins at TD Garden in Boston.
With the Wild on a five game losing skid and the injury and COVID-19 bug taking it's toll in the roster, the time is right to elevate the kids. Rossi, the 9th overall pick in 2020 and Boldy the 12th overall selection in 2019 played well in preseason, but both were sent down to Iowa to start the season. The plan was to allow them to mature while getting all the prime ice at the AHL level. In addition with the Wild's cap situation the next three seasons the plan really is to have Rossi play less than 10 games this season to push his 3-year entry level contract back a year.
Both Rossi and Boldy have earned their call ups with strong play in Iowa. Rossi leads the Iowa Wild with 23 points in 21 games and Boldy has 10 points in his 10 games played following his return from a broken ankle suffered in the final preseason game with the big club.
Connor Dewar will also be in the lineup tonight as Nick Bjugstad was injured in practice after taking a slash from Mats Zuccarello, accidentally of course but the the result is Bjufstad joins the growing list of injured Wild players. Jared Spurgeon, Joel Eriksson Ek, Cam Talbot, and now Bjugstad are all on the shelf due to injury, and Jordan Greenway is in Covid-19 protocol.
Some great news for the Wild is the return of Jonas Brodin who was forced to miss the Winter Classic with Covid-19. Brodin is the Wild's best defenceman and one of the NHL's very best as well. He does not get his due from the national media because he does not put up the high offensive numbers but you can count on it, every other team in the NHL respects just how great Brodin really is and what his presence in the Wild lineup means.
Kaapo Kahkonen will get the start of course with Talbot out, and if you recall last season when KK was called on to man the Wild crease in Talbot's two extended absences, he played outstanding. This could serve as a boost for both Kahkonen and for Talbot as the latter had struggled of late and the former has not gotten much game action due to all of the postponements the Wild have had over the last month.
Tonight will be must see TV for Wild fans as they get a glimpse of the future at least for a game or two. Most likely Rossi and or Boldy will be sent back down once the Wild regulars start to return to health. But for now they will be put into key positions in the lineup and both will play on the powerplay.
Rossi will center Kevin Fiala (3 goals in last 2 games) and Marcus Foligno and will play the point on the top powerplay unit with Alex Goligoski manning the other point position. Boldy will play with Freddie Gaudreau and Brandon Duhaime and slot onto the second PP unit along with Gaudreau and Foligno up front and Fiala and Matt Dumba on the points.
Dean Evason has said that he is not putting pressure on the kids but all the same he is placing both players on the PP units because the Wild powerplay has been awful ranking 25th in the league. These guys are scorers and can help and that is why they are being given the opportunity.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!