Article: Will Marco Rossi Sit Out of Wild Training Camp?

[mnfaninnc]

21 hours ago, goenzoy said:

One year would not do anything 

I have to disagree completely here. None of his teammates will understand that he didn't get the contract he wanted, so he went to play for a lot less in Switzerland. There is absolutely no logic in such a decision.

1 year will do a lot of damage for his reputation, his standing with his teammates, how management considers him (which would also affect his next offer). If he would do this to prove a point to management, then I think Guerin merely QOs him next season, and he'll have to rebuild his entire value. Anything he has accomplished in the past 2 seasons will be wiped off the board. 

So, in that scenario, he can then continue to play in Switzerland for about $1m more than he would get here. Not only are the Wild not offering him big or medium money for the following year, no other NHL team will be offersheeting him either. Just like a little snowball rolling down a hill, it just gets too big to alter course. 

And what GM is going to trust the player? None. Any statistics he puts up in Switzerland are irrelevant as all will question his size and can he do that in the N. In essence, he will have blackballed himself out of the league. His earnings will have gone way down, but, hey, you can still have a good career and be happy in the K.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

19 hours ago, goenzoy said:

20 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

highest paid hockey player in the Swiss league is $2.418 million in 2025, which is roughly $2M less than Rossi could play for with the Wild on a 1 year deal, and less than 20% of the top NHL contract.

Well this calculation are all based on before tax 

Tax arrangement can be done totally different in Switzerland so it is not a like for like 

Are you suggesting that hockey players are exempt from tax in Switzerland?

The top tax rate there is not lower than the US, it's actually higher.

Switzerland (CH)

39.7%

[Imyourhuckleberry]

19 hours ago, Scalptrash said:

Are you Billy? Trying to ignore his accomplishments and devalue him? If Rossi doesn't score 60 last season, they probably don't make the playoffs. And that was w/o Kaprizov and Ek for half the season. If you want to compare PPG, fine, go ahead. I never said, for the second time now, that they were of equal skill. Obviously Boldy is a better player.

I'm not ignoring his accomplishments. I believe he'll get a contract in the $6M range +/- half a million dollars.  That will likely have him as the 3rd highest paid forward, slightly ahead of Eriksson Ek or about even.

The truth is that when Eriksson Ek missed time and the Wild needed Rossi the most, that's when his points sputtered. He was averaging over 18 minutes each night in the last 25 games, but tallied just 11 points, including just 4 goals.  That's 33 points in 75 games pace, slightly below Marcus Johansson numbers.

Wild players who had more points in the final 25 games?

Boldy, Zuccarello, Gaudreau, Johansson, Spurgeon.

Hartman was close despite his suspension eating into a portion of that, and did tie Rossi in goals for that stretch with 4. Faber also tallied 4 goals in the final 25 games.

Here's the list of Wild forwards in order of points/60 even strength from February 25th to the end of the season(excluding JEE--who was 1st):

Boldy, Foligno, Johansson, Ohgren, Gaudreau, Zuccarello, Lauko, Hartman, Hinostroza, Rossi.

If Rossi had scored close to the pace he had when Kaprizov and JEE were healthy, he would be getting a contract like Boldy, but that's not what happened in that stretch to close the season.

[B1GKappa97]

19 hours ago, Scalptrash said:

Are you Billy? Trying to ignore his accomplishments and devalue him? If Rossi doesn't score 60 last season, they probably don't make the playoffs. And that was w/o Kaprizov and Ek for half the season.

Vancouver

Yeah and how'd he do without Ek and Kaprizov?

4 points TOTAL in all of March with those two out. Boldy, for reference, had 11 points. Almost 3x as much.

I like Rossi, I have his jersey, but he ain't worth a Boldy deal based on what we've seen so far. Anything over $6M is an overpay at this point. 

Edited August 15 by B1GKappa97

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

To those saying Rossi gets a prove it, 1 or 2 year deal and then we sign him longterm I think is slightly deluded. You think Rossi is going to sign here long term after he has lost trust in his coach and GM? You think he feels good about being offered only 1mil over Trenin (who was the most recent signing still here). You might say contract comparisons don't matter because he is under team control, but i would bet they sure do to Rossi. 

NHL is a business. Part of business is managing your people. Yeah it comes down to cap values too, but it is about feelings, perspective, bias and all the other things that come along with managing people. You can say Billy doesn't care about comparisons across the league, but he should. It affects the perspective of his players. He should care about how people feel about how they are compensated and strive to make people think they are paid fairly. You're right in saying Rossi is under team control so he can low ball him. The larger question and speculation should be about the unintended consequences of those actions.

We wouldn't have made it to playoffs without Rossi last year. He is the second best center we have ever developed and for a team without a huge draw for free agents, we need to be careful with throwing away the talent we get out of Iowa. Especially because it has been slim pickings on development down there. 

[goenzoy]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

didn't get the contract he wanted, so he went to play for a lot less in Switzerland. There is absolutely no logic

Nothing to do with Rossi .Question is if contracts offered are market rate . And the answer is NO. And in case of bridge deal with simple don't know enough what position Rossi and his agent share.

Same goes for offershets . We even dont know if Rossi is even willing to sign offershets .Same goes for teams as offershets are a highly unlikely business and are always an overpay.GM s dont like overpay .

But sometimes owners signal to their GM s that doing something risky compared to doing nothing is the better option 

 

And everything said about Switzerland is solely my own personal opinion

NEVER seen any article if Rossi even consider this an option 

But for certain Switzerland is Rossi s hometurf for his hockey life

[goenzoy]

2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Are you suggesting that hockey players are exempt from tax in Switzerland?

The top tax rate there is not lower than the US, it's actually higher.

No it's not what  I m saying 

Plus I m not a tax adviser nor do I know specific s of pro ice hockey players .

What I do know is that Switzerland is a very favourable place for wealth creation . Also in Sport .

Roger Federer as example managed 1300 million with his 20+ years pro tennis career .

And that you can negotiate your own tax rate in Switzerland at local level 

if you are a high earner

 

[0 Stanley Cups]

According to Russo's latest podcast, the Wild brass and Rossi camp haven't even talked since mid-June, so we have about another month to go before they come back to the negotiating table prior to training camp, which is super annoying for Wild fans, but unfortunately that's how they choose to do their business.

[SkolWild73]

I see a lot of talk about how Rossi performed (or didn't perform) when both Kap and Ek went out.  And I agree, his production in the 15 games in the month of March was terrible with 1G and 3A.  In the other 7 games that Ek was out, including the last game before the 4 nations break, Rossi had 4 G and 2 A for 6 points.  That included the game tying goal early in the third period against the Rangers on 4/2, a game we lost in OT, and the primary assist on the go-ahead goal in the third period against the Stars on 4/6 that Rossi would score the game winner of in OT.

Yes, his March was terrible, but are we going to forget that when Kap first went down in December that Rossi would put up 5G and 7A for 12 points in the first 12 games before Kap came back for three games? And then put up 3G and 2 assists in the next 7 games before Ek went down?  Does the bad March outweigh this?

And yes, Boldy did have decent point production without both players.  But when Ek went to IR, and Boldy became our number 1 goal scoring option, he went the first 11 games without scoring a goal and had 2 even strength assists, then scored 2 goals in a game and went 3 more games without a goal.  That is one game out of the first 15 without Kap and Ek that he scored a goal.  Was it Rossi's fault Boldy wasn't scoring, or was it just a bad stretch where Boldy could not find the back of the net which would have negatively affected Rossi's point totals also?

Yes, it sucked that Rossi had a bad stretch in March that happened to coincide with Kap and Ek being out.  Faber had 2G and 2A and was a -13 during that time.  But I guess the way I look at it is it was one bad month in a season filled with good to great months for both.  My view of what Faber will be isn't changed much by this stretch, so Rossi's shouldn't be either.

Maybe we can all agree that we hope Rossi gets signed and has great year and helps us into the playoffs and beyond.

 

[0 Stanley Cups]

There was speculation that Rossi was playing hurt towards the end of the season.  So even though he wasn't at his best, we had limited roster options with our cap space situation and injuries to others as well.  He was one of the very few who played 82 games last year, and most everybody is playing hurt by the end.

McTavish and Luke Hughes are RFAs that are also still unsigned, I would've thought those two would've easily been done by now before Rossi.

[Scalptrash]

3 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Yeah and how'd he do without Ek and Kaprizov?

4 points TOTAL in all of March with those two out. Boldy, for reference, had 11 points. Almost 3x as much.

I like Rossi, I have his jersey, but he ain't worth a Boldy deal based on what we've seen so far. Anything over $6M is an overpay at this point. 

Boldy had 7 points in December and 7 points in February, what's your point? 60 points is 60 points, even if they are all scored in October. The Wild don't make the playoffs without it. Tired of arguing about it. Obviously some of you don't value him and would rather see him gone, like Billy. That's fine, his replacement won't have 60 points (Hoglander and Raty).

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, goenzoy said:

What I do know is that Switzerland is a very favourable place for wealth creation . Also in Sport .

Roger Federer as example managed 1300 million with his 20+ years pro tennis career .

Opportunities for the #1 player in any sport tend to be far different than opportunities for guys who further below. Federer had endorsements deals worth well over $300M along with lucrative career earnings. LeBron James and Michael Jordan are astronomically more wealthy than the typical NBA starter to this point.

I don't think Rossi would have the same opportunities as Federer, who was the top player in his sport for quite a while. Over 1/3 of Federer's wealth also came from an investment he made in a company early on that turned into a huge corporation. That's not likely for everyone.

He might have some local endorsement opportunities, but I don't know that a company would make Rossi a feature of their international brand even if he plays at a high level in the Swiss hockey league.

I get that wasn't your point, but Federer is more anomaly than a path someone can follow. If you had information about top endorsement deals for the best players in the Swiss hockey league, I'd be more interested in that angle.

I don't see it as a viable path to help him financially or in achieving his career aspirations, but I guess it's an option.

[goenzoy]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

don't see it as a viable path to help him financially or in achieving his career aspirations, but I guess it's an option.

Rossi s focus is on NHL and again I only mentioned Switzerland as exit route . You don't pick your exit route as 23 year old 

But Roger Federer is not the anomaly .There are a lot of sports people 

with Swiss connection . Peter Forsberg as one hockey example 

The max amount of 1300 million is off course extremely rare 

Rossi playing for Wild also in 2025/26 is very likely but I m 100% certain 

he will not retire as a Wild. Relationship with coach is completely broken already 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

22 minutes ago, goenzoy said:

he will not retire as a Wild. Relationship with coach is completely broken already 

I'm not convinced the Wild will not go in a different coaching direction after this season, but it's not common for players to play full careers with just 1 team, so I'm certainly not going to argue that Rossi might remain with the Wild his full career.

We can certainly agree it's unlikely that Rossi will retire with the Wild, but I am less convinced that the coach relationship is beyond repair, particularly if they do end up making a coaching change during his next contract.

[Tony Abbott]

On 8/14/2025 at 4:19 PM, mnfaninnc said:

I assume what you're getting at here is if he does hold out, they will miss him. Would his teammates have some hard feelings about him holding out and maybe the welcome back isn't as warm as he would have hoped? 

Are we looking at Yurov in front of Sturm on that list?

I would worry about the locker room if I were Rossi. This is a tight knit group. Holding out is kind of a me thing. This group doesn't really operate that way, it's more collective. So, for Rossi, I don't think that's much leverage, especially if you were offered a decent amount coming off an ELC. 

For one, he's not holding out, he doesn't have a contract. Everyone knows it's a business. 

[goenzoy]

11 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

but I am less convinced that the coach relationship is beyond repair,

Can't say if relationship with coach is repairable as situation with Kaprisov was not exactly different .

Kaprisov missed 3 months and in game 3 after return from injury he played 24 minutes . That is madness 

[mnfaninnc]

21 hours ago, goenzoy said:

Nothing to do with Rossi .Question is if contracts offered are market rate . And the answer is NO. And in case of bridge deal with simple don't know enough what position Rossi and his agent share.

And, this is where we stand. I would suggest that the market rate on Rossi is far different than the market rate he and his agent are pushing for. Based upon data shared earlier, Rossi's agent is notorious for getting deals done that are overpayment to the player. Perhaps he had leverage to be able to get those deals.

The thing is, that Shooter, a few of us also don't see the market value being the same. We don't just look at points which many are solely looking at. There's play away from the puck, there's special teams performance, and there's a compete to get the puck. In all of these things, Rossi hasn't sparkled.

We've not seen him here, but Rossi is not on the PK unit. Rossi does not go into corners and dig pucks out in a lot of traffic. Rossi does not bodycheck very well, nor does he slip bodychecks all that well. And, while improving, Rossi doesn't draw very well. These deficiencies, likely in the eyes of Guerin, show an incomplete player. 

Why then could he project Kaprizov, Boldy, and Faber so quickly? Faber, thrust into the top pairing showed very well in his rookie year. He wasn't at a physical disadvantage, though he also wasn't overly physical. Boldy had a large frame he could project him efficiently growing into. He also has better puck skills, but much of that comes from the bigger frame. Kaprizov needs no explanation.

So, in the GMs eyes, is Rossi a $7m player right now? Hands down NO! Is Rossi a $5m player now? I believe in Guerin's eyes no. He's somewhere less than that. People don't like to hear that and constantly argue "but....60 points." Rossi can put up points and that's a good thing, but he's not a line driver, he's a passenger, a very good passenger at this time. 

Can Rossi get to be a $7m player? Yes he can. But here is his track record: 3 years- Year 1 demoted to the A, Year 2 40 points, played 82 games, struggled finishing the season, Year 3 60 points, played 82 games (several through injury) and struggled finishing the season. Where is his ceiling? That is the question that isn't answered, and carries too much risk to go out on a limb longterm. 

Should we trade the player and cut bait? No, we shouldn't. A trade of Rossi is only if it helps us get a player that better fits us, ie, something we don't currently have but need. Likely, he's part of a package, because an upgrade is necessary. I don't believe we should dump him, he's too good of a player for that.

Is Rossi and Heinzy's relationship broken? Maybe, but that can be repaired. Coaches tend to sense who's hot and who's playing well, and the opposite. They want every player who is on their roster to be playing well. If he sees Rossi winning faceoffs, fighting hard for loose pucks, turning guys inside out with elite edges and hungrily going to the net, I think his whole opinion changes, and Rossi gets more TOI, and probably bumps up lines. 

I'm also in agreement with whoever it was up top that suggested Hynes may be replaced soon. I was certain it would be Sully when he became available but NYR priced him out of our range. I don't see Hynes as a championship coach, so who would Guerin bring in as his championship coach? Right now, we still need Hynes to build a foundation, but at some point he will take this team as far as he can. It's not about replacing Hynes, my belief is if he is relieved of his duties he heads to the front office. The issue here is who fills his spot!

[mnfaninnc]

12 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

For one, he's not holding out, he doesn't have a contract. Everyone knows it's a business.

I would suggest that if he doesn't like the offer and waits, that falls under holding out, but it is a good point. 

[Pewterschmidt]

22 hours ago, goenzoy said:

1300 million

Insert beautiful mind gif

[Pewterschmidt]

22 hours ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

McTavish and Luke Hughes are RFAs that are also still unsigned, I would've thought those two would've easily been done

I think the timing is nothing to worry about here.  It’s similar to McD waiting for 97 to sign so he (and agent) can get a read on his market value.  

[goenzoy]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

show an incomplete player. 

Why then could he project Kaprizov, Boldy, and Faber so quickly?

Well Rossi not a complete player I even agree but with Hynes a below average coach that will be ever a problem .And I m not even talking from broken trust between the two.Rossi is a playmaker and Hynes doesn't even have a concept what to do with a playmaker .

And we even don't know if Wild do have a player in their system what could replace Rossi should he leave . Only hope is Yurov .

But even with Yurov and Rossi center depths of Wild is still very thin and depends on good luck and injury free times at least to game 40

[SkolWild73]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

And, this is where we stand. I would suggest that the market rate on Rossi is far different than the market rate he and his agent are pushing for. Based upon data shared earlier, Rossi's agent is notorious for getting deals done that are overpayment to the player. Perhaps he had leverage to be able to get those deals.

The thing is, that Shooter, a few of us also don't see the market value being the same. We don't just look at points which many are solely looking at. There's play away from the puck, there's special teams performance, and there's a compete to get the puck. In all of these things, Rossi hasn't sparkled.

We've not seen him here, but Rossi is not on the PK unit. Rossi does not go into corners and dig pucks out in a lot of traffic. Rossi does not bodycheck very well, nor does he slip bodychecks all that well. And, while improving, Rossi doesn't draw very well. These deficiencies, likely in the eyes of Guerin, show an incomplete player. 

Why then could he project Kaprizov, Boldy, and Faber so quickly? Faber, thrust into the top pairing showed very well in his rookie year. He wasn't at a physical disadvantage, though he also wasn't overly physical. Boldy had a large frame he could project him efficiently growing into. He also has better puck skills, but much of that comes from the bigger frame. Kaprizov needs no explanation.

So, in the GMs eyes, is Rossi a $7m player right now? Hands down NO! Is Rossi a $5m player now? I believe in Guerin's eyes no. He's somewhere less than that. People don't like to hear that and constantly argue "but....60 points." Rossi can put up points and that's a good thing, but he's not a line driver, he's a passenger, a very good passenger at this time. 

Can Rossi get to be a $7m player? Yes he can. But here is his track record: 3 years- Year 1 demoted to the A, Year 2 40 points, played 82 games, struggled finishing the season, Year 3 60 points, played 82 games (several through injury) and struggled finishing the season. Where is his ceiling? That is the question that isn't answered, and carries too much risk to go out on a limb longterm. 

Should we trade the player and cut bait? No, we shouldn't. A trade of Rossi is only if it helps us get a player that better fits us, ie, something we don't currently have but need. Likely, he's part of a package, because an upgrade is necessary. I don't believe we should dump him, he's too good of a player for that.

Is Rossi and Heinzy's relationship broken? Maybe, but that can be repaired. Coaches tend to sense who's hot and who's playing well, and the opposite. They want every player who is on their roster to be playing well. If he sees Rossi winning faceoffs, fighting hard for loose pucks, turning guys inside out with elite edges and hungrily going to the net, I think his whole opinion changes, and Rossi gets more TOI, and probably bumps up lines. 

I'm also in agreement with whoever it was up top that suggested Hynes may be replaced soon. I was certain it would be Sully when he became available but NYR priced him out of our range. I don't see Hynes as a championship coach, so who would Guerin bring in as his championship coach? Right now, we still need Hynes to build a foundation, but at some point he will take this team as far as he can. It's not about replacing Hynes, my belief is if he is relieved of his duties he heads to the front office. The issue here is who fills his spot!

So, players like Coronato, Stankoven and Blake, who are of similar size, but have played less games, have less point production, have done less on the PP, who are not centers, who have less hits, less blocks, and who also have holes in their games are worth more than Rossi?  

If it was just about point production only, Rossi would command more than Coronato, Blake and Stankoven.  Yes, Rossi has areas of his game that need to improve, as do the above players and most players that are not signing $8-$14M contracts.  I just don't see any comparable players to Rossi, in all aspects of their game, that get a contract for less than $5M.

[FredJohnson]

On 8/14/2025 at 10:39 AM, SkolWild73 said:

You don't think sitting out a year would be bad for him?

IMHO, playing on our bottom 6 for most of next season would be just as bad.

[FredJohnson]

On 8/15/2025 at 1:11 PM, Scalptrash said:

his replacement won't have 60 points

^^^this^^^ is Marco Rossi's leverage.
 

The Wild don't make the playoffs last season without him. Is Billy confident they make the playoffs next season without him??

[goenzoy]

18 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

So, in the GMs eyes, is Rossi a $7m player right now? Hands down NO! Is Rossi a $5m player now? I believe in Guerin's eyes no. He's somewhere less than that

The exact amount is totally irrelevant .

What matters are positions Rossi can play ( 1C,2C,3C  )

Eriksson Ek and Kaprisov COMBINED just played 5 games more than Rossi. Yurov with adaptation problems ,Rossi sitting out preseason and Eriksson Ek injured and WILD start season with BIG problems