Article: Expect Marco Rossi To Rebound Soon

[Tony Abbott]

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[SkolWild73]

Thanks for the article Tony.  

[Up North Guy]

Good article Tony and I agree with you. Hopefully BG does too. Lots of folks on here think that Rossi is subpar and should be traded. I don't believe that is a good look. Decent centers are really hard to find. If the team trades him or lets another team snag him they will regret it for a long time.

[RedLake]

I hope Rossi does something cause we need something outta him. He has been playing bad. Maybe he is playing threw something or the grind of a NHL season caught up to him.

[Neutral Zone Dangles]

Rossi, like most of the current team is undersized and doesn’t win physical battles. He’s been horrible in the faceoff circle and not producing any offense as of late. To consider Rossi a decent center is comical. 

[Need4speed99]

Well, just waiting for the bg fan bois to tell us he sucks....

He needs to do better in a couple aspects( face off wins being the biggest) but overall, why trade him? Why?

[Need4speed99]

He's also playing on the 3rd line most nights, if he got freddy minutes who knows.

[OldDutchChip]

It was about time for a Rossi cheerleaders to come back! 😁 But reality - he has not stepped up and lead the team and instead we are praying either Ek or Kap comes back and save us. Both Boldy and Rossi have been let downs, not really stepping up as we need them to. They are still decent but neither are the secondary stars to Kap. Let’s dissect this a bit more -

 Rossi played the Devils' two-way star to a draw, getting the better of the play.

how are you evaluating the draw? Eye test or plus/minus? If later - is it really a good way to make a determination? How is Rossi getting the better of the play if it’s a draw? 

He outscored the hulking Tage Thompson's line 2-0 in over nine 5-on-5 minutes.
what is the context here? Did he go directly against him when game was on the line and showed Tage who’s boss? Is he a better player than Tage? A better scorer? What exactly is implied here?

Rossi outscored Nathan MacKinnon1-0 in 10-and-a-half head-to-head minutes.

what does this mean? Are you suggesting that Rossi better MacKinnon in termss as of  production and value on the ice? This type of stat picking leads to a lot of overhype and unrealized potential. 

You can see a similar story play out in games against Anze Kopitar and Robert Thomas.

what story? Kopitar is a two way legend and a beast of a player to play against. Thomas is somewhat similar. Wild have maybe Ek that fits that style but definitely not Rossi.

Combine Rossi's two-way excellence …. 
these are very untrue and misleading keywords to pump up a player on decline / Rossi is not excellent two way player - period. He is still developing and may get there but for now, I think a much more honest take is - he has an undersized body but good skill work and can compliment a second line well. Still needs more strength to be neutral/positive in playoffs.

Reality - Billy wants and needs  Rossi to rebound and produce better. Thus Billy will immediately pair him with Kap once he returns, so stats look better by seasons end -because Rossi will be traded. I’m actually not in the trade Rossi camp and would instead dangle Faber and Boldy.

[Citizen Strife]

Taking Dallas or Colorado out of the equation (cause their stars are the oh so special players we seem to think we can never get), St. Louis is rattling off 10-15 straight wins with players in the 40-60 pt range.  That is the sort of output the Wild can realistically expect right now.  The reason they are losing and the Blues are winning is simple: The Blues have 25 more GF than the Wild do.  God only knows how badly the Blues played before their streak was.

You're going to tell me Kaprizov playing another 20-30 games wouldn't have made up that difference?  Faber not sucking wind at 25 pts after netting 40 doesn't matter?  Having better forward and defensive depth wouldn't have made up that 50 GF different between Dallas and Colorado.  It would have made it better.

This team, "this" team is not there yet.  The offense is dreadful, and only Boldy, Rossi, and Kap are 50 pt players.  I'm not in the camp of getting a Nelson.  I still think and Ehlers would be a better choice, since he's around 60-65 pts.  That's the sort of secondary output the team is missing.  

Offense is letting this team down.  Maybe Hynes's style precludes that, maybe it doesn't.  But Hynes figured out something defensively.  They gave up 260 goals against last year.  This year is 220.  The problem now is offense.  The difference between 206 goals (Wild) and 275 goals (Capitals) is massive.  

This isn't a "oh we don't have stars" problem.  It's a, "We don't have better offense EVERYWHERE" problem.  One player no matter how good, makes up that difference.  Guerin has some work to do.  He focused on defensive players this year and got mixed results.  The focus on the offseason should be offensive depth.  Asking to dump Boldy or Rossi is just making that offense worse.

Edited 4 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[OldDutchChip]

52 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Taking Dallas or Colorado out of the equation (cause their stars are the oh so special players we seem to think we can never get), St. Louis is rattling off 10-15 straight wins with players in the 40-60 pt range.  That is the sort of output the Wild can realistically expect right now.  The reason they are losing and the Blues are winning is simple: The Blues have 25 more GF than the Wild do.  God only knows how badly the Blues played before their streak was.

You're going to tell me Kaprizov playing another 20-30 games wouldn't have made up that difference?  Faber not sucking wind at 25 pts after netting 40 doesn't matter?  Having better forward and defensive depth wouldn't have made up that 50 GF different between Dallas and Colorado.  It would have made it better.

This team, "this" team is not there yet.  The offense is dreadful, and only Boldy, Rossi, and Kap are 50 pt players.  I'm not in the camp of getting a Nelson.  I still think and Ehlers would be a better choice, since he's around 60-65 pts.  That's the sort of secondary output the team is missing.  

Offense is letting this team down.  Maybe Hynes's style precludes that, maybe it doesn't.  But Hynes figured out something defensively.  They gave up 260 goals against last year.  This year is 220.  The problem now is offense.  The difference between 206 goals (Wild) and 275 goals (Capitals) is massive.  

This isn't a "oh we don't have stars" problem.  It's a, "We don't have better offense EVERYWHERE" problem.  One player no matter how good, makes up that difference.  Guerin has some work to do.  He focused on defensive players this year and got mixed results.  The focus on the offseason should be offensive depth.  Asking to dump Boldy or Rossi is just making that offense worse.

I’m giving you reality Citi

Kap is our only elite player with physical attributes

We are too close to finish line w Kap for Bill to do any more of his moronic moves, so he’ll do what he always wanted - trade Rossi.

I’m even saying that I wouldn’t do that.

but in turn, I realize that our core team structure is not designed to compete, hence I suggest become high stake dealers and plan to trade for a big fish, and that player won’t be baited w Harty

otherwise - we stand as is - Kap leaves - we assure same old mediocracy

[Citizen Strife]

Then who replaced Boldy or Rossi's production if you get said big fish?  You need more than one guy to fix a systemic issue.

What did Guerin say once, "We trade Foligno, we just have to go find a guy to replace Foligno."

You still need "good" depth to win, not one scary line to do all the work.  Foligno isn't getting replaced by Ohgren just yet.  If he were, it would have happened by now.

Boldy's or Rossi's production is something you don't just "replace.". We saw that with the Fiala trade.  Faber is good, but not enough to fix what Fiala was doing, playoffs or not.  Otherwise, he'd still be here.

The upgrade should be to the Johansson's, the Hartman's, the Nyquists. The Khusnutdinov's and Brazeau. Those are the guys you backfill with better depth.  Kap is THE guy, but finding people at or a step below him to push those other lower tier guys down or out is the goal, not play two stars and all AHL depth.

 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[OldDutchChip]

27 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Then who replaced Boldy or Rossi's production if you get said big fish?  You need more than one guy to fix a systemic issue.

What did Guerin say once, "We trade Foligno, we just have to go find a guy to replace Foligno."

You still need "good" depth to win, not one scary line to do all the work.  Foligno isn't getting replaced by Ohgren just yet.  If he were, it would have happened by now.

Boldy's or Rossi's production is something you don't just "replace.". We saw that with the Fiala trade.  Faber is good, but not enough to fix what Fiala was doing, playoffs or not.  Otherwise, he'd still be here.

The upgrade should be to the Johansson's, the Hartman's, the Nyquists. The Khusnutdinov's and Brazeau. Those are the guys you backfill with better depth.  Kap is THE guy, but finding people at or a step below him to push those other lower tier guys down or out is the goal, not play two stars and all AHL depth.

 

 

 

who replaces who?

well Assuming we can trade out Faber and Ohgren for Tkachuk (possible? Yes)

and

Spurge for Seeler (net save of 5mm for next 2 years) again possible? Yes 

We keep both Boldy and Rossi, and plug in Tkachuk to join Kap and Ek and Yurov

we still have Foligno and Harty to help w bottom 6 too

we can fill in on D to cover for departure of Faber and Spurge vs focusing on Nelson And we’d have more $ to do just that

[Citizen Strife]

A little better than a lot of the speculation you've done lately.  Still wouldn't do that...but that's a little better.

Edited 3 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[OldDutchChip]

7 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

A little better than a lot of the speculation you've done lately.  Still wouldn't do that...but that's a little better.

Why not?

Tkachuk Yurov Kap

Boldy Rossi Ek

that’s a great top 6

then you have cash (with a bit of influx from money saved on moving Spurge) rerouted from hunting multiple aging / overrated offensive players to one good D - really can get solid one

[Citizen Strife]

But does Ottawa trade Brady for anything?  They are finally seeing playoff caliber results after years of bleh.  Minnesota would probably need way more than Faber.

That's the thing.  You want a star, you need teams to say they are trading them.  Ottawa has always said, "Nah.  Not doing that, stop asking."

You buy and Ehlers or a Peterka in the offseason, you get a 2W for that $7m-8m range that is going to be the norm, without losing anyone via trade.  Tell Rossi to take or leave $6-7m, cause they need that money to get that Mojo upgrade something badly.  In Peterka's case, maybe trade Rossi's rights for Peterka since both are RFA.  At least with Ehlers, you just have to match his price.

Edited 2 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[MacGyver]

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

Faber is good, but not enough to fix what Fiala was doing, playoffs or not.  Otherwise, he'd still be here.

This is not quite correct. We supposedly could not afford to keep Fiala around. But even if we could Billy made it a toxic enough environment for Fiala that he wanted out regardless and LA was the only place he wanted to go. Since I don't think he's ever missed being on the score sheet when he plays against us. I can remember multiple point games for him actually. 

I recall Billy not being able to take the heat from the fans very well about losing Fiala. I can only imagine how he will handle it if he can't keep Kaprizov. I wonder if he will use the quote he used regarding Fiala? " Yeah sure the kid had a couple of good months"! Yeah that will work.

 

[Citizen Strife]

To be fair, I like Faber at $8.5m still.  Down year, he is going to be a rock on the blue line.  Maybe a Brodin type player more than a Spurgeon well rounder.  Buium may or may not be that great offensive defensive the team has never had, so banking on Buium and Jiricek immediately sounds about as good as saying Yurov is Rossi but better 

[mnfaninnc]

I think what we have found out is that Rossi is a complimentary piece who can drive some play but needs help too, whether it's being a little lower in the lineup or having a better wing. He's not, at this moment, a #1C who dictates play.

Currently, he's gutting out playing on 1 leg. He's available and giving everything he's got, but let's be real, he's probably around 70%. Before the shot to the knee, he was still slumping and so was Boldy. These can be listed as growing pains, but at this point in time, he and Boldy are not team point leaders (comparing with other franchises). They are young and might get there, but they just aren't that right now, and, this teams needs that from them.

I still wouldn't trade Rossi out to trade him out. If we're acquiring a better piece, that's not trading him out, but if we're just saying he needs to go, I'm in disagreement with that. Rossi will get even better, but he needs another monster offseason. His low center of gravity should help him get under most centers in the dot. I do not know why he isn't better there and this should be an offseason focus. 

He's made a good improvement over last season in point totals, I think we can chalk this up as an improving year as he has been better. 

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

Kap is THE guy, but finding people at or a step below him to push those other lower tier guys down or out is the goal, not play two stars and all AHL depth.

This is what's coming, the lower tier guys finally start arriving.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, OldDutchChip said:

Spurge for Seeler (net save of 5mm for next 2 years) again possible? Yes 

I'm looking at Spurge for Danielson in Detroit. I think Detroit will be desperate next year to make the playoffs and I think Spurge is the guy to get them over that barrier. Seider is their #1, but Spurge on the 2nd pairing solidifies many things.