Article: Marco Rossi Stands In the Middle Of A Controversy He Didn't Create

[Mateo3xm]

19 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

Good for him!

But with or without the goal - he was a third best player on L4 

trenin stepped up and so did Braz 

That bullshit. lol 

I will give credit to Trenen though, that was a great pass.

[Mateo3xm]

On 4/22/2025 at 3:28 PM, Citizen Strife said:

If he's playing hurt, why even have him out there?  Let's say, "He could still be a PP2 threat."  For what, an extra 30-1 minute of garbage time that the team won't use because the other five guys take the biggest chunk of PP anyway?  

The team would probably be well served just pulling an Ek and saying Rossi is too hurt to play effectively.  At least then they have plausible deniability.

He had a goal and an assist last night. When the playoffs come around a lot of guys are hurt and they play through it. Dumba was playing through a punctured lung and a dislocated rib in the playoffs one year.

[OldDutchChip]

8 minutes ago, Mateo3xm said:

That bullshit. lol 

I will give credit to Trenen though, that was a great pass.

Huh?

[FredJohnson]

Way to go, Marco! Score more goals like last night and you’re never getting off the 4th line. (Sarcasm)

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

Rossi was constantly collecting pucks while Braz and Trenin lost them. He had a goal and an assist and was one of 5 Minnesota players with a positive Corsi Rel. He put 4 shots on net in just shy of 11 mins of icetime. Our top line had Ek 6, Kap 6 and Boldy 5 in over 20 mins of ice time. I don't know what else anyone is expecting from a kid in his first playoff series, playing 10 mins a night, stapled to a couple anchors on the forth line. 

His first and second game left something to be desired, but he played well in the third game. I can't be the only one seeing it as Hynes played him for 3 more minutes than Trenin or Braz. I have a tough time figuring out why he got put on the forth line while they are hoping he produces. 

I love how we were chomping at the bit to sign Boldy, who had just about the same points lines in his first two years as a winger, to a 7mil contract but we can't offer a center, playing a harder position more than 5mil. Our center depth without Rossi looks super weak and frankly we wouldn't have made playoffs without him. Poor kid gets rained on for going quiet without Kap and Ek while he had to deal with top line matchups. 

Can't wait for Billy to pull idiot and trade him for Nelson's twilight years and we can get burnt by Rossi for the next decade, wishing for what could have been.

[FredJohnson]

On 4/22/2025 at 6:40 PM, Enforceror said:

For those of you saying Guerin and/or Hynes don't like Rossi, what are the sources? Yeah, Russo says he's getting traded but with as tight-lipped as MN staff is (injuries anyone?), do we really think BG is going to show his trade chips to the world? Are there any other legitimate sources that show BG/Hynes don't like Rossi?

Any chance it’s a bargaining chip for a new contract? Hearing the contract values between sides are very different.

[Enforceror]

31 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

Any chance it’s a bargaining chip for a new contract? Hearing the contract values between sides are very different.

Heard that as well. I just don't know how much stock to put in Russo's rumor mill. I'm sure there's all kinds of games that go into contract negotiation that we aren't privy to.

[Protec]

15 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

Why do the Wild need Miller with Jiricek?

Because if Guerin is gonna truly rebuild the roster, a larger shakeup could be possible. Maybe Jiricek is part of a deal too. Seems injury prone to me. I'm not clamoring for a trade that hard or after Miller in MN but it's fair to consider a proven NHL guy compared to a less proven NHLer. 

Just insert any guy who might be a RFA that could want a change and that could help the Wild. I haven't seen enough from Jiricek yet, he seems to be most consistent getting injured. 

[OldDutchChip]

4 hours ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Rossi was constantly collecting pucks while Braz and Trenin lost them. He had a goal and an assist and was one of 5 Minnesota players with a positive Corsi Rel. He put 4 shots on net in just shy of 11 mins of icetime. Our top line had Ek 6, Kap 6 and Boldy 5 in over 20 mins of ice time. I don't know what else anyone is expecting from a kid in his first playoff series, playing 10 mins a night, stapled to a couple anchors on the forth line. 

His first and second game left something to be desired, but he played well in the third game. I can't be the only one seeing it as Hynes played him for 3 more minutes than Trenin or Braz. I have a tough time figuring out why he got put on the forth line while they are hoping he produces. 

I love how we were chomping at the bit to sign Boldy, who had just about the same points lines in his first two years as a winger, to a 7mil contract but we can't offer a center, playing a harder position more than 5mil. Our center depth without Rossi looks super weak and frankly we wouldn't have made playoffs without him. Poor kid gets rained on for going quiet without Kap and Ek while he had to deal with top line matchups. 

Can't wait for Billy to pull idiot and trade him for Nelson's twilight years and we can get burnt by Rossi for the next decade, wishing for what could have been.

if Rossi plays consistently well, doesn't look timid and afraid on the ice, and can be trusted to lead his line in the top 6 - then sure give him Boldy money (even higher for that matter). BUT reality check - he has done nothing of that consistently! 

one time he scores and everyone jumps out with these silly takes like the world is against Rossi! no it's not. he was on L4 for a reason. he flat out stunk towards the end of the season and first two games. he scored a goal - GOOD. but he needs to be more consistent, with more drive, more energy and force in these types of PO situations. 

Poor kid gets rained on for going quiet without Kap and Ek while he had to deal with top line matchups.  poor kid? he is a grown ass man - a millionaire too. dealing with top line matchups is part of being a top 6 player. do you want to baby him and still pay him top 6 money? what is this logic? if he cannot drive a line, he is not worth top 6 money (you want to pay 7MM plus for 3/4th liner?). 

I think the best course of action is to root for Toronto to sweep Ottawa and hope Rossi get a few more good passes and racks up a bit more pts and then ship him out to Ottawa for a disgruntled Brady. 

[SkolWild73]

36 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

if Rossi plays consistently well, doesn't look timid and afraid on the ice, and can be trusted to lead his line in the top 6 - then sure give him Boldy money (even higher for that matter). BUT reality check - he has done nothing of that consistently! 

one time he scores and everyone jumps out with these silly takes like the world is against Rossi! no it's not. he was on L4 for a reason. he flat out stunk towards the end of the season and first two games. he scored a goal - GOOD. but he needs to be more consistent, with more drive, more energy and force in these types of PO situations. 

Poor kid gets rained on for going quiet without Kap and Ek while he had to deal with top line matchups.  poor kid? he is a grown ass man - a millionaire too. dealing with top line matchups is part of being a top 6 player. do you want to baby him and still pay him top 6 money? what is this logic? if he cannot drive a line, he is not worth top 6 money (you want to pay 7MM plus for 3/4th liner?). 

I think the best course of action is to root for Toronto to sweep Ottawa and hope Rossi get a few more good passes and racks up a bit more pts and then ship him out to Ottawa for a disgruntled Brady. 

Rossi put up 60 points this year.  Was he consistent all year?  No, at the end of the year he wasn’t.  But I can find players that are older with more experience and better players that have had inconsistent stretches to their season.  Heck, even Boldy had a stretch where he wasn’t scoring much.  If I remember, some of you wanted to trade him.  Saying he couldn’t step up when it mattered.  How has that aged?
 

If you are talking about this playoff time?  He has played 3 games and gotten 33 minutes of playing time.  Yet, he is 5th on the team for forward in shots on goal.  
 

You wanted the Wild to bench Braz and Rossi for game 3 yes?  Braz led the team in hits, had an assist and Rossi had a goal and an assist.  I will even admit his goal was lucky (watch the replay, it goes of Theodore’s stick).

But hopefully playing him and getting him more involved brought him some confidence.  Cause if we want to beat Vegas and advance further, we will need Rossi.
 

 

[OldDutchChip]

45 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Rossi put up 60 points this year.  Was he consistent all year?  No, at the end of the year he wasn’t.  But I can find players that are older with more experience and better players that have had inconsistent stretches to their season.  Heck, even Boldy had a stretch where he wasn’t scoring much.  If I remember, some of you wanted to trade him.  Saying he couldn’t step up when it mattered.  How has that aged?
 

If you are talking about this playoff time?  He has played 3 games and gotten 33 minutes of playing time.  Yet, he is 5th on the team for forward in shots on goal.  
 

You wanted the Wild to bench Braz and Rossi for game 3 yes?  Braz led the team in hits, had an assist and Rossi had a goal and an assist.  I will even admit his goal was lucky (watch the replay, it goes of Theodore’s stick).

But hopefully playing him and getting him more involved brought him some confidence.  Cause if we want to beat Vegas and advance further, we will need Rossi.
 

 

It’s what you do for me now that matters.
don’t care about how Rossi played in first half of season - it’s PO now.

Kap and Boldy are dominating, while Rossi is trying to play out of a (deserved) L4 assignment. Good for him and us that he had a better G3

Braz and Rossi were not the reason we won. We won because Kaprizov and Boldy were dominant and Gus played unbelievable. We need much more from Rossi to start discussion of whether he deserves a Boldy like contract. At this point - no way 

And yes, I wanted Braz benched and stand by the call. It was the right thing to do given his play level. 

These overreactions based on a game or a play offer very biased analysis due to concentrated focus. Look back at Braz and Rossi’s last 20 games and there is a trend. They can have a good play/game here and there but it’s more likely outside of the norm. 

But if both keep raising their level of play - I’m all for it. It’s just a gamble, and I’d much rather put my money on Vinny vs Braz. Not by a lot though..

[SkolWild73]

26 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

 

It’s what you do for me now that matters.
don’t care about how Rossi played in first half of season - it’s PO now.

Kap and Boldy are dominating, while Rossi is trying to play out of a (deserved) L4 assignment. Good for him and us that he had a better G3

Braz and Rossi were not the reason we won. We won because Kaprizov and Boldy were dominant and Gus played unbelievable. We need much more from Rossi to start discussion of whether he deserves a Boldy like contract. At this point - no way 

And yes, I wanted Braz benched and stand by the call. It was the right thing to do given his play level. 

These overreactions based on a game or a play offer very biased analysis due to concentrated focus. Look back at Braz and Rossi’s last 20 games and there is a trend. They can have a good play/game here and there but it’s more likely outside of the norm. 

But if both keep raising their level of play - I’m all for it. It’s just a gamble, and I’d much rather put my money on Vinny vs Braz. Not by a lot though..

I get it.  But how is overreacting about game 3 in a positive way any different from overreacting about the first two games in a negative way?  

Was Rossi great his last 20?  No, not compared to the standard he had set the rest of the year.  He did have 9 points in the last 20 games and scored the OT winner against Dallas.  

Obviously our first line won the game for us.  But who knows how the game turns out if the 4th line doesn't score goal number 2.  It sure is better playing with a 2-0 lead than 1-0.  Maybe they didn't win the game for us, but they definitely contributed to the win in a big way.

[M_Nels]

2 hours ago, Protec said:

Maybe Jiricek is part of a deal too. Seems injury prone to me.

I just don't see Guerin flipping Jiricek for another player, especially with the amount of capital it took to get him in the first place. His lacerated his spleen this season and had a knee injury back in like 2022 but not much published on it. I don't consider a lacerated spleen as being injury prone, that's a freak deal. Now if the kid had nagging/constant issues or concussions then yeah.

[OldDutchChip]

16 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

I get it.  But how is overreacting about game 3 in a positive way any different from overreacting about the first two games in a negative way?  

Was Rossi great his last 20?  No, not compared to the standard he had set the rest of the year.  He did have 9 points in the last 20 games and scored the OT winner against Dallas.  

Obviously our first line won the game for us.  But who knows how the game turns out if the 4th line doesn't score goal number 2.  It sure is better playing with a 2-0 lead than 1-0.  Maybe they didn't win the game for us, but they definitely contributed to the win in a big way.

games 1-2 continued the tendency from previous 20, which were hesitancy and lack of drive, and related directly to diminishing performance. g3 turned more positively for that line and gave us a glimpse of what they could and should be doing -  now it's up to them to continue moving in the right direction. 

my point is not to be satisfied with the results thus far. not to get too complacent and instead look where we can trim the fat and keep vegas in the rear....we've been here before with that kind of lead and let it slip away. this needs to be different.

all along i've said - Kap is the best player in the world and we need this round win for the team but more importantly to convince Kap to stay. He wins this round - i think he stays. We see now how important he is. How dominant he is. 

i am not that disappointed in Braz because his ceiling is really low. He had a good enough game and likely will still suit up for G4. but i am more picky when it comes to Rossi. he needed to step up. i had him higher in team ranking than Boldy and Boldy just took off when he needed to. Rossi kinda stumbled. there is no denying it. let's hope he recovers. but those intangibles (playing with force, elevating his play and carrying his linemates, battling the vegas heavy's and not backing down) are going to be a tough get for Rossi - good luck to him.  

[Protec]

16 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

I just don't see Guerin flipping Jiricek for another player, especially with the amount of capital it took to get him in the first place. His lacerated his spleen this season and had a knee injury back in like 2022 but not much published on it. I don't consider a lacerated spleen as being injury prone, that's a freak deal. Now if the kid had nagging/constant issues or concussions then yeah.

That's probably right. I don't necessarily expect a flip either but MN will have decisions to make. My point is, there are options and assets GMBG could use to upgrade or shuffle the roster. If it improves the team or opens money for other players, maybe he makes a big trade. 

[SkolWild73]

23 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

games 1-2 continued the tendency from previous 20, which were hesitancy and lack of drive, and related directly to diminishing performance. g3 turned more positively for that line and gave us a glimpse of what they could and should be doing -  now it's up to them to continue moving in the right direction. 

my point is not to be satisfied with the results thus far. not to get too complacent and instead look where we can trim the fat and keep vegas in the rear....we've been here before with that kind of lead and let it slip away. this needs to be different.

all along i've said - Kap is the best player in the world and we need this round win for the team but more importantly to convince Kap to stay. He wins this round - i think he stays. We see now how important he is. How dominant he is. 

i am not that disappointed in Braz because his ceiling is really low. He had a good enough game and likely will still suit up for G4. but i am more picky when it comes to Rossi. he needed to step up. i had him higher in team ranking than Boldy and Boldy just took off when he needed to. Rossi kinda stumbled. there is no denying it. let's hope he recovers. but those intangibles (playing with force, elevating his play and carrying his linemates, battling the vegas heavy's and not backing down) are going to be a tough get for Rossi - good luck to him.  

Agree completely with your last paragraph. I think he gained some confidence in game 3.  Not saying every game will be great for him, but he is learning and we will need him.  Maybe we can get through this series without him, but I have hopes of getting further.  For that we will need him.

It is amazing what experience can do.  I don’t know if there is some luck involved with Boldy’s transformation, playing with Kap or just learning how to play on the playoffs, or just being older, but even I, who have been a huge Boldy supporter, would not have predicted what he has done through 3 games.  Especially when he had 1 goal and 3 assists in his previous 12 playoff games.

Tougher to do in a year, but hopefully Rossi can build through each game and hopefully each series.  A cup run is not out of the realm of possibility for this team

[OldDutchChip]

4 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Agree completely with your last paragraph. I think he gained some confidence in game 3.  Not saying every game will be great for him, but he is learning and we will need him.  Maybe we can get through this series without him, but I have hopes of getting further.  For that we will need him.

It is amazing what experience can do.  I don’t know if there is some luck involved with Boldy’s transformation, playing with Kap or just learning how to play on the playoffs, or just being older, but even I, who have been a huge Boldy supporter, would not have predicted what he has done through 3 games.  Especially when he had 1 goal and 3 assists in his previous 12 playoff games.

Tougher to do in a year, but hopefully Rossi can build through each game and hopefully each series.  A cup run is not out of the realm of possibility for this team

🍻

agree to that! 

and who knows - maybe Boldy's scoring will dry up and soon enough we'll have Zuccy Kap Rossi line doing the heavy lifting and we'll be screaming for Boldy to be traded and demanding Rossi to get 10MM for life! or hague will sit on Kap again and ..... ah fukkkkk ..... better not! 

it's a volatile life to be a Wild fan these days....one game at a time!