Wild must improve penalty kill and Matt Boldy could help ... eventually

The Wild’s plan to improve their beleaguered penalty kill includes recruiting one of their top scorers in Matt Boldy to the cause, the thought being Boldy’s size and smarts will help neutralize like-minded power plays.

But Boldy’s orientation has hit a snag: The winger is dealing with a lower-body injury that isn’t expected to sideline him for the start of the season but will still keep him out week to week.

After wrapping up their preseason schedule Oct. 4 at Chicago, the Wild’s first game is Oct. 10 vs. Columbus.

“It’s not a major thing, but it kind of popped up,” said coach John Hynes, who learned of Boldy’s issue after Boldy practiced Saturday. Boldy wasn’t in the lineup for the team’s preseason game that night in Winnipeg, and the team was off Sunday.

“It’s just a little breather here for him, and then things should be fine.”

Boldy, 23, is coming off what Hynes called “a really good summer” that included playing for Hynes and the United States at the World Championship.

Although the U.S. didn’t medal after getting ousted in the quarterfinals by eventual winner Czechia, Boldy led the tournament in scoring with 14 points (six goals) to continue his turnaround after a slow start to the season. The winger finished with 29 goals and added 40 assists despite scoring only once in his first 12 games.

Hynes also used Boldy on the penalty kill at the Worlds, a preview of the Wild’s intention.

“It’s something I’d love to be a part of and try to help the team there if I can,” Boldy said after Saturday’s session, mentioning he’d killed penalties at the World Junior Championship, for Boston College and with the USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

His injury, though, likely prevents him from cracking a unit at the beginning of the season since Hynes wants Boldy to get on-ice reps once he is healthy.

Still, Boldy sat in on the PK meeting on Monday despite not practicing, and his appeal makes sense.

“He’s got reach. He’s got good edges. He can skate,” Hynes said. “He’s obviously a dynamic guy on the power play. Sometimes when you have guys like that on the penalty kill, their instincts and their reads are usually pretty good.”

After a putrid display by the penalty kill that included giving up a franchise-record five power-play goals in a game and at one point having a lower efficiency than the worst PK in NHL history, the Wild are going back to the drawing board.

Jobs on the PK are up for grabs, and new associate coach Jack Capuano — who will helm the PK with assistant Patrick Dwyer — has stressed denying entries, recovering loose pucks and getting clears off faceoffs after the Wild struggled with retrievals and 50-50 battles and allowed too many chances right in front of their net.

At 74.5%, they ended up 30th in the NHL.

“We had no jam, no confidence in it,” defenseman Jake Middleton said. “We had that swagger for a little bit, right when the new staff came in. We went 10 games or something, and then we kind of were a shell of ourselves again after that.”

As much as the coaches are teaching strategy, the Wild also need more competitiveness to execute.

Being in the right spot is one thing, but making an impact there is another.

“There’s $45 million on the ice. They’re going to get a chance,” Capuano said of the opposing power play. “Every unit is real. Doesn’t matter if you’re playing a top team or a young team. They’re skilled players. They’re going to get chances, but how do we recover from those chances and how quick can we recover from those chances?

“There’s a little bit of method to the madness. There’s a couple more points this year that we might emphasize to the guys to give them the confidence to go out and kill a penalty.”