Article: Can Marco Rossi Build On His Playoff Performance?

[Kalisha Turnipseed]

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[goenzoy]

Rossi is rather happy here in Switzerland joking around with Big Joe Thornton in Davos. He could start playing in Switzerland tomorrow should offer from Wild not reach acceptable levels 

[Willy the poor boy]

If memory serves it took Boldy until his 3rd playoffs to perform. I don't get the Rossi can't play in the playoffs premature especulation.

 

[Scalptrash]

Quote

Rossi’s a first-round talent whom the organization seems to view as an underachiever, but who is quietly overachieving.

Truth. If only he was an inch or two taller, all of this unnecessary drama wouldn't exist. I also wonder if Billy holds a grudge after Rossi's issues with covid, thinks he's weak. Which would be really sad, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[MNCountryLife]

Not a question of whether Rossi can be an effective NHLer.  He already is... the question is what value he brings.  I've read comments and articles from $4.5M to $7.5M a year.  Personally I think he comes in at 3 years for $5.5M/year.  It's a good contract and a lot of money.  It also sets him up for a big contract during his prime years if he continues to show improvement.  

[Scalptrash]

18 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

If memory serves it took Boldy until his 3rd playoffs to perform. I don't get the Rossi can't play in the playoffs premature especulation.

 

It was all to devalue him so they could resign him cheap. He still performed admirably, being tied to two oafs.

[Creaselightnin]

This is the best article I’ve read on the Rossi situation!!   You nailed it!!  Amazing job!

[Willy the poor boy]

33 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Not a question of whether Rossi can be an effective NHLer.  He already is... the question is what value he brings.  I've read comments and articles from $4.5M to $7.5M a year.  Personally I think he comes in at 3 years for $5.5M/year.  It's a good contract and a lot of money.  It also sets him up for a big contract during his prime years if he continues to show improvement.  

The only reason you could say he's worth 5.5 is because he's caught between a rock and a hard place. Otherwise his numbers put him in the 7 mill range according to similar players.

It's the way it's set up  but I'd bet it causes bad blood between players and franchises.

[Willy the poor boy]

33 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

It was all to devalue him so they could resign him cheap. He still performed admirably, being tied to two oafs.

If that's really the case, Guerin needed to be fired yesterday.

[MrCheatachu]

Quote

What should the lines look like on opening night?  

• Hartman - Rossi - Kaprizov 
• Boldy - Danila Yurov - Vladimir Tarasenko 
• Zuccarello - Eriksson Ek - Ohgren 
• Foligno - Nico Sturm - Trenin 

During the playoff run, Ross-Vegas lost his 2nd line center role to Hartzy.  And as much as Hartzy has been in the doghouse, in the small sample size that was the playoffs, it looked like Hartzy 'earned' that spot vs. Rossi 'lost' that spot.  I'm not sure what data point you're using to suggest that moving Hartzy over to wing would be the right move here...

During the playoffs, rolling the top lines of:

1. Bolds-Ekker-Kappy
2. Zucc-Hartzy-Foligno

Much of the demotion to the '4th' line seems to ignore the fact that the 'fourth' line had the third most TOI, down the stretch they were leaning VERY heavily on Bolds/Ekker/Kappy:

Num	Time	%	EV - FORWARDS	GF	GA	+/-	SF	SA	SF%	CF	CA	CF%
1	39:34	23.7	JOEL ERIKSSON EK - MATT BOLDY - KIRILL KAPRIZOV	1	3	-2	16	22	42.1	43	42	50.6
2	21:44	13.0	MATS ZUCCARELLO - MARCUS FOLIGNO - RYAN HARTMAN	2	1	1	9	8	52.9	24	28	46.2
3	15:50	9.5	YAKOV TRENIN - MARCO ROSSI - JUSTIN BRAZEAU	1	1	0	6	7	46.2	10	15	40.0

Frankly what Rossi was able to do with Trenin/Braz was damn impressive.

Moral of the story is, I dont see a Hartman/Rossi/Kaprizov line making much sense for this team, both given their deployment last season and also the skillsets of the players you have on the bench. 

[Willy the poor boy]

If I were Guerin I'd think long and hard about a 7 x 7 range. In as little as a year that could be considered a bargain with the cap expected to increase at a high rate.

[goenzoy]

47 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

3 years for $5.5M/year

He was never offered this type of contract 

Plus if you look at off-season signing for 2C market the numbers what are being paid are above 6M. Generous teams like Canes even 7M and above

[goenzoy]

2 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

hard about a 7 x 7 range

The time for a 7 year deal has passed .Would be horrible surprised if we see more then 2 years 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

21 minutes ago, goenzoy said:

Would be horrible surprised if we see more then 2 years 

Why? You think Rossi wants a contract at $5M and to be a restricted free agent again in 2 years?

I think it's more likely they agree to a 4 or 5 year deal in the $6M neighborhood.

Rossi is effective, but undersized with below average speed, and other teams aren't clamoring to give up assets to pay him more than the Wild are offering.

[Scalptrash]

13 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Why? You think Rossi wants a contract at $5M and to be a restricted free agent again in 2 years?

I think it's more likely they agree to a 4 or 5 year deal in the $6M neighborhood.

Rossi is effective, but undersized with below average speed, and other teams aren't clamoring to give up assets to pay him more than the Wild are offering.

I think he'll want to get to UFA status. 4x$6 to 6.5M is my prediction.

[PNW Wild]

1 hour ago, MrCheatachu said:

During the playoffs, rolling the top lines of:

1. Bolds-Ekker-Kappy
2. Zucc-Hartzy-Foligno

I have been wondering why they didn't move Hartman to wing on the 2nd line and put Rossi up there in the middle. Hartman's versatility is part of his value. A Foligno-Rossi-Hartman line would be solid defensively, would be able to play physically (in spite of Rossi) and add solid scoring. And you can keep the Boldy-Ek-Kaprizov line together. 

[MNCountryLife]

1 hour ago, Willy the poor boy said:

The only reason you could say he's worth 5.5 is because he's caught between a rock and a hard place. Otherwise his numbers put him in the 7 mill range according to similar players.

It's the way it's set up  but I'd bet it causes bad blood between players and franchises.

You are not wrong.  His stat value puts him in that $7M range.  BG definitely has him over a barrel.  But there is something else at play here.  Rossi has not received a single offer sheet.  Just a total guess here... but I think it's because at $7M you expect a player in that range to stand out.  Rossi does not.  He does a lot of little things really well and he is well disciplined at both ends of the ice. But rarely does he make a play where you look and think "WOW"... GMs want that before they cut that kind of paycheck.  I could be way off here.... only the GMs truly know what is turning them off to Rossi... I just don't buy into it that it is purely a size thing.

There is a business side of this game that is hard nosed.  You can't let off ice issues run your career.  That's a quick way to find yourself out of the game completely.  If Rossi signs lower than he wants... he should let his internal spirit/drive prove everyone wrong and play like a $9M dollar player.  Then let the cards fall where they may.  

[MrCheatachu]

48 minutes ago, PNW Wild said:

I have been wondering why they didn't move Hartman to wing on the 2nd line and put Rossi up there in the middle. Hartman's versatility is part of his value. A Foligno-Rossi-Hartman line would be solid defensively, would be able to play physically (in spite of Rossi) and add solid scoring. And you can keep the Boldy-Ek-Kaprizov line together. 

Yeah, because Zuccarello centering Brazeau/Trenin sounds like a wet dream...

[goenzoy]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Why? You think Rossi wants a contract at $5M and to be a restricted free agent again in 2 years?

Because 6 million in 3 years is simple not enough apart from Rossi not liking the coaching style of Hynes .Even Dean Evason was the better coach 

Rossi s range should be somehow between 50 and 75 point s . With luck maybe even point per game .And you simple dont pay a point per game player $5M 

[SkolWild73]

18 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

only the GMs truly know what is turning them off to Rossi... I just don't buy into it that it is purely a size thing.

I actually wonder if other GMs are actually turned off by him.  I get that no one has extended him an offer sheet, well, one that he has signed anyway.  But last year, Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Seth Jarvis and Mathew Beniers all signed in August and September and did not sign an offer sheet either.  I would think plenty of GMs and teams would have loved to have these guys.  I think it just goes to show that no matter how good a player may be, teams just do not use offer sheets, especially if they know that the other team has the money to sign the player.

[goenzoy]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

but undersized

This undersized is such a myth . Rossi will have 200lb soon and is very strong with his legs and lower body. And if someone is 5.9 or 6.1 makes not much difference if the player does have the same weight 

[goenzoy]

2 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

I get that no one has extended him an offer sheet,

Offersheets are not done at day 2 of free agency 

If they do happen it will be end of August or September 

[SkolWild73]

1 minute ago, goenzoy said:

Offersheets are not done at day 2 of free agency 

If they do happen it will be end of August or September 

Offer sheets can happen at any time starting on July 1st at noon.  The last three were in August, but the 7 before that were in July, with most of them being in the first ten days.  But my point is, other good players have not signed offer sheets either.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

42 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

But there is something else at play here.

There is something else at play and it is the Guerin factor. Guerin let it be known that he would match whatever offer sheet Rossi got. Any teams considering it immediately backed away because there is no point. Guerin has the cap space to match so why would another team waste their time. It was a smart but cutthroat move on Guerin's part. Rossi was hoping to leverage an offer sheet and Guerin made it pointless for anyone to do so. The amount of money it would take for Guerin to start second guessing is more than people want to pay for a guy that played forth line minutes in playoffs (whether it was deserved or not.) 

I foresee Rossi needing to cave to the 5X5 offered and giving Guerin the middle finger once he hits UFA unless Guerin pays big. Guerin's plan works in the short term but if Rossi develops into something better or even stays consistent, he's going to have no taste for a team friendly deal.

Edited 18 hours ago by TheGoosesAreLooses

[goenzoy]

29 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

But my point is, other good players have not signed offer sheets either.

I know I also dont think that offersheet is a very realistic option 

If any team only Sharks are realistic in my view 

Rossi even spending time with Joe Thornton in Switzerland last week 

For what purpose I dont know