Article: Bill Guerin Looks Like He's Going Pick Up A Win In the Marco Rossi Negotiation

[Justin Hein]

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[Kato AK]

And Guerin just lost some negotiation leverage...Frank Nazar signed a 7 year x $6.6 Mil deal. He is younger, produced fewer points and the same size as Rossi. 

[Pewterschmidt]

Instead, this is a master stroke on Guerin’s part. By leaking this information, he’s essentially negotiating through the media.

 Crediting bill with 3D chess skills contradicts what we’ve been watching for seven years   

 

Call it heavy-handed, short-sighted, or a negotiating masterclass. With the dust all but settled, Guerin has won

heavy handed is not illegal and is sometimes just good business and I agree bill has won (if he signs Rossi).  If bill gives him away to VAN for some journeyman grinder and a 3rd , that’s just Bill being Bill

[Imyourhuckleberry]

I don't buy the conspiracy.  Russo has created most of the controversy with his messaging on Rossi, always suggesting the Wild don't love him, and are likely to trade him, and asking about contracts or other free agents they like.

It's Russo's job to report on the Wild, and he does deliver some interesting stuff, but at some point, I think Guerin was tired of Russo suggesting that he doesn't like Rossi and gave the information that they Wild had offered the $5M deal across 5 years as an indication that he wouldn't offer a contract of that nature for a player he doesn't like.

Please note how many 5+ year deals Guerin has issued as GM and let me know if any of them were bad contracts.  Guerin's job is to deliver the best team he can on the ice, and that likely includes getting a good deal on Rossi, not paying top of the market prices to retain a restricted free agent.

 

[0 Stanley Cups]

BG may have the upper hand at the moment in the Rossi negotiations, but the unintended consequences may be free agents not wanting to sign here in the future.  A Tarasenko salary dump was his big addition this offseason.

If BG doesn't re-sign 97, he's fired.  If Wild miss playoffs this season, fired.  Another first round playoff exit, he's definitely in the hot seat, but my gut tells me he would still get one more season.

[Justin Hein]

33 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

It's Russo's job to report on the Wild, and he does deliver some interesting stuff, but at some point, I think Guerin was tired of Russo suggesting that he doesn't like Rossi and gave the information that they Wild had offered the $5M deal across 5 years as an indication that he wouldn't offer a contract of that nature for a player he doesn't like.

Please note how many 5+ year deals Guerin has issued as GM and let me know if any of them were bad contracts.  Guerin's job is to deliver the best team he can on the ice, and that likely includes getting a good deal on Rossi, not paying top of the market prices to retain a restricted free agent.

Fair if you think the leak was just a basic announcement to the media. 

However, I think that five years at $5 AAV in this cap environment is much lower than the production Rossi put out in '24-25. Projecting him forward at a $5 MM value for the next five years is an insane haircut given his age, production, two-way ability, and rising cap environment. 

It's clear that the league has a distaste for something in his build or playstyle. 

[Pewterschmidt]

6 minutes ago, Justin Hein said:

It's clear that the league has a distaste for something in his build or playstyle. 

I think it’s more about play style.  And it may be related to how he’s not overcoming his size.  Give me an example P-Brain.  Ok, when he plays against top 6 centers he’s unable to hold his own on the defensive side of the puck.  If Russo knew the game he would have reported this.  Lapanta, carts, king etc are all on Wild payroll so they’re not going to explain this.  Judd AJ are Vikings fans who drew short straw and had to do a hockey show.  Weird that in state of hockey we don’t get to have a hockey writer who can analyze the game

[Pewterschmidt]

6 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I think it’s more about play style.  And it may be related to how he’s not overcoming his size.  Give me an example P-Brain.  Ok, when he plays against top 6 centers he’s unable to hold his own on the defensive side of the puck.  If Russo knew the game he would have reported this.  Lapanta, carts, king etc are all on Wild payroll so they’re not going to explain this.  Judd AJ are Vikings fans who drew short straw and had to do a hockey show.  Weird that in state of hockey we don’t get to have a hockey writer who can analyze the game

And this is not shade on the HW overlords.   In order to make the determination on Rossi a reporter would need to be at the game watching the play away from the puck which you don’t get on TV.  

[NoJoSux]

The Euro game is generally not a hard, "kill or be killed" mentality. NA hockey has produced the Tom Wilsons, Brad Marchands, Mark Stones, Matthew Tkachuk, etc. 

There's a lot of good players who aren't ever gonna be that kind of guy on the ice. Hard to play against. That is the issue for Marco. This is a big year for him to prove otherwise. I'd take 40 points and more of a well-rounded guy, but the contract timing is now. 

His 60pts is nice, but not as valuable in the big picture compared to an Ek style game and size. Rossi has been durable. 

I think he just needs to get a bridge contract and have another good year. Maybe have a better playoffs and that can be the end of the long debate. For a lot of people, he still has to prove some things. 

[AKwildkraken]

I think Rossi should follow BullyG for a couple of days and learn how to implement some FU in his game.

It seems like he's putting in the effort to get bigger and better.  Now he needs to get meaner (on the ice).

Edited 5 hours ago by AKwildkraken

[Patrick]

BG has signed few decent contracts and a handful of terrible ones.  Its a wash.  He needs to be better if they Wild are going to contend. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

17 minutes ago, NoJoSux said:

His 60pts is nice, but not as valuable in the big picture compared to an Ek style game and size. Rossi has been durable. 

60 points is nice, but when Hartman scored 65 for the Wild, I don't recall too many people saying he needed to be making more than Eriksson Ek, and certainly nobody was saying he needed more than a million above Eriksson Ek.

The Wild understand that Kaprizov elevates points for everyone around him, and that Rossi's point totals dropped off steeply when Kaprizov wasn't around, just like has happened for Hartman or Zuccarello when they are not playing with KK97.

Chandler Stephenson averaged 62 points per game playing with some of Vegas' top players, but they weren't going to pay him $6m+ because they knew he wasn't driving the scoring for the line. He was a useful player, but not a key piece.  He's how heading into year 2 of a long-term deal at $6,250,000 that nobody thinks was a good investment.

Rossi could develop into more than he's shown, and I hope he does so with the Wild, but let's not pretend that the Wild are treating him unfairly. I like Rossi. When many fans were ready to give up on Rossi, I was here saying you cannot give up on him so early--he still had time to deliver on his promising prospect evaluation. That doesn't mean that I don't think both Rossi and the Wild can come out in a good situation here.

The Wild are going to offer Rossi a contract that pays a lot of money and hope that he outperforms it--like contenders often do. They are not pay top dollar while he's a restricted free agent and just hope for the best, like lottery-bound teams are more likely to do.

[ArizonaWildFan]

Please don't give GMBG credit for any type of masterclass unless it's how to be an arrogant greaseball.

Did Guerin covet the Brocks (Nelson and Boeser) and want to sign one of them? Both Minnesota boys that played college at North Dakota and share the same agent, Ben Hankinson, who is also a Minnesota product. Why didn't the genius get either of them signed? He should have had the inside track. Nelson, who will be 34 on opening night, got 3 years at $7.5M AAV with the Avs and Boeser, who is 28, got 7x$7.25M with the Canucks.

In Boeser's eight full seasons he has averaged 54 points per season. His age 23 season he scored 49. His career high is 73. He is not noted for being defensively responsible or a great two-way player. He is -33 for his career.

Nelson has twelve NHL seasons and has averaged 50 points per season. He scored 42 in his age 23 season. He is +15 for his career. He has scored over 60 points in two of his twelve seasons, 69 and 75. A solid two-way player with a nice career.

That's who Silly G. wanted. Would he have signed the same contract that either of those guys signed? We don't know, but I think so to make a splash and give the fans their Christmas morning. But in his mind Rossi isn't worth what those two are worth? Does a 35 year old declining Boeser sound good seven years from now at $7.25AAV? The Canucks thought so. How about a 37 year old Nelson at $7.5M AAV three years from now? The Avalanche thought so.

Maybe Marco should consider changing his name. Billy would probably sign Brock Rossi to an 8x8!

[Scalptrash]

Billy is damaging his reputation and the team's, as long as he remains the GM. How do you think the prospects feel who are watching this unfold, especially if they are under six feet tall? How are younger free agents going to view MN? He's definitely putting on a master class in mis-management.

Don't be surprised if Kaprizov gets $16M, it would only make sense for the way he manages this team.