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By Tony Abbott -
When Joel Eriksson Ek suffered what’s reportedly a broken leg on a blocked shot, it was reasonable to think the Age of Marco Rossi was upon us. After all, the Iowa Wild’s alternate captain paid his dues for 51 games, notching 16 goals and 50 points. If there was ever a time to have a next test, this was it.
Aside from maybe Jared Spurgeon and Kirill Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek holds the Minnesota Wild together. The Wild don’t have a lot of high-end center depth, and Eriksson Ek brings that caliber of play to every area of the ice. He’s strong offensively, putting up a 60-point season despite being used defensively at 5-on-5 for much of the season. Eriksson Ek plays the net front on the top power play, spearheads the penalty kill, and even serves as a silent agitator.
Rossi may not be Eriksson Ek – almost no one is. But it’s not a stretch to say he’s the Eriksson Ek of Des Moines. Rossi is defensively responsible and plays 23:17 per night in all situations, per Jacob Stoller of The Hockey News. Stoller’s access to advanced data also shows that Rossi gets to the middle of the ice much like Eriksson Ek, as he’s in the 90th percentile in shots from the inner slot.
There’s no replacing Eriksson Ek, but Rossi has a chance to be an Eriksson Ek-type eventually. Maybe he could do it now?
There is still tonight’s game, and perhaps even Thursday’s tilt against the Nashville Predators, for Rossi to force his way onto the playoff roster. But if we read between the lines with what Minnesota’s done so far, Rossi might get an interview and get called back for a second one. He’s not getting the job, though. The Wild appear to have set their playoff center rotation in stone.
Or, should we say, Steel? Sam Steel, that is, who is garnering praise from Dean Evason lately, which was noted by the ESPN broadcast during Monday’s game and The Athletic’s Michael Russo post-game.
You don’t need insiders and broadcasters to tell you that, though. Look at how Minnesota has handled the Eriksson Ek situation, and it’s obvious that Rossi was never a serious consideration for a playoff role. At the very least, not as Evason’s first choice.
Eriksson Ek went down on Thursday night, with Minnesota officially declaring him “week-to-week” on Friday morning. Where was Rossi on Friday morning? Three and a half hours south on I-35, preparing to play a game against the Chicago Wolves at 7 p.m.
A four-hour drive, provided you stop at your friendly neighborhood gas station, is no hassle to a prospect. If that quick trip is good enough for Jason Zucker, it’s good enough for Rossi. Instead, they had Rossi play Friday in Des Moines, knowing they had a home game the next night.
Rossi also played Saturday, but in the second half of a home-and-home, this time in Chicago. After the game, he stuck around with Nic Petan to meet the Wild at the United Center, the site of Monday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
It’s a convoluted way to get a prospect up under any circumstance. A quick Google search estimates the cost of getting Rossi from Des Moines to St. Paul as $32.54 – or $65 for a staffer’s round trip. There wasn’t a huge expense or inconvenience in getting Rossi to Saturday’s game to give him a look.
And certainly not with four games left until the playoffs. But Minnesota punted on giving their star prospect, who they hadn’t seen play for them for nearly five months, an NHL viewing on Saturday. They had to get another look at Freddy Gaudreau (~1300 NHL minutes this season) and Steel (~1000 NHL minutes) in those spots.
At the very least, it shows a lack of urgency in assessing all their options.
Two-point nights from the duo solidified their spots in the lineup. Evason all but confirmed going into yesterday’s game that Gaudreau would take the Eriksson Ek spot for the foreseeable future. Again, this is without Rossi stepping on the ice for them.
Rossi drew into the lineup on Monday, mostly to spell Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello and not to get any realistic reps of what he might do if called on in the playoffs. You can argue with the quality of his linemates – we won’t in this space. But it’s pretty undeniable that there is almost no scenario where Rossi would play with Ryan Hartman or Petan in the playoffs. Hartman is tied to Kaprizov’s line, and Petan is unlikely to draw in at all.
Not only did Rossi get a spot on an afterthought of a line, but he didn’t get any sort of ice time, either. In a meaningless game against an inferior opponent, Rossi got 12:47 to work with on Monday – 10 and a half fewer minutes than he averaged at the AHL. He played on a disjointed, not terribly interested (outside of Boldy’s line) team with a power play missing two crucial ingredients.
It would be foolish to make up one’s mind about Rossi’s playoff readiness in those 12 minutes, and Evason probably didn’t. It appears he made up his mind well beforehand that he wasn’t going to make the roster, and Rossi finishing with no points (again) in limited action (again) confirms that.
It’s Evason’s lineup and his team and his job to protect. He has every right to play the players he trusts. You can also say that Rossi should find a way to put up points, even if he’s not in his natural role and rhythm. That’s fair, too.
But the lack of trust in Rossi, to the point where he doesn’t get a serious look in a golden opportunity, is beyond frustrating. Evason had (and still has) a chance to see if Rossi could be a true wild card going into a tough playoff series. Instead, he’s preparing to battle with a center group that couldn’t get it done last year. Except this time, they’re swapping their best center for Steel, a playoff rookie with only seven points since January 17.
Evason’s job is to put the Wild in the best position to win. Maybe he’s doing it. But suppose the Wild finish this four-game stretch without giving Rossi a real opportunity to see what he’d look like in Eriksson Ek’s role. In that case, it hearkens back to other instances where he’s resisted making changes or adjustments. If he leaves stones unturned, then loses in the playoffs with an out-classed center group, what’s next?
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