Wild Prepared to Match Marco Rossi Offer Sheet

Amidst all the trade rumors for Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi, his team is backing him up and saying that they would rather keep the restricted free agent. And now that we have entered free agency officially, the Wild will need to carve out a deal for the young forward.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin is confident a contract will get done and Rossi will remain on the Wild.

“I’m not concerned,” Guerin said Tuesday. “We’re prepared. We will match. It’s not an issue with us. I think when you’ve seen (offer sheets) in the past that have been successful, maybe the teams weren’t fully prepared for it. But yeah, we’re prepared for it.

“We’d rather make a deal with Marco.”

That feels like a completely different narrative than the one we have heard of Rossi being in endless trade rumors, but maybe things have changed. The likely happenings up to this point is that the Wild are not getting the right players back they want in a Rossi trade, and all the potential upgrades at the position, are gone. Now, they need to commit to the homegrown player because he is truly their best option, and kind of always was.

• The Minnesota Wild have brought Nico Sturm back to St. Paul. Can the new free agent signing but familiar player, build a playoff-caliber penalty kill? [Hockey Wilderness]
• Is the 2025-26 season make-or-break for former first-round pick Carson Lambos? [Hockey Wilderness]
• The Wild made a couple AHL-bound signings in Tyler Pitlick and Ben Gleason. [Daily Faceoff]

Off the trail...

• A flurry of signings on July 1 and they were...interesting. [ESPN]
• Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving opens up about Mitch Marner leaving and his search for a forward. [Sportsnet]
• Alex Pietrangelo is stepping away from hockey for health reasons.[NHL.com]