So imagine Matt Boldy representing the Rangers and not the Wild when the 23-year-old winger skates for Team USA in the upcoming Four Nations tournament.
We’re told that’s the might-have-been if the Rangers had remained in the six-hole following the 2019 draft lottery instead of moving up to second overall, where Kaapo Kakko had become the overwhelming consensus pick after dominant performances in both the World Junior and World Championships.
Moritz Seider was still on the board at No. 6, and so was Dylan Cozens, with the defenseman and center going 6 and 7, respectively, to Detroit and Buffalo. Boldy, then an entering freshman at Boston College after playing for the USNTDP, had been ranked ninth among North American skaters by Central Scouting. He was selected at No. 12 by Minnesota.
But we’re told that the Rangers’ personnel people were all-in on Boldy, and that if the ping-pong balls had bounced a different way, GM Jeff Gorton would have calling out the Massachusetts’ native’s name and not the one of the lad from Turku.
