Jump to content
Hockey Wilderness
  • Marco Rossi's World Championships A Good Sign For His Future


    Image courtesy of Marc DesRosiers-USA Today Sports
    Tony Abbott

    The IIHF World Championships aren't attracting a ton of top talent this year, but some notable names are playing for their countries right now. Team USA is relatively loaded with Alex Tuch, NHLers in Conor Garland and Scott Perunovich, and top prospect Cutter Gauthier. Team Canada has MacKenzie Weegar, Tyler Toffoli, and a trio of premier prospects in Adam Fantilli, Jack Quinn, and Peyton Krebs. Team Finland is rocking Mikko Rantanen and Kaapo Kakko

    However, Team Austria is one squad that really doesn't have much talent to boast. The Salzburg Skaters have 21 NHL games combined, and Marco Rossi owns all 21 of them. To put it another way, Team France has more NHL experience.

    As expected, Austria's played like they've got no other NHL talent. They've won just one of their seven games (against relegated Team Hungary) and scored 10 goals. Still, Rossi did what he's done just about everywhere except the NHL: produce.

    Rossi factored in six of Austria's 10 goals, scoring one and assisting on five more. That includes showing up against the tournament's top teams. In their matchups against their five toughest opponents (USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Denmark), Rossi assisted on four of Austria's six goals. At 5-on-5, Austria was absolutely destroyed in those games, getting outscored by a 3-19 margin. But Rossi held even. He was on ice for all three of Austria's 5-on-5 tallies while only giving up three goals in return.

    There's only so much you can do in an international tournament when you play for Austria. But credit to Rossi, he entered Tuesday in the tournament's top-30 in scoring and was seemingly the only thing that made Austria look like they could hang.

    If you're keeping score, since returning from his long absence from myocarditis, Rossi has 104 points in 115 AHL games, six points in seven World Championship games, and led the NHL in scoring during the 2022-23 pre-season.

    If only that would just translate to the NHL. 

    Rossi remains polarizing in the State of Hockey, and figures to be so until he either blossoms or the Wild move on. The stats are what they are: a lone assist in 21 NHL contests. The situation was what it was: there was a coach who didn't trust him and gave him very few opportunities. It's not particularly interesting to re-litigate it now. The bigger concern is the future

    As of now, we still don't know what will happen with Rossi's situation. Our last inkling of what the Wild are thinking came from a snippet in Michael Russo and Joe Smith's Minnesota Wild mailbag on The Athletic. "It's not that they think he's not ready," they wrote. "They're clearly starting to re-consider whether his future is in Minnesota and whether he can be a top-six center."

    What's limiting his future? According to Russo and Smith, "The team feels he's too weak physically to function in the NHL and not explosive enough with his skating." Without top-tier strength and the high-end skating that can come from strong legs, Rossi's relied primarily on his smarts and skills to get points.

    The Wild brass appear to be discouraged by this. But shouldn't they be encouraged instead?

    Despite his lack of strength, Rossi has scored at a rate of nearly a point per game over the past two years. As you'll see, his AHL numbers before turning 22 stack up extremely favorably against some premier, top-line players in the league:

    Tyler Johnson: 0.91
    Jordan Kyrou: 0.91
    MARCO ROSSI: 0.90
    Sean Couturier: 0.90
    Nazem Kadri: 0.88
    Kyle Connor: 0.88
    Mark Stone: 0.86

    Here's the big question: If this is what he can do with limited strength, what can he do after an offseason of training in the way the Wild want?

    Russo and Smith note that Rossi will be in the Twin Cities this offseason skating with Andy Ness and working with Minnesota's strength coaches. In not going home to Austria, Rossi's showing that he is clearly committed to getting better. All that needs to happen is for their coaches to do what they're supposed to do: Make their player stronger and better.

    Mikael Granlund is the obvious comparison because of their shared team, initial position in the NHL, similar size, and draft slot at No. 9 overall. Like Rossi, Granlund also initially struggled in the NHL, with eight points in 27 games in his first NHL season. Like with Rossi, they came in his Draft-plus-3 season.

    The Wild could have given up on Granlund at any time in the next three seasons. He topped out at 13 goals and 44 points, which was underwhelming for a guy whose expectations were to be Kirill Kaprizov before Kaprizov. But the reason for those expectations were that he succeeded wildly at basically every professional level before the NHL. 

    He'd had massive success in Finland prior to signing with the Wild. Granlund also had 28 points in 29 AHL games during the year he experienced his growing pains. During the following season, in the midst of an eight-goal, 41-point campaign, he had his own experience with international success. During the Olympic Games on a talented Team Finland team, scoring three goals and seven points riding shotgun with Teemu Selanne.

    Granlund eventually got stronger, got better coaching from Bruce Boudreau, and the results speak for themselves. He didn't become a franchise-changer like Minnesota drafted him to be, but he still was a legitimate top-six forward who scored 65-plus points twice.

    One hopes that the timeline is a bit faster with Rossi, and that he can stick down the middle, which Granlund couldn't. But the point stands. Unless there's a reason that Rossi is physically incapable of gaining strength, he's showing in the World Championships why giving up on him would just be silly.

    Think you could write a story like this? Hockey Wilderness wants you to develop your voice, find an audience, and we'll pay you to do it. Just fill out this form.

    • Like 2

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    Featured Comments

    Great article! This next year is definitely make or break for Rossi, hopefully he and the coaching staff and help add some size and strength this summer and he comes out with a fire this fall.  Also, hopefully he get a crack at the top 2 lines instead of the 4th line junk he was getting a lot this past fall.

    • Like 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Good article Tony. My fear is that Deano is just not the best coach for Rossi. Every head coach has "his guys" that he leans on and plays in every situation, but Deano seems to be a little extreme in that regard. That is just one more hurdle for Rossi to get past. Who knows, maybe he really isn't built for the NHL. But will we know of he never gets a legit shot? Playing 4th line grinder is not going to work for either the Wild or Rossi.

    • Like 6
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    I watched Rossi in the IIHF games and he looked good against the lower end teams and about the same against the premier teams. In fact, just like he looked against the NHL talent in his 16 games. If he looked good against the premier teams as Tony alluded to it was only in apples and not goals.

    I'm seriously having doubts about him being a center in the NHL and he may only be a wing on a line with some other talent to draw the D away from him. He does a lot of watching and not so much checking or grinding.

    At this point, we may as well just sit back and see if he pulls an Ek as far as timeline. I'm worried, as you cant teach the physical presence he needs in his game at the NHL level. Either you have it or you don't.

    He a nice kid and I've been impressed with his composure off the ice. He's had a tough road and his determination is constant. I wish him luck, but I'm ready to move on after 24-25 if we continue down this same path this year.

    • Like 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Tony, what did you see when you watched those full Iowa games? Was it a timid Rossi, or an aggressive one? Was it consistent, or just flashes?

    It is clearly one thing to perform against jr. kids who are more in your weight class, it is quite another to do it against men. What I saw was Rossi being very timid during his 1st stint up in the N. He deferred and looked scared to get his hands dirty. 

    2nd call up showed stark improvement each game. 1st game was more of the same, timid Rossi. 2nd game showed a little more selfish play, yet Rossi was easily knocked off pucks and knocked down. 3rd game had at least 1 flash of quickness and suddenness. And, it carried over to the A where his suddenness became a little more noticeable.

    None of us knows how much the myocarditis took out of the kid. None of us knows the actual strength he lost, nor where he is on rebuilding it. None of us knows the full mental toll it took on him. But one thing is for sure, the player I saw on the ice for 19 games does not look remotely close to the player I thought we were drafting, or the scouting reports read. 

    It may just be that this strength, especially lower body strength gets regained this offseason. I'm really rooting for the kid to make the transition, but he looked a lot closer to a 15 year old kid in the training videos we saw mid season than someone who has filled out. Ek wasn't built in a day. For him to be the monster he is now, it took 2-3 offseasons of training. 

    The highlight above and a highlight vs. Rockford where he did essentially the same thing are cause for hope. If that player shows up next season, maybe we have something. If we get deferring Rossi again, change of scenery might be best. 

    Here's the main thing: We have lots of wings, we need centers. We really don't have the depth to allow Rossi to transition to wing like Granlund did. We need centers, and if he's not it, perhaps he helps us get one.

    • Like 2
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    I'm willing to focus on the future. Can't wait to see Rossi go coast to coast against the American or Canadian team or an NHL team. 

    I'm interested to see if the best guy from the worst Country but better than Hungary can make it.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    At this point there is nothing left for him to prove. Give him some damn top 6 minutes and fucking set him up for success. Minnesota Wild suck ass developing talent and I don’t get what is so fuccking hard about it.

    • Like 6
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

    Tony, what did you see when you watched those full Iowa games? Was it a timid Rossi, or an aggressive one? Was it consistent, or just flashes?

    It is clearly one thing to perform against jr. kids who are more in your weight class, it is quite another to do it against men. What I saw was Rossi being very timid during his 1st stint up in the N. He deferred and looked scared to get his hands dirty. 

    2nd call up showed stark improvement each game. 1st game was more of the same, timid Rossi. 2nd game showed a little more selfish play, yet Rossi was easily knocked off pucks and knocked down. 3rd game had at least 1 flash of quickness and suddenness. And, it carried over to the A where his suddenness became a little more noticeable.

    None of us knows how much the myocarditis took out of the kid. None of us knows the actual strength he lost, nor where he is on rebuilding it. None of us knows the full mental toll it took on him. But one thing is for sure, the player I saw on the ice for 19 games does not look remotely close to the player I thought we were drafting, or the scouting reports read. 

    It may just be that this strength, especially lower body strength gets regained this offseason. I'm really rooting for the kid to make the transition, but he looked a lot closer to a 15 year old kid in the training videos we saw mid season than someone who has filled out. Ek wasn't built in a day. For him to be the monster he is now, it took 2-3 offseasons of training. 

    The highlight above and a highlight vs. Rockford where he did essentially the same thing are cause for hope. If that player shows up next season, maybe we have something. If we get deferring Rossi again, change of scenery might be best. 

    Here's the main thing: We have lots of wings, we need centers. We really don't have the depth to allow Rossi to transition to wing like Granlund did. We need centers, and if he's not it, perhaps he helps us get one.

    Agreed!

    From the small sample we saw, Rossi seemed hesitant. Is he thinking too much? Is he just afraid of making mistakes? Whatever it was, he was not ready IMO. And of course, playing him on the bottom 6 isn't really giving the kid the best chance to play with more skilled players.

    I'd like to see him play his game as he did in the pre-season games. Maybe it was just the fact that they were meaningless games and he seemed to play with confidence and wasn't thinking or worrying about screwing up.

    The last game he played against Chicago, he showed some glimmer of hope on a few shifts. Hopefully with him doing the off-season training here building strength and speed, along with gaining more confidence, he can take the next step and make it to the big league.

     

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    On 5/24/2023 at 4:40 PM, TCMooch said:

    At this point there is nothing left for him to prove. Give him some damn top 6 minutes and fucking set him up for success. Minnesota Wild suck ass developing talent and I don’t get what is so fuccking hard about it.

    Could not agree more. With what he showed in the preseason they figured they should put him on the 4th line? Wtf sense does that make.

    I get they’re different but what the fck are they trying to do with his development?

    he needs to be allowed to make mistakes as well. You don’t bench him after a crappy showing by the team. I despise that type of handling of young players.

    • Like 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...