So the more that I am reading about Boltmann and trying to read between the lines, he is a RHS RD that is a defensive dman type player. He's played a few other sports including QB in football. He is mentioned as high tenacity type of dman who likes to get in the muck. With his football background, he shouldn't shy from contact and his hip check might be a tool that he will utilize a lot.
Watching clips of his older brother Brock Boltmann and looking at his parents, he does seem like he is going to have high twitch muscles and he will be reasonable sized and might develop to be a slightly stockier player. Curt Giles was his coach and likely the style he imitates, but somehow Jake Sanderson's name popped up as a comparable too. This seems weird and out of place. Of the Minnesota guys, the guys taken before him were all smooth skaters and then somehow there is a comment that basically hints that Boltmann isn't too far off from these guys who are being compared to guys like McDonagh and Niskanen.
Minnesota's best heading into NHL draft
There's also seemingly hints that while he's obviously a tier below some higher profile player's he's doing so in a manner where he's still able to hang in the same range as these guys while being younger and undoubtedly raw. Bizarrely, it seems like many scouts have seen a bit of him, admit he's not bad, but basically have nothing good nor bad to say about him. He's somehow a known player who is extremely invisible as a dman. How often do we say that a dman that you don't really notice is a good one? This is kinda like what it feels like some of the scouting commentary is on Boltmann while his stats are horrifically unassuming. There could be something there if he's somehow reasonably invisible.
Another curiosity is that his father is basically a football coach. Perhaps there is also a little bit of a gamble in that if Covid shut down lots of the training facilities, he, through his father and brother could still develop good athletic skills and continue developing more than some of the other prospects out there while some others might stall? There's also a few Minnesota products that surprised relative to draft position.
If I had to guess though, there's something about what Boltmann that leans towards a Tanev type. A potential long shot elite speedy shutdown type which in theory will help to vastly round out the offensive minded guys we have coming down the pipeline (ie: RD Boltmann vs Kinnvall and LD Kuznetsov vs RD Poirier). It also feels a little bit like 2015 in taking Andersson over Kylington (well rounded vs offense first) and in hindsight we seemingly have two pairs of those right now in the system after that draft. I'm also feeling some middle pairing lower floor higher ceiling faster develop guy vibes akin to Kulak, Schlemko, Braun etc... so I wonder if that's what someone was going for when we nabbed some double edged sword guys like Poirer/Kylington (at the time).
Another bizarre trait that seems to stick out with the two defensive minded rear guards is that there are comments about expectations to teach those two guys some offense. We frequently hear that offensive instinct cannot be taught, but there is bizarre commentary that hints there is an expectation for Boltmann and Kuznetsov to learn some offense. With Boltmann's football QB experience, this could be an odd reason why there's some commentary hinting they'd take that bet.
This guy could totally bust... but there's some weird facets to him that I can see why maybe why a scout thinks he should be bet on and nabbed him and Kuznetsov early. Something that still seems super odd though is that somehow there's not much info on this kid even though he keeps getting invited to certain tournaments/teams that aren't totally low profile.
No idea what to expect with this kid.
