Marco Rossi to be healthy scratch vs. Avalanche [Update: Maybe not]

Monday was supposed to be a new opportunity for the Minnesota Wild’s top prospect Marco Rossi. After the team were shelled right away, giving up multiple goals in the first period in their first two games, Rossi was barely on the ice as head coach Dean Evason wanted to match lines as much as he could and get the advantage over the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings.

But with this upcoming match against the Colorado Avalanche, it was going to be new ground for the Wild to at least try and create offense off the start and have the top prospect playing some damn hockey. Well, unfortunately, Evason has decided to take his treatment of Rossi’s game one step further and scratch him from the lineup.

That’s right. It’s just another NHL head coach not playing his young player because they don’t really want to trust someone that is unproven at the top level, and would rather play someone that is just barely older.

In his place, it appears that the fourth line will be Connor Dewar, Brandon Duhaime, and their new center Mason Shaw — who was recently recalled by the Wild. No knock on their ability to produce as a line or their individual skill, but we’re talking about a former ninth-overall pick, that is someone scouts are raving about, and has finally made the NHL team after dominating the AHL for an entire season. We just want to see him play.

We are certainly overreacting, and we are sure that Evason will give an explanation before or after the game, and we know that this seems so standard across the league — for a young player that is just finding their bearings in the NHL, to take a game off and just practice extra hard, or whatever. But we just want to enjoy Rossi and after waiting a whole lot, taking him away for an important game is heartbreaking.

I’m sure we’ll forget about this in a couple months, but man, you just want to see the dude play.

UPDATE

Well, minutes after we published this blog, it appears that Mats Zuccarello got a little banged up and had to leave practice early, leaving him questionable to play against the Avalanche.

If Zuccarello cannot play, Rossi will be in the lineup along with Mason Shaw making his season debut. If Zuccarello is fine and dandy, then everything will carry on like we assumed at the beginning of practice and the Wild’s top prospect will be in the press box.

We should know just before the puck drops tonight at The X.