Article: The Wild and Hockey World Are Overthinking It With Marco Rossi

[B1GKappa97]

1 hour ago, fikifuka said:

My guess as explanation that Rossi isn't traded yet is that the majority of GMs are not in the mood for rebuild now and almost every team has a lot and growing cap space for the forseeble future and sees the opportunity to improve the roster. The idea or strategy for teams interested in Rossi might be: We better offer-sheet (sign) him for just 7 AAV or e en 6,5 and ship out the 3 picks (1,2,3) instead of giving away (trade) players we want to keep. 

I'm sure he'll get at least 6,5/ 3 years or 7/longterm next week. Its just not realistic to assume that 31 GMs don't see the opportunity to get a 23 year old 60 point center with upgrade. They all know how to play this poker game - and BGs cards are getting worse every hour. The whole league knows: MIN desperately needs a good Center.

Maybe they do, maybe they don't. I really think his post-season play left a black mark on his reputation around the league. There were times (game 2 in particular) where he looked like the worst player on the ice. 

Its not the end of his career but similar to how we couldn't get any takers for Gustavsson after his struggles in '23-'24, there may not be much interest in Rossi after how he ended the year. 

[B1GKappa97]

3 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

If he's not physical enough (or hurt) then how does it make sense to put him on a checking line? Honestly.

I don't think he was hurt. We would've heard something about it. 

And they put him with guys who would be physical for him. That's why he ended up on the 4th line.

Brazeau and Trenin were behind only Foligno in total hits.

I think the strategy was fairly clear; Brazeau and Trenin win the board battles that Rossi wasn't and just try to get him the puck in front of the goal. It worked in a couple games, but not so great overall. Rossi had a terrible game 2 and played a big role in the game 5 OT loss.. then followed it up with a double-minor in a pivotal game 6 that put the team behind almost from the jump. 

Hopefully he continues to improve this offseason but I'm not too shocked that he doesn't have more interest based on how he played in the post-season.

Edited 11 hours ago by B1GKappa97

[SkolWild73]

8 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

That's an easy one. Hits. He had 7 total hits in 6 playoff games. 

For referrence, Trenin had 34. Brazeau had 22. Those were his linemates for most of the series.

On top of that, he blocked only 3 shots. Even the guys who finished with less hits than him had more blocks at least.

Nyquist had 4 blocks, Kirill had 10, Hartman had 11. 

Also, if you actually watched him in the playoffs, you should have noted how he often let up on guys when he could've checked them.

He just did not play very physically. Plain and simple. 

Rossi was tenth on the team in hits in way less ice time than others and had more hits than Kap, Hartman, Brodin, Spurg, and Faber.  Ek had 8 hits in almost double the minutes.  You can't really compare Rossi's hit totals to Trenin and Braz that was their job.

[B1GKappa97]

1 minute ago, SkolWild73 said:

Rossi was tenth on the team in hits in way less ice time than others and had more hits than Kap, Hartman, Brodin, Spurg, and Faber.  Ek had 8 hits in almost double the minutes.  You can't really compare Rossi's hit totals to Trenin and Braz that was their job.

That's why I also mentioned the blocks. Kap, Hartman, Brodin, Spurg and Faber were all much more willing to sacrifice their bodies too.

That's part of playing physically as well. 

[SkolWild73]

9 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

That's why I also mentioned the blocks. Kap, Hartman, Brodin, Spurg and Faber were all much more willing to sacrifice their bodies too.

That's part of playing physically as well. 

It is, but per minute played he still would have been top ten on the team in blocked shots too.

[OldDutchChip]

32 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

If he's not physical enough (or hurt) then how does it make sense to put him on a checking line? Honestly.

he should have been centering Kap and Zuccy line. of course!

[FredJohnson]

10 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

he should have been centering Kap and Zuccy line. of course!

At least give him more minutes than Freddy.

[OldDutchChip]

2 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

At least give him more minutes than Freddy.

you realize that Freddy actually played PK? if you just look at minutes 5 v 5 - it was very evenly distributed among bottom 6 players. 

[ArizonaWildFan]

3 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Just watch that game 5 OT goal against us and note how Marco Rossi mostly just stands around and plays spectator for a series-flipping OT loss.

Have you watched the whole sequence leading up to the OT goal in Game 5 or just the two seconds before the goal? It has been written and analyzed here and many other places what lead to the goal. Brazeau late to his man, Merrill out of position following his man too far out, Bogosian left his man and misplayed the puck along the boards, Rossi had his man tied up along the boards and left him to cover Bogosian's guy in the position that Merrill should have been in, and game over. And, oh yeah, where was the Wild's playoff MVP, Trenin? Definitely not recognizing and reacting to a defensive breakdown.

You can criticize Rossi for a lot of things, but not the Game 5 OT goal.

One more thing on Trenin. When you perform so poorly and set the bar so low during the regular season that even lacing your own skates in the playoffs is an improvement that's sad. And definitely not worth $3.5M.

Go ahead Rossi haters and Trenin lovers... start spewing your putrid, vomit-filled, nonsensical replies.

[Citizen Strife]

Bennett just re-signed, so any chance the Wild had to sign any free agent center worth anything is done.  Unless Guerin is working on some sort of Larkin or Thompson thing, he may want to just accept what we figured: Rossi is all that's left, so deal with it 

[OldDutchChip]

56 minutes ago, ArizonaWildFan said:

Have you watched the whole sequence leading up to the OT goal in Game 5 or just the two seconds before the goal? It has been written and analyzed here and many other places what lead to the goal. Brazeau late to his man, Merrill out of position following his man too far out, Bogosian left his man and misplayed the puck along the boards, Rossi had his man tied up along the boards and left him to cover Bogosian's guy in the position that Merrill should have been in, and game over. And, oh yeah, where was the Wild's playoff MVP, Trenin? Definitely not recognizing and reacting to a defensive breakdown.

You can criticize Rossi for a lot of things, but not the Game 5 OT goal.

One more thing on Trenin. When you perform so poorly and set the bar so low during the regular season that even lacing your own skates in the playoffs is an improvement that's sad. And definitely not worth $3.5M.

Go ahead Rossi haters and Trenin lovers... start spewing your putrid, vomit-filled, nonsensical replies.

Trenin came to play in the Playoffs. But he is a bottom 6 player so the ceiling is much lower than a potential "elite" 1C that people are claiming Rossi to be. If all we are doing is trying to prove that Rossi outperformed a bottom 6 player and using only one metric (pts) - then i guess you won. But you are smarter than that. You know there are more in play and different measures to evaluate a players performance. I think it is quiet clear that Trenin performed better than expected at his role and Rossi did not. I can live with 3.5MM bottom 6 player struggling offensively during the season if he comes to play hard in the Playoffs. 

[WildNotMild]

2 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I don't think he was hurt. We would've heard something about it. 

And they put him with guys who would be physical for him. That's why he ended up on the 4th line.

Brazeau and Trenin were behind only Foligno in total hits.

I think the strategy was fairly clear; Brazeau and Trenin win the board battles that Rossi wasn't and just try to get him the puck in front of the goal. It worked in a couple games, but not so great overall. Rossi had a terrible game 2 and played a big role in the game 5 OT loss.. then followed it up with a double-minor in a pivotal game 6 that put the team behind almost from the jump. 

Hopefully he continues to improve this offseason but I'm not too shocked that he doesn't have more interest based on how he played in the post-season.

So you are simultaneously saying he is allergic to contact but also saying the plan in putting him on the 4th line was so that his wingers could feed him the puck in front of the net?!?  In the playoffs?!?  Where guys get cross-checked like crazy for just looking at the net?!?

[WildNotMild]

9 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

Trenin came to play in the Playoffs. But he is a bottom 6 player so the ceiling is much lower than a potential "elite" 1C that people are claiming Rossi to be. If all we are doing is trying to prove that Rossi outperformed a bottom 6 player and using only one metric (pts) - then i guess you won. But you are smarter than that. You know there are more in play and different measures to evaluate a players performance. I think it is quiet clear that Trenin performed better than expected at his role and Rossi did not. I can live with 3.5MM bottom 6 player struggling offensively during the season if he comes to play hard in the Playoffs. 

Hard to follow per usual.  Are you arguing that Trenin is worth more than Rossi?  Rossi is on an ELC which is way lower than Trenin’s 3.5M.

Even ODC can’t possibly argue Rossi’s value is less than 3.5M.  Well, I guess ODC argues everything, so maybe?

I haven’t seen anyone claiming Rossi is a 1C.  A 2C, sure.  Isn’t that what the Wild are valuing him in its trade price AND you are valuing him in your fantasy trade proposals?  Otherwise, why would Ottawa even consider the BT deal if the Wild are offering a 4C.

[Patrick]

2 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

That's an easy one. Hits. He had 7 total hits in 6 playoff games. Even Gaudreau, who's no physical force himself, finished with more hits than Rossi. 

For referrence, Trenin had 34. Brazeau had 22. Those were his linemates for most of the series.

On top of that, he blocked only 3 shots. Even the guys who finished with less hits than him had more blocks at least.

Nyquist had 4 blocks, Kirill had 10, Hartman had 11. 

Also, if you actually watched him in the playoffs, you should have noted how he often let up on guys when he could've checked them.

He just did not play very physically. Plain and simple. 

KK had 6 hits with 2.5X  the ice time.  Faber had 4 hits with nearly triple the ice time. Bogo had 6 hits.  Jon Merrill had ONE hit!!!  

By your reasoning KK plays with 1/3 of the physicality that Rossi does,  Faber is at nearly 1/6th and Marrill is at 1/12th of a guy who is "allergic to contact" 

Once again....GARBAGE OPINION

[OldDutchChip]

1 hour ago, WildNotMild said:

Hard to follow per usual.  Are you arguing that Trenin is worth more than Rossi?  Rossi is on an ELC which is way lower than Trenin’s 3.5M.

Even ODC can’t possibly argue Rossi’s value is less than 3.5M.  Well, I guess ODC argues everything, so maybe?

I haven’t seen anyone claiming Rossi is a 1C.  A 2C, sure.  Isn’t that what the Wild are valuing him in its trade price AND you are valuing him in your fantasy trade proposals?  Otherwise, why would Ottawa even consider the BT deal if the Wild are offering a 4C.

Hard to follow per usual.  sorry

Are you arguing that Trenin is worth more than Rossi?  Rossi is on an ELC which is way lower than Trenin’s 3.5M. i'm saying Rossi failed in his role (top 6 contributor) while Trenin succeeded in his role (bottom 6 contributor)

Even ODC can’t possibly argue Rossi’s value is less than 3.5M.  Well, I guess ODC argues everything, so maybe? i don't know what this means. please elaborate oh all knowledgable one. i never said that Rossi's value is 3.5 or less. 

I haven’t seen anyone claiming Rossi is a 1C.  elite centers are usually 1C. and that was the call out in Tony's article. but you did not read that, i know - no biggie! but whatever have him as your personal 2C - (but even that - he is still not).

Isn’t that what the Wild are valuing him in its trade price AND you are valuing him in your fantasy trade proposals?  what is the point of your response? 

Otherwise, why would Ottawa even consider the BT deal if the Wild are offering a 4C. my trade offer for BT was never centered around Rossi. And the placement of Rossi during a PO game is not a big factor if the team is actually interest - in fact it helps them try to get the player with a lesser offer. But so far we've seen nothing. You get it? nothing. So i guess teams feel he is not top 6. go cry about that reality. 

 

[ArizonaWildFan]

6 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

I do not think

Truer words have never been written.

[OldDutchChip]

3 minutes ago, ArizonaWildFan said:

Truer words have never been written.

means a lot coming from you

go take a nap and relax

[1Brotherbill]

9 hours ago, TCMooch said:

In an environment in which there expects to be a higher and higher cap year over year--signing him long term to a cost controlled $7 million over 5-6 years is not insane for a young center that is scoring 60 points.

Also, unlike most of our team lately--he at least stays healthy for now.

I've always said that a 7 million per year deal might seem high right now but by 2029 it will be cheap.  

[bisopher]

49 minutes ago, 1Brotherbill said:

I've always said that a 7 million per year deal might seem high right now but by 2029 it will be cheap.  

Just like Ek's, and Boldy's, and Kaprizov's current contracts are cheap now.  The cap is increasing significantly every year.

[bisopher]

55 minutes ago, 1Brotherbill said:

I've always said that a 7 million per year deal might seem high right now but by 2029 it will be cheap.  

Just like Ek's, and Boldy's, and Kaprizov's current contracts are cheap now.  The cap is increasing significantly every year.