By Chris Schad -
Minnesota Wild fans expected “Christmas Morning” this summer, but what they got was “The Battle of Marco Rossi.” The young center’s future had been a hot topic throughout the 2024-25 season, and it appeared that a trade was likely when John Hynes dropped him to the fourth line during last spring’s playoff series with the Vegas Golden Knights.
While Wild fans braced for impact while up north at the cabin, the blockbuster move never materialized. Guerin wanted more than what opposing teams may have been offering, and in the end, the two sides reached an agreement on a three-year, $15 million contract that kicks the problem down the road.
In a perfect world, the Wild would give Rossi the chance to prove himself this winter and go back to the negotiating table in two or three years. However, Rossi’s new contract only fuels the trade whispers and raises the prospect of a departure that may be more imminent than initially thought at the beginning of the summer.
It starts with Rossi’s profile. After working on his game in the AHL for two seasons, Rossi became a full-time player in 2023-24 and posted 21 goals and 40 points. He took another step this past season, scoring 24 goals and 60 points and becoming, at least in his eyes, a top-six center.
Set to turn 24 next month, it’s hard to disagree. Rossi finished second on the Wild in scoring and saw his ice time jump to 18:15 in the regular season. He also improved on his faceoff success rate, going from 44.7% in 2023-24 to 46.8% last season. If Rossi continues to improve, he should be in line to cash in near the end of this deal, but that discussion became complicated.
Rossi is a good player, but is he a good player on a legitimate playoff contender? Wild fans seem to think so, especially when they focus on how Rossi started the year. The Wild went 25-11-4 in their first 40 games, and Rossi was a key contributor during that time. He scored 15 goals and 37 points in that stretch, and things were looking great... until you noticed the 21.1% shooting percentage.
Sure enough, Rossi began to regress. Part of it can be blamed on the wave of injuries that left the Wild playing shorthanded until the final weeks of the regular season. But Rossi was never one of the guys to step up. After a four-point game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 4, he managed just nine goals and 23 points in the final 42 games, with his shooting percentage dropping to 13.8% and his faceoff win percentage dropping from 49% to 44.6% down the stretch.
Rossi's 5-foot-9, 182 lbs. was seen as the reason Guerin offered just a five-year, $25 million extension last season. But Rossi's second-half slump might have given Guerin more reason for pause than Rossi's shorter stature.
Guerin was adamant that he wasn’t going to make the team worse this offseason just to make a move in the summer. Keeping Rossi in the fold is an excellent idea in the short term, but it was a move that simply had to happen after no team made a credible offer in a trade or RFA contract. If a team really wanted Rossi, they probably could have just ponied up with an offer sheet worth $7 million and sent the first- and third-round picks to Minnesota. But the rest of the league saw what Guerin did.
That means the new extension is the best of both worlds. Rossi can return to Minnesota and try to prove that he’s the player we saw in the first half of last season. If he does that, the Wild could look to keep him, or they could seek to sell high and bring him to the trade market as soon as the 2026 deadline.
Consider Martin Necas' situation a few years ago. Stuck in a similar standoff with the Hurricanes after scoring 28 goals with 71 points in his age-24 season (2022-23), Necas had a similar standoff with Carolina before signing a two-year, $6 million bridge deal. Necas regressed to score 24 times with 53 goals in the first season of that deal, but the Canes were able to pounce after he scored 16 goals and 55 points in the first 49 games of the 2024-25 season, sending him to the Colorado Avalanche in their first Mikko Rantanen trade.
If Rossi comes out of the gates blazing next season, teams that weren’t in on him this summer before could be more interested. He’s 24, on a cheap deal, and under team control for two more seasons. That could also be a way for the Wild to wring more value out of Rossi, paving the way for the big move that was promised, but never delivered upon this summer.
Put it together, and this contract feels like a band-aid over a fractured relationship. Rossi may be a member of the Wild heading into the upcoming season. Still, if there was any truth to the trade rumors from this summer, the odds of him lasting the entire contract remain slim.
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