Four games into the 2026-27 season, the numbers around Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek look a little odd on the surface. Boldy still hasn’t put up a point.
Eriksson Ek is still waiting on his first goal. But inside the Minnesota Wild locker room, there’s no panic button getting slapped just yet.
Wild coach John Hynes said he isn’t reading the slow starts as a sign that either forward is off track.
“We’re not saying they’re missing in action,” Hynes said. “We’re saying they’re doing the things to be able to produce. It’s not going in for them.”
That’s the crux of it for Minnesota after last night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, which dropped the Wild to 2-1-1 overall and 0-1-1 on their first road trip of the season. The offense hasn’t fully clicked for two of the team’s biggest names, but the process, at least in Hynes’ view, is where it needs to be.
Boldy, 25, has become one of Minnesota’s most dangerous attacking players because of the way he blends skill, shooting ability and offensive instinct. He knows the start hasn’t been what he wants.
"Yeah, you want to score. It is what it is," Boldy said about not having a goal or point to start the season.
"Can't go back in time and change these games. Just have to get ready for the next one and try to make a difference."
Eriksson Ek’s value comes in a different form. The 29-year-old works the front of the net, creates traffic and opens the door for second-chance chances, all of it a major part of Minnesota’s offensive identity.
That’s why Hynes is staying patient. He pointed to both players’ track records and the way they’re currently playing as reasons not to overreact to a four-game sample.
“These guys are too good of players, and they play the game the right way,” Hynes said. “With those two guys in particular, with the way they play and the opportunities they’ve had as of late, you’ve got to stay with it.”
Minnesota doesn’t need a new version of either player. It just needs the puck to start going in. Four games is a tiny slice of an 84-game season, but the Wild would love to get two of their core offensive pieces moving sooner rather than later.
For Boldy, that means landing on the scoresheet for the first time. For Eriksson Ek, it means finally breaking through in the goal column.
Hynes’ message is simple: the work is there already. Now the results have to show up.
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Stars Close The Book On A Recent Roster Move With Dumba Done
Mathew Dumbas long run through the NHL has reached its conclusion, closing the book on a career that began with plenty of promise in Minnesota and stretched across five organizations. The defenseman, once a first-round pick by the Wild, carved out a steady 13-season career that took him from the Upper Midwest to Arizona, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Pittsburgh, leaving behind a reputation as a durable blue-liner with a real offensive touch.
For Wild fans, Dumba will always be tied to the start of that journey, when he arrived as the No. 7 overall pick in 2012 and became part of the franchises defensive core. He finished with 85 goals and 261 points in 748 games, a career total that reflects both longevity and versatility, even as the final chapter is now closed in a way that brings a familiar name fully back into the teams recent history. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Suddenly Have A New Forward In The Mix For Next Game
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For Minnesota, the timing is tied to a familiar kind of early-season depth question, with Nick Foligno moving to injured reserve because of an upper-body injury. Lorenz now gets a chance to show where he fits in the mix, and the Wild will be watching closely to see how his pace and confidence translate to the NHL level after his work in Iowa. [Read more 🡒]
Bill Guerins Next Aggressive Move Could Complicate The Wild Fast
The buzz around Bill Guerins next move has picked up enough that it could start to hang over the Wilds day-to-day at a tricky point in the season. Minnesota has reportedly been in discussions with Detroit management, and the Red Wings have had interim GM Shawn Horcoff and assistant GM Kris Draper at Wild games, a sign that the conversations may be more than casual background noise. For a team trying to keep its focus on the ice, that kind of attention can become its own subplot, especially with the salary cap always lurking in the margins.
The possibility of a deal also brings a familiar kind of tension for Guerin, who has never been shy about making aggressive moves when he thinks the fit is right. Any serious trade talk with Detroit would have to account for player movement and the cap picture, which makes the path forward more complicated than just identifying a target and striking a bargain. For Minnesota, the bigger question now is whether this kind of pursuit helps the roster in the short term or creates a new layer of uncertainty before anything is actually finished. [Read more 🡒]