Article: Marco Rossi Is Tying the Wild's New-Look Top Line Together

[Tony Abbott]

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[FredJohnson]

Has Rossi "earned" the 1C minutes now, you naysayers?? FFS!

[Protec]

Better than last year, that's for sure. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

16 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

Has Rossi "earned" the 1C minutes now, you naysayers??

He hadn't prior to the season, and we'll see if it holds when the Wild are facing top 10 teams, but certainly good to see him earning it now. His improved strength and skating for this season helped him earn those minutes.

I hadn't given up on Rossi, but definitely wasn't in favor of gifting him the #1 C role before he was prepared to deliver strong play at both ends of the ice.

[viper3119]

Let's go little Rossi!

[Citizen Strife]

Rossi has certainly solidified the team this year.  The early 3rd line with Foligno was good, and the success is translating to the top end too.

[Skolwild]

Still too early to crown hiss ass (ode to Denny), but last year was way to early to deem his ass a bust. This is why you give a fair shake regardless of personal bias. (Protec, little euro ain’t eatin crow, are you?) 

this is why you let strammel play it out regardless of his current results. Even if I said wtf when they drafted them. To many internet gms thinking they know better. The best center on this wild team is the best example. Ek was shit on too when drafted. 
 

stop expecting instant results people. Sometimes it takes time. That’s ok

[FredJohnson]

17 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

prepared to deliver strong play at both ends of the ice.

To quote my mentor (the Ladies Man below), "Yeah, what is that?"

Sounds like the ole we want someone with experience but we aren't going to help you get the experience conundrum.

Edited December 7, 2023 by FredJohnson
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[Pewterschmidt]

20 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

To quote my mentor (the Ladies Man below), "Yeah, what is that?"

Sounds like the ole we want someone with experience but we aren't going to help you get the experience conundrum.

I tip my cap to you FJ…well played sir

[Protec]

10 hours ago, Skolwild said:

last year was way to early to deem his ass a bust. This is why you give a fair shake regardless of personal bias. (Protec, little euro ain’t eatin crow, are you?

I am not perfect by any stretch but what we saw AHL vs. NHL last season after the initial arrival out of camp was a concern. 100%, I blamed it on Euroisms and I fully embraced ideas of trading Rossi for a bigger, known value center. At that time in that context, I don't believe that was a totally foolish take. I certainly wasn't alone. GMBG might have even commented about more Eff-You needed in Rossi's game. I was also extremely concerned about Rossi's health with his myocarditis and vax-status which is a newly recognized problem. Everyone knows this but are slow to speak out about.

I am 1000% happy to see Rossi is healthy. That is the first thing because we're seeing athletes drop dead. Beyond that, Rossi's NHL success this year that began with his greasy first goal beating Giordano to position for a skill play was perfect. Good for him and good for the Wild. I've been persuaded to adjust my anti-Euro draft bias a little bit and I'll be glad to see Rossi become the top little Austrian who added the beef & grit to make both mnfaninnc and I both right at the end of the conversation. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, FredJohnson said:

Sounds like the ole we want someone with experience but we aren't going to help you get the experience conundrum.

I don't think there are a lot of teams competing for the playoffs who have Calder-eligible forwards on their top lines. Rossi didn't play strong last season. I commend him for putting in the work with the skating coach, in the gym, and on the ice against legit NHL forwards this summer. He's playing at a different level this season.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Protec said:

I am 1000% happy to see Rossi is healthy. That is the first thing because we're seeing athletes drop dead. Beyond that, Rossi's NHL success this year that began with his greasy first goal beating Giordano to position for a skill play was perfect. Good for him and good for the Wild. I've been persuaded to adjust my anti-Euro draft bias a little bit and I'll be glad to see Rossi become the top little Austrian who added the beef & grit to make both mnfaninnc and I both right at the end of the conversation. 

I think the myocarditis was absolutely vaccine oriented. The good news about that is it is more of a temporary issue. If this happened to anyone, would you be scared to get your heart rate up? I've said many times that the brain is the last thing to heal. It took a long time for Rossi to trust his heart and wouldn't it for anyone?

It also probably made Rossi not want to put on the weight. That would add more stress to the heart. But once he started trusting it again, he was mentally able to bulk up this offseason. This was the key to his success as he was simply too small last season to be effective. 

I would hope he'd do it again this offseason and get even a little more harder to handle. This bulking up is necessary to compete in the N. I sure wish guys like Beckman would take it seriously. Same with our young D corps. Body mass gives you the opportunity to move people, and in the N your either moving people or being moved. Guerin understands this, and it is a main reason for seasoning and marinating his players in the A. However, it is up to the players not to skip gym days, and the A offers a lot of time off to get stronger. 

This is not gritting up either. This is doing what is necessary to compete at the next level. This is about winning board battles and not getting knocked off the puck. It's also about being able to get to the dirty areas without getting dominated. 

[FredJohnson]

3 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I don't think there are a lot of teams competing for the playoffs who have Calder-eligible forwards on their top lines.

Agreed. And we weren't playing for the playoffs either until Rossi activated Dolla and Lizard. 👍

[FredJohnson]

3 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I don't think there are a lot of teams competing for the playoffs who have Calder-eligible forwards on their top lines. Rossi didn't play strong last season. I commend him for putting in the work with the skating coach, in the gym, and on the ice against legit NHL forwards this summer. He's playing at a different level this season.

...and Rossi ain't winning a Calder.

[UncleWalt]

Good stuff, Tony. This is my comment from August. There’s still room!

Rossi is 21 and missed an entire year to myocarditis. That’s the whole story. I’m driving the pro-Rossi bus. Anyone is welcome when they’re ready. 

[Luke Sims]

Rossi go brrr