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  • Wild Want Massive Haul in Trade for Marco Rossi


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    Thomas Williams

    The Minnesota Wild are not going to be selling Marco Rossi for pennies on the dollar, like we thought they were going to. A few weeks back, when the rumored desire to get one of Tyson Foerster or a late first-round pick from the Philadelphia Flyers for the 23-year-old center, we all panicked. There was no way that they could just send off someone who just scored 60 points for a package of potential that might not even gel with the Wild.

    Well, thankfully, that wasn't true.

    The most recent report, though, does tell us that the Wild are doing the opposite and are trying to get the most from interested teams in exchange for Rossi. According to The Province, the Wild have rejected an offer of the 15th overall pick this Friday and a player on the Canucks roster. Of course, that player could be a mystery but as we all know now, they quickly said to no to that.

    It does certainly feel that the Wild are taking advantage of a weak center market. With Brock Nelson gone, Sam Bennett re-signing in Florida, Matt Duchene staying in Dallas, Trevor Zegras traded to Philadelphia, and now an elderly John Tavares left alone as the prize pony down the middle, the Wild can demand a whole lot. 

    Arguably, Marco Rossi is the best center available in the entire NHL. He has potential and plays a hard game despite his height, and would seamlessly fit into any team's top six (or at least, middle six). Maybe that's why the Wild should keep him. But, if they are hard-pressed on trading him and will do it sometime soon, they should get more than they originally bargained for. 

    • Greg Cronin was officially announced as the next head coach for AHL Iowa Wild. Can he be the one to fix the Wild's pipeline issues? [Hockey Wilderness]

    Off the trail...

    • Zegras was finally traded, and it was to the Flyers. They got their "high-end talent" that they have been searching for and will try to have him as a top-six center. [NBC Sports]
    • The NHL has a show featuring the stories of the top prospects for the 2025 NHL Draft. [NHL.com]
    • One of the final Draft Rankings for this year. [ESPN]

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    At this point I think a best case scenario would be for Rossi to sign a 3 yr bridge with no clauses (Reddit tells me he's to young to get clauses), so that if Rossi's development continues up and to the right, and bill still doesn't love the kid, we have a valuable asset for future trade deadline's.

    #Boeser+Re-signed Rossi Christmas magic?

    (i still think bill would like to trade Rossi+Ogz for a bigger fish, but Tavares isn't coming here and there really aren't any big fish left this off-season)

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    I really don’t think Rossi is going to play hard for us after what we put him through.  Best to move on.  Going to have to package Rossi, Ohgren and 1 of (Zeev, Brodin, Faber) to get the big fish we want otherwise it’s not happening.  If Billy spends over $5mm on Boeser he should be fired.  Let someone else overspend.  

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    13 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

    At this point I think a best case scenario would be for Rossi to sign a 3 yr bridge with no clauses (Reddit tells me he's to young to get clauses), so that if Rossi's development continues up and to the right, and bill still doesn't love the kid, we have a valuable asset for future trade deadline's.

    #Boeser+Re-signed Rossi Christmas magic?

    (i still think bill would like to trade Rossi+Ogz for a bigger fish, but Tavares isn't coming here and there really aren't any big fish left this off-season)

    Hearing (on Russo’s podcast) that Rossi wants out. How likely will he get a chance to play top-6 minutes after getting put on the 4th in the playoffs? (Worst case scenario) In 3 years after playing on the 4th line, how much can he make in free agency? Maybe a 1 year contract?

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    Rossi doesn't strike me as a quitter someone that won't gut things out over a contract dispute.  He would be shown the door super FUCKING fast if he was.  If he and his agent want money, the quickest way to lose it is to stop caring 

    Besides, Guerin was in the news last night and told them in no certain terms that the media (i.e. Russo and others) can go fuck themselves.  We won't know anything until "re-signs" or "traded" shows up.

    Edited by Citizen Strife
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    He has potential and plays a hard game despite his height, and would seamlessly fit into any team's top six (or at least, middle six).

    Sounds like the type of player we need. 😐

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    1-2 yr contract ~$6M for Rossi seems best at this point, I'd much rather have Rossi than Zegras any day.  According to Russo, they offered him a bridge contract <$5M.  Like it or not, they just don't want to pay him what the market bares because they don't value him.  They overpay for a plug like Trenin.

    The thinning center market is better for the Wild, but also better for Rossi's negotiating leverage.  The Wild made two mistakes, not re-signing him prior to last season, then sticking him on the fourth line in the playoffs.

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    I read yesterday that Toronto offered Tavares a contract of three years at less than $4M a year.  I know guys like Duchene,  Tavares and Donato are all older than Rossi, but with the contracts they are getting, it would seem to me that Rossi might have to settle for less than he is hoping for.  

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    3 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

    I read yesterday that Toronto offered Tavares a contract of three years at less than $4M a year.  I know guys like Duchene,  Tavares and Donato are all older than Rossi, but with the contracts they are getting, it would seem to me that Rossi might have to settle for less than he is hoping for.  

    At 34-35 yrs old Tavares and Duchene have made their big time money at this point, they're sacrificing money for fit, team & location, and at 29 yrs old Donato definitely peaked last year at 60 points, he has no more upside other than playing with Bedard.  Rossi is 23 yrs old, I think he'll always be at least a 50 point player, but it wouldn't be a surprise if he hits 70-80 points either.

    Tavares loves being a Leaf, but <$4 is a little insulting, I'm sure he'll re-sign, but being lowballed like that definitely opens the door for other teams in a week.

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    2 minutes ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

    At 34-35 yrs old Tavares and Duchene have made their big time money at this point, they're sacrificing money for fit, team & location, and at 29 yrs old Donato definitely peaked last year at 60 points, he has no more upside other than playing with Bedard.  Rossi is 23 yrs old, I think he'll always be at least a 50 point player, but it wouldn't be a surprise if he hits 70-80 points either.

    Tavares loves being a Leaf, but <$4 is a little insulting, I'm sure he'll re-sign, but being lowballed like that definitely opens the door for other teams in a week.

    I agree that Rossi has more upside and is worth more, but unless other teams wow us with some offer, I don't see him getting the money he is asking for.  He has no leverage at all.  If the rumors are true that Bennett is close to resigning with the Panthers at $7.5-$8M, that isn't going to help Rossi and his agent in getting what they want either.  

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    44 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

    Hearing (on Russo’s podcast) that Rossi wants out. How likely will he get a chance to play top-6 minutes after getting put on the 4th in the playoffs? (Worst case scenario) In 3 years after playing on the 4th line, how much can he make in free agency? Maybe a 1 year contract?

    One year contract would be even better

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    Played all 82 games.  Scored 24 goals (only 7 of the goals being on the power play) and 36 assists for 60 points as a responsible center and is only 23 years old.  He was +3 on the year, has a 200 foot game and averaged 18 minutes of ice time and played well in the 3v3 OT games.    Why are we trading him?

    Rossi can flat out play.  I hope he stays in MN.  The only issue would be his salary.  Jared McCann signed his $5M/AAV deal when he only had 50 points in 2021 but with 8 fewer games.  Anthony Cirelli signed at 6.25M after only a 29 point year in 58 games.  Rossi has to be north of 6.25M.   BG's offer of $5M was too low.  If we get to July someone in this league will offer Rossi $7.5M/AAV or higher, which doesn't have a bad draft return.  

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    Man it annoys me to hear Guerin talk. "We were just doing it to win" regarding playing Rossi on the forth line in playoffs. What sort of donkey thinks pigeonholing his 2nd most productive player this year on the 4th line isn't going to have consequences? In a contact year?

    I don't blame Rossi for wanting to go elsewhere now. Between a lowball offer for a 5X5M, which is no where near market value, and getting placed below Gaudreau on the depth chart for post season after putting up 60 pts in the reg. He knows Billy's going to do him dirty again and plummet his value for his next contract while he has the skills to be top 6 all year long. 

    Even if we do get a bridge deal done, he's looking for a way out. Hugely disappointing as he is one of the best players we have developed thus far. With the lackluster development out of Iowa the past couple years, the cap rising significantly and the lack of players hitting free agency, developing and keeping guys in MN will be crucial for building a cup contender. I've lost all faith in Billy to get us there. He just keeps making boneheaded player relations moves, reacts badly to any criticism or questioning from the media and picks favorites and has trouble seeing his players objectively. He did good to keep us competetive, even if it hurt our chances at building a contender. Not arguing that he hasn't done some good things, I just feel like he rules with an iron fist, and those GMs never make it far.

     

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    45 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

    “I like Marco. He’s a good hockey player.”

    GMBG better be mending some fences or he won’t have a chair left.

    image.gif.b26f3f8280d2222af126e473c6f4e358.gif

    Normalizing obesity one video at a time

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    57 minutes ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

    1-2 yr contract ~$6M for Rossi seems best at this point, I'd much rather have Rossi than Zegras any day.  According to Russo, they offered him a bridge contract <$5M.  Like it or not, they just don't want to pay him what the market bares because they don't value him.  They overpay for a plug like Trenin.

    The thinning center market is better for the Wild, but also better for Rossi's negotiating leverage.  The Wild made two mistakes, not re-signing him prior to last season, then sticking him on the fourth line in the playoffs.

    This is not how it works. There had been a change in the last 3-4 years where teams had paid young stars enormous sums to buy out UFA years. However, it appears that teams are starting to crawl this back. 

    While Rossi's stats may say he is a $6m player, the truth is that unless he comes with an offersheet, he's not getting $6m. That offersheet will be matched. Essentially, Guerin can bargain with any team out there using a 2026 1st, 2nd, 3rd without lottery protection as his base for any trade. He prefers players to picks right now, likely players within the '21-23 window if he trades Rossi (since the '20 picks will have already been traded out). 

    Rossi has got very little say in his contract for next season. It's not like we can't get him for a qualifying offer, and if he doesn't take that, doesn't get an offersheet, his next option is a different league. And, with that, the Wild still hold his rights for another 4 seasons. 

    On the other side of the table, unless you are a GM who really wants to get Rossi, you are not offering something that the Wild will simply match. It needs to be outlandish. Otherwise, you just piss off a GM that you didn't need to. We saw what Waddell did with Kotkaniemi. Montreal tried to take Aho which was matched. Carolina then stole Kotkaniemi because Montreal had cap problems and lost 2 centers that year. 

    Why did it work so well when St. Louis did it? Because Edmonton had no cap space to match. The Wild do have that space. And this takes away much of the remaining leverage Rossi had to get out of town. 

    So, where are we? We're at a place where a disgruntled employee who thought he deserved a big raise isn't getting one. If I'm in Rossi's camp, I work out hard this summer, pack on some strength pounds so I can be trusted, sign a 1 year deal for not much, and hope that I play well enough to get a big deal either mid way through the year, at arbitration, or I'll get traded. 

    Is this fair to Rossi? Likely not, he earned a decent raise. However, those are the CBA rules, and all the players have to play with those rules. 

    To my knowledge, I don't think poison pills are allowed in the contracts like we did for Hutchinson. But if they were allowed, this would be another move that Rossi's agent could make in the offersheet. Something like if the player plays 15 games in MN, some big bonus kicks in making his cap like $9m. I would suggest that if another GM were to pull a move like this, they would have a hard time in the future making any deals.

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    39 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    Man it annoys me to hear Guerin talk. "We were just doing it to win" regarding playing Rossi on the forth line in playoffs. What sort of donkey thinks pigeonholing his 2nd most productive player this year on the 4th line isn't going to have consequences? In a contact year?

    I don't blame Rossi for wanting to go elsewhere now. Between a lowball offer for a 5X5M, which is no where near market value, and getting placed below Gaudreau on the depth chart for post season after putting up 60 pts in the reg. He knows Billy's going to do him dirty again and plummet his value for his next contract while he has the skills to be top 6 all year long. 

     

    Even if we do get a bridge deal done, he's looking for a way out. Hugely disappointing as he is one of the best players we have developed thus far. With the lackluster development out of Iowa the past couple years, the cap rising significantly and the lack of players hitting free agency, developing and keeping guys in MN will be crucial for building a cup contender. I've lost all faith in Billy to get us there. He just keeps making boneheaded player relations moves, reacts badly to any criticism or questioning from the media and picks favorites and has trouble seeing his players objectively. He did good to keep us competetive, even if it hurt our chances at building a contender. Not arguing that he hasn't done some good things, I just feel like he rules with an iron fist, and those GMs never make it far.

     

    Hartman and Foligno playing like people possessed probably forced that.  I blame Hynes for trusting Gaudreau and Nyquist moreso than not letting Rossi play 2nd or 3rd line instead.

    That's more on Hynes though.  I highly doubt Guerin purposefully played that hand just to fuck with Rossi.  This isn't Talbot's wife bitching to the public.

     

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    1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

    BG's offer of $5M was too low.  If we get to July someone in this league will offer Rossi $7.5M/AAV or higher, which doesn't have a bad draft return.

    While I doubt that a GM is going to do this, $5m is definitely not too low to offer. It is not market value, it is a value contract with someone who doesn't really have any leverage. Comparables are irrelevant to Rossi's situation. They will be relevant next season, but they are not now. 

    You think there are 31 other GMs out there that can offer this deal. Yet only 13 of them have the draft compensation to do so, and of those 13, I believe 5 of them were set at center. So, we're really talking about 8 GMs out there. 

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    56 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    sign a 1 year deal for not much, and hope that I play well enough to get a big deal either mid way through the year, at arbitration, or I'll get traded. 

    Is this fair to Rossi? Likely not, he earned a decent raise. However, those are the CBA rules, and all the players have to play with those rules. 

    Please predict the 1 year deal that you think Rossi ends up signing...

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    1 hour ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    getting placed below Gaudreau on the depth chart for post season after putting up 60 pts in the reg. He knows Billy's going to do him dirty again

    I don’t blame Rossi. I was a GMBG bobo until this whole situation. Watch him fail to sign KK97 now. 🤬

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    2 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

    If he and his agent want money, the quickest way to lose it is to stop caring 

    Easy to do if your coach and GM give up on Rossi first. He’s done everything that’s been asked of him to this point. Then he got demoted below Freddy in the playoffs…

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    2 hours ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

    The thinning center market is better for the Wild, but also better for Rossi's negotiating leverage.  The Wild made two mistakes, not re-signing him prior to last season, then sticking him on the fourth line in the playoffs.

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