NHL Top 20 Wings Revealed: Boldy Leaps 13 Spots to No. 6

Matt Boldy moved up 13 spots in a single year.

NHL Network revealed its Top 20 Wings Right Now list Sunday night, the opening installment of a nine-part series, and the Minnesota winger landed at No. 6 after sitting 19th on last summer’s version. Tom Gulitti of NHL.com had tabbed Boldy as the biggest riser before the show aired. The voting panel of Network staff, media and NHL.com writers took him even higher than that.

Boldy earned the jump. He set career highs with 42 goals, 85 points and a plus-18 rating in 76 games, then scored six minutes into Team USA’s 2-1 overtime win against Canada in the Olympic gold medal game.

His seven goals in 11 playoff games also led the Wild.

Nikita Kucherov held No. 1 for another year, which was the expected outcome all week. The Lightning winger put up 130 points and 44 goals last season and collected the second Hart Trophy of his career.

David Pastrnak stayed second and Kirill Kaprizov stayed third. The only shuffle inside the top five came right behind them, where Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen swapped spots. Marner moved to fourth after a 29-point playoff run and the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history.

Cole Caufield cracked the group for the first time at No. 9. He scored 50 goals, finished with 88 points and won the Lady Byng Trophy.

Jason Robertson made the other big move, climbing from 16th to seventh after a 96-point season in Dallas. William Nylander went the other way, sliding from sixth to 10th.

The Tkachuk brothers both made it, and for the first time they did it as teammates. Matthew came in at No. 8 and Brady at No. 18 following his June trade from Ottawa to Florida.

Martin Necas (15), Cutter Gauthier (19) and Lucas Raymond (20) also joined the list. Adrian Kempe, Filip Forsberg and Jesper Bratt all fell off after making last year’s 20.

Here is the full ranking:

Eight more installments are still to come in the series, so the centers, defensemen and goalies all get their turn before camps open.