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  • The Wild Can't Let Perfect Be the Enemy Of the Good With Rossi


    Image courtesy of Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
    Tony Abbott

    There's a familiar axiom that goes something like, "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good." Most people can relate to it. You can spend days, weeks, months, and even years endlessly tinkering with something that's good, all in the name of getting it perfect. Maybe getting something perfect is necessary. But more often than not, the time spent attaining perfection offers diminishing returns, and that's if perfection is possible to begin with. Most of the time, good works really well and saves you unnecessary time, energy, and stress. 

    We're seeing credible reports that the Wild may trade 20-goal-scoring rookie Marco Rossi this summer. Perhaps very soon, with Michael Russo mentioning on May 28's "Worst Seats in the House" Podcast, "that [this] month, at a minimum, Marco Rossi is being dangled out there" in trade talks. The biggest reason for this is that, it appears, perfect is the enemy of good. They could have Rossi at center, but what if they had a bigger, stronger player there instead? 

    The Wild might be able to get the kind of player they're looking for, but that's a risky proposition when the team has a dependable, 20-goal, 40-point, 22-year-old center in Rossi. That's not just "good," It's one of the only times the Wild have had that situation at center in franchise history. Look at the centers the team has developed in their 20-plus-year history, and the list is two: Mikko Koivu and Joel Eriksson Ek.

    Minnesota doesn't even get to settle for "good," but they're apparently willing to jettison that to chase "perfect." 

    It's a frustrating proposition in itself, but it's compounded whenever those close to the team explain what, exactly, Minnesota isn't getting in Rossi. The answers are easily disproven, contradictory, or bizarre, and the discussion on that episode of "Worst Seats in the House" highlights each flaw to the criticisms.

    (Editor's Note: Before continuing -- it's worth acknowledging that the following commentary from, specifically, Russo and Ryan Carter, are attempting to offer insight into the front office's thinking and not necessarily their own opinions. The following will be approaching these as the Wild's brass' likely views and not trying to pin these as the personal opinions of any media personality.)

    The driving critique might be whether or not he's a top-six center or not, in their eyes. "Is he a future No. 1 or No. 2 line center, or is he a third-line center on a good team?" Russo asked. "I'll bet you that is what's going through the mind of the Wild organization. Maybe they're just not trusting... that he has a spot in that top-six."

    Minnesota's answer to this conundrum will perhaps be trading Rossi. Wrong answer. The correct response is: Who cares? If Rossi's upside is that of a third-line center on a good team, congrats: They've found their third-line center! If the club believes Rossi is a third-line center on a "good team" and foresees Danila Yurov or Riley Heidt leap-frogging Rossi on the depth chart, then what's the problem here? The Wild would see Rossi as a third-line center on a good, contending team, and they'd have the depth to put him in that ideal position. 

    That would be great news for Minnesota, whose goal, presumably, is to be... a good team! The stereotype of a Third-Line Center is unglamorous and undervalued. People hear that term and think of a low-scoring forward banging against the other team's more physical players. It's much more crucial than that, at least, for the good teams with depth at center.

    All you have to do is look at the good teams that made the Stanley Cup Final. Who is the Edmonton Oilers third-line center? Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the former No. 1 overall pick. Nugent-Hopkins isn't a typical "bottom-six" type of player, and calling him a "third-line center" underscores how much Edmonton uses him. At 5-on-5 play (removing special teams from the equation), "RNH" is fifth among Oilers forwards in time on ice per game. He's a "bottom-six" forward on paper, but in reality, he's eating "top-six" amounts of minutes.

    Look across to the Florida Panthers, who represent the Eastern Conference in the Cup Final, and there's Anton Lundell. You'll find Lundell as the third-line center on anyone's line charts, but is he a "bottom-six" forward in practice? Nope. Lundell is fifth in even-strength time on ice for the Panthers. We're not in the days of a third-line center being a one-way, Kyle Brodziak-type player anymore.

    That's to say, if the Wild see Rossi as a third-line center on a good team, that is a spot that is probably the fifth-most valuable forward role on the team. Why give that up to try finding greener pastures? If you have a 22-year-old who can hold that position, keep them and build around that.

    Looking to trade a valuable player because he "only" fills their fifth-most important need is baffling enough, but Carter's assessment of the situation is even more confounding. Carter is a former Wild player who broadcasts with Bally Sports North and hosts the team-affiliated "Wild on 7th" Podcast. While not part of the decision-making group, one can assume some familiarity with the team's thinking, being close to the team.

    Attempting to explain what shortcomings Rossi might have that would make him expendable, Carter explains, "Coming out of the draft, I think the Wild felt they were getting a real puck-mover, distributor-type player, where he's going to play up the middle and give the puck to the scorers on the flank. And I don't think Rossi has turned out to be that. We're talking about him being a 20-goal scorer.

    "And give him credit, he put weight on in the summer, and he's able to produce goals," Carter continued. "To me, it looks like he watched game tape of Eriksson Ek, and he's turning into a smaller version of Eriksson Ek, where he scores his goals in the paint. But you don't see a lot of distributors of the puck scoring in the paint. They play on the perimeter, they find space, they know passing lines. Rossi might have that skill, but that's not what they're getting at the moment."

    Carter concludes that the issue is a matter of fit rather than necessarily skill. "He's not their 15-to-20-goal-scorer, 60-assist type of guy. I think that was maybe the upside for Rossi on draft day. And what does Matt Boldy need on the second line? A true puck-mover, someone who can make plays and find him to score the goals. Is Rossi that?... He's different from what they thought they were getting."

    If those thoughts reflect the Wild's approach to Rossi, that should raise alarm bells for Wild fans. It's letting perfect be the enemy of good. 

    Despite all of the Wild's apparent hand-wringing over Rossi's size, they have a player who gets to the net regularly (and without missing a game in 2023-24) and plays similarly to Eriksson Ek, their No. 1 center. He takes matters into his own hands by going to the greasy areas to score goals and doesn't stay out of the fray on the perimeter.

    And this is all... a bad fit? How?

    Look through as many scouting reports as you'd like, for as long as you'd like. You won't find one that criticizes a smaller player for not being on the perimeter enough. Or even a larger player -- look at how long the team has begged Boldy to play the way Rossi does! In the hockey world, it's almost universally a criticism -- or at least a limitation -- to note that someone is a "perimeter player." Except, maybe, when the Wild are looking at Rossi and considering his future with the team. 

    If the Wild are disappointed that Rossi has fashioned himself into an Eriksson Ek clone or that he doesn't play, say, Marcus Johansson's perimeter game, it's patently absurd. A GM should be willing to trade members of their immediate families to land a 22-year-old Eriksson Ek-caliber center. Behind any forward who racks up 60 assists on less than 20 goals is a coach that'd reach into their pocket to pay the player twice their salary if they got to the net occasionally.

    If any of this reflects why Minnesota would dangle Rossi on the trade market, it reads as "It's not you, it's me" levels of break-up excuse-making. The Wild are still in a decades-long center drought. But they finally have a young, productive center and are apparently disappointed with having one that didn't quite match the center of their dreams. They have a good thing in Rossi and still have time to ensure they have that good thing into the future. All they have to do is not make perfect the enemy of good.

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    All Guentzel and Buchnevich do for this team, IMO, is greatly reduce the Wild's window to win. How many 30-plus players can you have on the team at a time? Both are good goal-scorers, but that player type at that stage of their careers can easily fade in a couple of years.

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    5 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

    Russo's getting the sense that the Wild are finally coming to their senses after their pro scouting meetings -- basically, he's on an ELC, they're not contenders now, why not give him another year? 

    The fact they had to come to their senses at all is just another nail in Guerin's coffin for me. He is an idiot who, like somebody else mentioned, lost the plot on us not contending until after the heavy buyout period.

    If Kap is going to leave us, then let him leave. For an NHL team to be a consistent contendor we need more than 1 guy--even if he is an all-star player. We can't make our team worse trying to bend over backward getting him to resign by trying to make our team "good now" when we have almost $15 million in dead cap.

    Again, $15M in dead cap so lets get rid of a really really good rookie center on an ELC and trade him for prospects or somebody else that will cost more!

    With those prospects we could get anybody! We could even get another Marco Rossi--a promising goal scoring center which we really need on this team!

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    On 6/4/2024 at 12:51 PM, SpaceCowboy said:

    I like how Tony started the article regarding Perfection being the enemy of good. Replacing a good young center for a player that fits the "perfect" description seems very challenging to accomplish. On the same thought, what GM would get rid of a better player than Rossi for a smaller center? I find it hard to believe any team would make that trade.

    For the Wild, a team that is starved for secondary scoring, it is awfully hard to see where there is no place for a young, 40 point center on the roster. It is hard for me to see how he is not a fit or cannot be utilized productively.

    Thank you SpaceCowboy, somebody finally agrees with me. A team that has a hard time putting the puck in the net, we cannot afford to get rid of a 22 year old point getter, makes zero sense.

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    6 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

    Russo's getting the sense that the Wild are finally coming to their senses after their pro scouting meetings -- basically, he's on an ELC, they're not contenders now, why not give him another year? 

    This should have been obvious. To have them to have to come to their senses on something this fundamental given the cap space situation they are in does not induce a lot of confidence in future decision making. If you want to mess with Rossi's mind mission accomplished. 

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    2 hours ago, MacGyver said:

    If you want to mess with Rossi's mind mission accomplished

    And that's the thing right there. The guy does everything asked of him, has a great season and the reward is to publicly have your name thrown out there as trade bait. The very definition of incompetence IMO.

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    Yup, honestly if I was Rossi I would want a trade away from BG and the Wild organization that has basically done nothing but shit on him since he got here.

    I hope they do trade him and then he comes to down and lights up the fucking lamp all the time just because the Wild have jerked him around so much and treated him like shit.

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    5 hours ago, TCMooch said:

    Yup, honestly if I was Rossi I would want a trade away from BG and the Wild organization that has basically done nothing but shit on him since he got here.

    I hope they do trade him and then he comes to down and lights up the fucking lamp all the time just because the Wild have jerked him around so much and treated him like shit.

    I think this is Guerin's management style. Bull in a china shop approach. Works in some instances and not in others. He just doesn't seem to think things through. He doesn't have the tempermant or patience. Someone mentioned earlier about Darby Hendrickson turning down a front office job and decided just to leave the franchise after his entire career was spent here. 

    Darby most likely has been witness to enough of Guerins style behind closed doors that he'd rather not be part of it. When it becomes work just to be around a personality like that it can be stressful day in and day out. Makes you hate your job. I've worked for people who I'm pretty sure Guerin is just like.  

    Don't think players around the league don't hear the stories and factor that in to whether they would want to come here or not. 

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