Article: The Time Is Now To Lock Up Marco Rossi

[Outskated]

Rossi should get 5 years at $5mm per, no more.  I mean I like the kid too, but I'm not fully convinced on him yet either.  He reminds me of Granlund, who if you look at his salary over the years is $5mm.  

[NC Beach Bum]

What is the contract status of Rossi and Faber, are they under contract next year? Does the Wild have cap space to sign either to a big extension now? Is the cap hell over after next year?

[mnfaninnc]

23 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

Buying out a player <26 is only a 1/3 cap hit compared to the 2/3 cap hit once they're 26. Buying-out a $7M contract is a bargain of $2.3M/year (assuming you dont front load it).

But that's the gamble if you bridge him, if he gets better he's going to be unaffordable long term if he gets better.  If he poops the bed, you look better but will have to answer why you didnt trade him when his value was the highest and he had 'potential'

I had not considered this angle. I'd still want another year of experience, but this changes my thought a bit.

[mnfaninnc]

20 hours ago, NC Beach Bum said:

What is the contract status of Rossi and Faber, are they under contract next year? Does the Wild have cap space to sign either to a big extension now? Is the cap hell over after next year?

According to Capfriendly, Rossi and Faber are signed next season (which means that this is the 1 year of Rossi experience I talked about above). Would it be better to wait and sign the 2 after next season? Could someone swoop in and offersheet them?

The heavy lifting portion of the buyouts is over next season, but we'll still be on the hook for many years at $1.67m. So, to answer the above question, if someone swoops in to offersheet them, they will be paying highly in draft picks if they win.

So, yes, the Wild could afford long term extensions for both players, but, that would eat up the buyout savings pretty much. And, you've got a Kaprizov resigning looming in '25-26 (he's under contract that year but can be resigned that year also). 

Resignings of Rossi and Faber do not kick out next year's salaries. I would be pretty comfortable resigning Faber right away. I think I'd wait until at least mid year on Rossi.

[mnfaninnc]

On 4/10/2024 at 10:59 AM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I don't think this is going to happen, but say a team like Columbus says to themselves that they don't think they are going to win in the near future, perhaps they want to get younger and trade Boone Jenner with a 2nd round pick for Rossi?

For the "win now" crowd, this might be a decent deal. But, you'd want to be able to resign Jenner at the end of the deal. And, I agree with you that Jenner is a little older than I'd like. 

Bottom line, I think I'd keep Rossi on this deal. 

But, what if we were talking Rossi + Wild 1st = Jenner + Columbus 1 and 2? This, of course would happen after the ping pong balls are bounced.

[raithis]

On 4/9/2024 at 12:52 PM, Pewterschmidt said:

Great point.  He's spent much of his season with 3rd liners and nojo/fred.  And he's still producing offense.  This is a positive take on Rossi.  He should only get more valuable with productive linemates.

I've said a couple times that we truly won't see what Rossi will be until Yurov comes over.  That's assuming Yurov is good enough to play top-6 and he comes over either this off-season or next (fingers crossed anyway).

Even if Rossi doesn't play with him directly, there would finally be enough skill and talent on the top two lines for both lines to benefit.  Rossi has often had two linemates who think pass first and play the perimeter so he ends up being the guy getting ragdolled in slot.

I'm looking forward to two lines of Boldy, Kaprizov, Ek, Rossi, Zuccarello, and Yurov.  I wouldn't put Boldy or Kap on the same line and I wouldn't put Ek and Rossi on the same line, but I'd try every other combination and see what clicked best.

And then hopefully by the time Zuccarello is off the books, that one of the prospects are ready to step up.

Edited April 11 by raithis
Spelling error

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

But, what if we were talking Rossi + Wild 1st = Jenner + Columbus 1 and 2? This, of course would happen after the ping pong balls are bounced.

I did factor into it that Columbus would have a high 2nd round pick, so it would be a top 40 pick and a player that is likely better right now, though not necessarily 3 years down the road.

Until the draft lottery happens, we cannot be certain that Columbus is picking ahead of the Wild this year, but I understand you thinking the specific deal I outlined might be light. I didn't do a lot of searching for the perfect player/deal, just found one close enough to what I was suggesting.

I do think Guerin would really like the type of player Jenner is. With a nickname of Bam Bam...who wouldn't like that guy?

Could fit in really well with Dino!

[mnfaninnc]

57 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I did factor into it that Columbus would have a high 2nd round pick, so it would be a top 40 pick and a player that is likely better right now, though not necessarily 3 years down the road.

I just didn't think it was enough. I made the assumption that Columbus called us. I'm also assuming that flipping picks has them picking 4 or 5. 

My main criteria was age, having Rossi for 8 years in his 20s could be huge. 

But, if I go along with my main thought on building a contender, I've got to keep Rossi. To review, I believe the main driver on a contender is finding 3-4 hits on 2/3 drafts (though I did not research the trade of prospects affect). If I include that, 2020 could be Rossi, Dino, Hunt, Faber. In the subsequent drafts, we've got The Wall and Lambos as 1sts, and Ohgren and Yurov as 1sts. Assuming all hit, and 3/4 would be the average, we'd only need 1 more from those draft classes to hit to get my main driver.

If you build the team around those players, and have some good outliers, like the 2015 class (Ek, Kaprizov) Boldy, you've got something.

[NC Beach Bum]

8 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

According to Capfriendly, Rossi and Faber are signed next season (which means that this is the 1 year of Rossi experience I talked about above). Would it be better to wait and sign the 2 after next season? Could someone swoop in and offersheet them?

The heavy lifting portion of the buyouts is over next season, but we'll still be on the hook for many years at $1.67m. So, to answer the above question, if someone swoops in to offersheet them, they will be paying highly in draft picks if they win.

So, yes, the Wild could afford long term extensions for both players, but, that would eat up the buyout savings pretty much. And, you've got a Kaprizov resigning looming in '25-26 (he's under contract that year but can be resigned that year also). 

Resignings of Rossi and Faber do not kick out next year's salaries. I would be pretty comfortable resigning Faber right away. I think I'd wait until at least mid year on Rossi.

side question, I looked at one of the Cap sites and it sez Vegas is 17 mill over the cap, how does that work?

 

[mnfaninnc]

15 hours ago, NC Beach Bum said:

side question, I looked at one of the Cap sites and it sez Vegas is 17 mill over the cap, how does that work?

They've got some big stars on LTIR. With the rules (Mr. Cheatatu is better at this than me), you can replace a player up to the LTIR figure. Stone is a mainstay on LTIR, but miraculously heals up for the playoffs. Lehner's double hip surgery has him on there and I doubt he'll be ready.

Then, you add in that they bought 3 stars at the TDL on pro rated contracts and they're just plain stacked. Last year, I think they miscalculated a little and had to play short 1 or 2 games. 

They've got deep pockets and have found TBL's loophole and done it even better. They can afford to pay the salaries of the players on LTIR, and they do it willingly knowing that their playoff roster will be stacked. 

They don't care about making the playoffs and just being happy to be there. They count on making the playoffs and then boosting their roster with plenty of extra ammunition. 

Is it cheating? That's debatable. I think it goes against the spirit of the rules, but is perfectly fine under the letter of the rules. Circumventing the cap has been a toy of many franchises that have deep pockets. The game is figuring out how. Once the Wild get involved, suddenly those toys become illegal retroactively and we get penalized for it. 

Vegas will be a beast to oust come playoff time, no matter where they are seeded. If they are 8th, that's a terrible draw for a Dallas team that looks to be conference champs. You'd almost rather finish 2nd in the division. You know who wins? TV. They will have the best 1st round matchup and all the games will likely be nationally televised. 

[Will D. Ness]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Is it cheating? That's debatable. I think it goes against the spirit of the rules, but is perfectly fine under the letter of the rules. Circumventing the cap has been a toy of many franchises that have deep pockets. The game is figuring out how. Once the Wild get involved, suddenly those toys become illegal retroactively and we get penalized for it.

It's dishonorable at the least and cheating at the most.  To deliberately take advantage of a loophole to your own advantage is basically the definition of being a slime ball.  

I absolutely despise the Blues, but I am cheering for them to beat out Vegas.

[mnfaninnc]

4 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

It's dishonorable at the least and cheating at the most.  To deliberately take advantage of a loophole to your own advantage is basically the definition of being a slime ball.  

What would you expect from the city organized crime built?