MATT BOLDY LOVES playing hockey in Minnesota. The way the community supports the sport at all levels. The thousands of fans who watch the Minnesota Wild in warm-ups. And, if he’s being honest, the level of celebrity an NHL player can attain after just 47 games in the show.
“It’s crazy. Everyone’s a huge fan,” the 21-year-old told ESPN. “Can’t really go anywhere without getting recognized, which is pretty cool in a lot of ways.”
Of course, scoring 39 points in those 47 games can get one noticed. Being the rookie who helped power the Wild to their most successful regular season in franchise history will earn that recognition.
Marco Rossi watched from afar as Boldy, who was his linemate with the AHL Iowa Wild, lived the NHL dream. They’re both first-round draft picks and among the best young forward prospects in the league. Boldy was called up to contribute to the Wild while Rossi was getting his reps in the AHL, one year after COVID-19 complications nearly derailed his career.
Was it inspiring? Like, if Boldy could do that in the NHL, could Rossi do that?
“Yeah, of course,” Rossi said with a laugh. “But I don’t really like to focus too much about that.”
Rossi, 20, played two games with the Wild last season and hopes to play many more.
“Every hockey player dreams, like since day one, to play hockey one day in the NHL. That’s the best league in the world,” Rossi said. “It would mean a lot for me, but I know nobody’s gonna give it to me. You have to earn that spot.”
Boldy and Rossi are part of the wave of young players who have populated the Minnesota roster in recent seasons. Joel Eriksson Ek is 26. Jordan Greenway is 25. So is Kirill Kaprizov, the franchise’s biggest star and the face of that youth movement. One of the catalysts for the Wild’s recent success is striking that balance every NHL team seeks to strike: Talented kids meshing with productive veterans such as Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman and the majority of their defense corps.
“We’ve got a good balance. I think part of the beauty of it is that the older guys embrace the youth,” general manager Bill Guerin said. “They’re excited to have Boldy on the team. They’re excited about Marco. They’re excited to see Greenway and Ek take steps in their careers. They’re not threatened by them at all. They want them to be good and they help them. They just want to win. And they realize we all need each other to do that.”
Now it’s up to Boldy and Rossi to reward that excitement.
DID BOLDY OUTPERFORM Guerin’s expectations last season?
“One hundred percent,” the Wild GM said with a laugh.
Boldy was drafted 12th overall in 2019 as a highly skilled winger from the U.S. National Team Development Program. It was a banner year for that program, which produced Boldy, first overall pick Jack Hughes, Trevor Zegras and Cole Caufield, among others in that draft class.
He spent two seasons at Boston College, earning a spot in the final 10 for the Hobey Baker Award as a sophomore. He joined the Wild organization in March 2021 and was hyped as being part of that young wave of talented forwards set to power the roster.
“It’s so cool, honestly, just to be considered in that category with Kirill, watching him every day,” Boldy said. “You look up to those guys. You want to be as good as Kirill. You soak up everything they have to say. But you gotta go out there and earn that. It’s about going up there and earning your way into that spot.”
Last season, Boldy earned a valuable spot in the Wild lineup: playing the vast majority of his minutes with Kevin Fiala, the forward who posted 33 goals and 85 points. He won’t have the same luxury this season. Fiala was traded to the Los Angeles Kings; his next contract was going to be too rich for the Wild’s salary-cap situation.
“Kev’s awesome. I mean, I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t a little bit disappointed seeing him go,” Boldy said. “I get it. There’s a lot of business to hockey too. But he’s an awesome player. He’s an awesome teammate. So it’s tough to see him go, but that’s kind of the nature of the game. You gotta find different ways to score and build chemistry with different players. And we got plenty of players on our team that are really good and that can hopefully make me a better player.”
Guerin scoffed at the idea that Boldy might be negatively impacted by Fiala’s departure.
“I’m not worried at all. Kevin’s a good player,” Guerin said. “Look, I’m sure that Colorado would love to have [Nazem] Kadri back. I’m sure Calgary wanted [Johnny] Gaudreau and [Matthew] Tkachuk back. You lose good players. That’s what happens.
“Matt Boldy’s going to be fine. As much as Kevin helped him, he helped Kevin.”
What Guerin is more concerned about is how Boldy adjusts to his opponents’ adjustments.
“The thing about these second-year players is that you’re not a secret anymore. Everyone knows how good you are,” Guerin said. “A veteran defenseman knows that if he doesn’t play Matt Boldy hard, he’s going to get burned. Sometimes that takes a second for a second-year forward to learn. It’s like, ‘Hey, these guys are playing me differently.’ And it’s like, yeah, because you’re good.”
MARCO ROSSI DOESN’T want to be defined by COVID-19. That much is clear.
“We don’t try to think too much about what happened like last year,” he said. “I focus and think more in the future than the past right now.”
Rossi left Wild training camp in February 2021 because of complications from COVID-19, for which he had tested positive the previous November. Rossi was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. He returned to Austria to recover with family and resumed training in June 2021. He played 63 games in the AHL along with his brief stint with the Wild in January.
“The hardest part was to stay patient. It’s not gonna be done in two weeks or something like that,” he said. “After the recovery time, you gotta come back to training and try to get better and that’s not easy.”
Rossi said that in the beginning of his comeback, he worried too much about his heart. Was it really healthy? He’d feel something in his chest during training and worry. It took a while for him to fully believe that he was 100 percent as the doctors were telling him.
“Health-wise, it was a scare. But he’s come back from it. He’s healthy,” Guerin said.
Rossi was drafted No. 9 overall in 2020 by the Wild as a dynamic offensive center for the OHL Ottawa 67’s. Born in Austria, Rossi remembers navigating through some cultural differences in North America. Like, for example, the affinity for one of his favorite sports.
“Three years ago, I was talking in Ottawa that I like to watch Formula One,” he recalled. “Not many guys knew what that really was or how it worked.”
Things change.
“They promote it so good right now,” Rossi said. “I mean, with the Netflix show, it’s now something that so many people watch.”
Rossi has his engine primed for the NHL but doesn’t know if he’s in the race yet. The expectation is that he’ll make the leap to the main roster, but both Guerin and Rossi said that’s contingent on a strong training camp.
“I think he’ll do very well. He’s a smart kid. He analyzes where he’s at. There’s no secret to his work ethic and his competitiveness,” Guerin said. “I think his game will transition well, but he has to do it right off the hop. He has gotta come in and prove himself.”
Boldy, his friend and potential linemate, thinks he will.
“He can play,” Boldy said, laughing. “I think he’s just a really, really good skater. Really good on his edges. He’s got a lot of speed. He’s smart and scores goals. He can pass. He’s kind of got it all. He’s definitely got every tool that you need to be successful.”
The Wild have the tools now, too, thanks to this balance between established talents and emerging ones such as Boldy and Rossi.
“It’s really good. It’s a good mix between us,” Rossi said. “Because like the younger kids can learn a lot from the older guys and even like the older guys can learn a lot from the young guys. You can see everyone likes each other. That helps a team to push it all the way to the end.”
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — The New York Islanders fired goaltending coach Piero Greco, making the change at an unorthodox time just six games into his seventh season with the team and after winning three in a row.
General manager Mathieu Darche announced the abrupt decision Wednesday to part ways with Greco and promote Sergei Naumovs from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. Naumovs, who is Latvian, has been in Bridgeport since May 2024 but has an extensive history coaching franchise goalie Ilya Sorokin going back to their time together with CSKA Moscow in the KHL from 2018 to 2020.
Sorokin’s 3.90 goals-against average is second worst and his .873 save percentage ranks fourth worst in the NHL among netminders who have appeared in at least four games.
“Piero has done a great job for the organization for the last seven years,” Darche said. “We just felt at this time it was the right timing to have a reset with our goalies.”
Darche said he did not seek input from Sorokin, who is in the second year of a $66 million contract that runs through 2032.
“It’s my decision — it’s not on the player,” Darche said. “I know he’s had success with Sergei, and that’s where we went. It’s 100% my decision, and the goalie had nothing to do with it.”
In other Islanders news, injured forward Pierre Engvall had ankle surgery and is expected to miss the entire season, or roughly five to six months, according to Darche, who said goaltender Semyon Varlamov continues to progress toward a return from knee surgery.
With some other players banged up and salary cap space at a premium, the Islanders put forward Marc Gatcomb on waivers. The 26-year-old had dressed in only one game so far this season.
BOSTON — The Little Ball of Hate still feels a lot of love for Boston.
Brad Marchand struggled to hold back tears on the ice when the TD Garden crowd gave him a standing ovation Tuesday night during his first game back as a Bruins opponent. The 37-year-old forward tapped his heart, wiped his face and waved to the crowd as both teams banged their sticks against the ice and even the referee and linesmen clapped.
“I knew it was going to hit me the way it did. It was extremely touching,” Marchand said after the game, a 4-3 Panthers victory in which he had two assists. “The Bruins will always hold a very, very dear place in my heart.”
The last remaining member of Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup-winning team, Marchand was traded from the noncontending Bruins to the Panthers last season for another chance at a title. He helped Florida complete its pursuit of back-to-back championships, while Boston plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
“I left and I turned the page and I found something truly special again that I’m very, very proud and blessed to be part of. And I chose to be part of again,” said Marchand, who re-signed with the Panthers in the offseason to a six-year deal worth about $32 million.
“I built something really special with every guy on this team last year, with winning. You build a bond that will last a lifetime. So I try not to show any disrespect in that way, as if I’m not grateful, because I am.
“But I’ve been here for several months. I’ve been in Boston for 15 years,” he said. “When you go from being a kid, with a dream, and then you grow up and you have a family, you become a man and you build an entire life in a city, it’s just different. Of course, it’ll always be in my heart and always be a special place.”
Marchand got his first taste of the welcome he would receive when the crowd cheered him off the ice after the pregame warmups, as the DJ played a mashup of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The former Bruins captain responded with a stick salute as he headed off via the visitors bench.
Fans wearing Marchand’s Boston and Florida No. 63 jerseys cheered again during introductions, then booed when he drew a tripping penalty just 33 seconds into the game. “I knew it wouldn’t take long,” he said with a chuckle.
There was a mixed reaction when the Panthers scored on the power play — a goal that first appeared to be Marchand’s but was credited to Mackie Samoskevich; Marchand picked up his first assist.
But things got really emotional during the first commercial break, midway through the first period, when the scoreboard showed a highlight reel from Marchand’s time in Boston — including shots of him being anointed with the captain’s “C” that he wore for a little more than one full season. It ended with a picture of him holding the Stanley Cup and the message, “Welcome back, Marchy.”
Marchand circled in front of the Panthers bench, waving to the fans and holding his heart. His face betrayed his emotions as he took his place on the bench, still on the verge of breaking down, and the crowd chanted his name.
“Those tears are real,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said during an in-game television interview. “He just wears his heart on his sleeve. He had so many great moments here, won a Stanley Cup here. He’ll always be a Bruin at heart.”
Marchand said he was able to mostly hold it together until his kids were shown on the scoreboard.
“It kind of hit like a ton of bricks,” he said. “The careers go by fast. It doesn’t matter how long you’re in, it goes by extremely fast. And to see a snapshot of that, it brings everything back. The amount of pride that I have that I played here and was part of this organization, I just couldn’t hold it in.”
The focus soon returned to hockey, with the Panthers taking a 2-0 lead in the second period. Marchand picked up a hooking penalty, drawing cheers from the crowd, and assisted on the goal that gave Florida a 3-2 lead with 1:31 left.
The Bruins tied it again before Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers up for good with 27 seconds to play.
But the lasting memories will be of Marchand.
“He had so many good memories in this building, and he’s been a part of this franchise for so long. So it’s just good, kind of sit back and be a part of history a little bit,” Verhaeghe said. “He’s such a great guy and we’re so lucky to have him. I can only imagine what he meant to the city and to the fans.”
A four-time All-Star who had 422 goals and 554 assists in 16 seasons in Boston, Marchand remains in the Bruins’ top 10 for goals, assists, short-handed goals, overtime goals, playoff goals and points. His 1,090 games played is fourth in team history, one spot ahead of Don Sweeney, the general manager who dealt him to Florida at the trade deadline.
Marchand did play in the TD Garden as a visitor in February when he suited up for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off; although he was still a member of the Bruins, the Boston fans booed him during a time of heightened geopolitical animosity between the U.S. and Canada.
He was traded to Florida a few weeks later as Boston began a rebuild. But when the Panthers visited for the Bruins’ first home game after the trade deadline, Marchand was injured and skated on the Garden ice only during practice.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former University of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron, who helped lead the team to back-to-back national championships, announced Thursday that he is running for lieutenant governor of Alabama.
McCarron made the announcement in a video posted to YouTube on Thursday. McCarron, a first-time candidate, described himself as a political outsider. He cited conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September, as his inspiration to “get off the sidelines.” McCarron, who is running as a Republican, also stressed his 2016 endorsement of President Donald Trump.
“Today, Alabama’s conservative and cultural values are under attack from every direction. That’s why Charlie Kirk’s assassination affected so many of us so deeply,” McCarron said in the video.
McCarron is seeking to be the latest figure to channel sports fame into a political win. Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020 and is running for governor of Alabama. Former Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl had considered a run for Senate but decided against it.
“The Montgomery insiders and career politicians have had their chance. It’s time for political newcomers and outsider candidates like me to lead the battle,” McCarron said.
McCarron joins a crowded GOP field that includes Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, pastor Dean Odle and businessperson Nicole Jones Wadsworth.
McCarron was the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback and led the team to national championship wins in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. He was a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy and went on to play for the Cincinnati Bengals and other NFL teams.
