The future is now: Boldy, Rossi set to make NHL debuts Thursday night

ST. PAUL -- Needing some new life and an injection of fresh energy, the Wild recalled arguably its two top prospects on Tuesday morning, as 2019 and 2020 First Round selections Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi arrived on the NHL scene.
Each player will make their debuts in the league on Thursday night when the Wild plays the Boston Bruins at T.D. Garden.
For Boldy, the debut will come just a few miles from his hometown of Millis, Mass., and even fewer from the campus of Boston College, where he played college hockey.

Boldy said he's expecting a number of people in the crowd, including both parents, his stepmom, his grandma, brothers, half brother, half sister and step brothers.
"That'll be awesome. Just adds another element to it, having all my friends and family there,. We'll have a good crew," Boldy said. "Just having the opportunity to have more people there to see it makes it even more special.
"It's going to be a cool night for sure, and to do it in Boston is even cooler."

Boldy said he grew up a Bruins fan, but only went to a few games at the Garden growing up. But that's not to say Boldy won't feel a little extra sense of comfort in his surroundings.
"Went to a handful [of Bruins games], obviously, growing up in the area. But went to a lot of college games, a lot of the Beanpot games" Boldy said. "So I have been inside that arena quite a bit."
Still, walking out of that tunnel and seeing the black and gold jerseys with the 'B' on the crest will be a little surreal for a kid from Massachusetts.
"I think my parents are more excited than I am," Boldy said. "It'll be cool to be out there, just being around more friends and more family."
When healthy, Boldy has been a force at the American Hockey League level. scoring four goals and 10 points in 10 games this season. After arriving from the college ranks late last season, Boldy scored six goals and had 18 points in 14 games played.
The 20-year-old Boldy made a strong push to make the NHL roster out of training camp, but sustained a lower-body injury late in the final preseason game in Chicago that forced him to miss the first month of the season.
He battled through another unrelated multi-week injury a couple of weeks after returning, but has since regained full health.
Boldy has three assists in three games in his latest return.
Rossi's recall to the NHL means he'll be recalling a couple of family members back from Europe who just left earlier this week after a holiday visit. His mom and dad just left Iowa on New Year's Day to head back to Austria, but they'll pack a couple of new bags and hop on a plane back to the East Coast in time for Thursday's game.
Like Boldy, Rossi has been in and out of the Iowa lineup, first with non-COVID illness, then with a neck injury. That hasn't slowed his on-ice production, as Rossi leads Iowa with 23 points in 21 games played. That total ranks tied for 15th in the AHL in overall scoring and tied for fourth among all AHL rookies.
Rossi said he hasn't been waiting for the call-up to the big club, was sure was excited to get it when he got the news from Iowa coach Tim Army in Winnipeg on Monday, where the Iowa Wild are prepping to play the Manitoba Moose tonight.

"I wasn't waiting for it because if I was always waiting and looking at my phone, then it would take a long time," Rossi said. "So I wasn't really thinking about Minnesota, I was just thinking Iowa. And that's the best thing to do because you're not thinking much about it."
In fact, Rossi said the time in the minors makes him more prepared for sustained success at the NHL level.
"I feel more ready because I now have 20 more games in me," he said.
Both players will jump right into the fire, per se, as each received time on the power play during practice on Tuesday. Evason is hopeful the injection of fresh perspectives can kick start a Wild man advantage that has struggled to gain traction all season.
"They're both going to get opportunities, not because we're giving them an opportunity, [but] because our power play has sucked," Evason said. "They're power-play guys, so they should be put in that position to have success ... clearly, for them but most and more importantly for us.
"We're not putting them there just to see if they can play. We're putting them there to score goals."
Rossi skated on a regular line between Kevin Fiala and Marcus Foligno, then saw time on the top power play unit with the likes of Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman, Kirill Kaprizov and Alex Goligoski.
Boldy skated with Freddy Gaudreau and both Rem Pitlick and Brandon Duhaime during time, then was on the second power play with Fiala, Foligno, Gaudreau and Matt Dumba.

"We're looking forward to having them in there," Evason said. "We're not expecting them to lead our hockey club into the promise land, but we do want them to come in and do exactly how the Minnesota Wild play with grit, determination, heart and a skill set as well."
In addition to Boldy and Rossi, Evason said the Wild will play Connor Dewar in the game on Thursday and the club will see the return of defenseman Jonas Brodin after he missed the Winter Classic on the COVID-19 protocol list.
"Things haven't gone well, obviously, as of late and we thought as a group that we needed an energy boost," Evason said. "Obviously Brods is back. But we're excited to get some new jump.
"We certainly had it in practice, but practice is practice. We liked our business-like attitude the last two days and getting some new blood in there feels real good."
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