Minnesota Wild Still Don’t Like Marco Rossi; Trade May be Imminent

Why? Inconsistencies in the hard areas: in front of the net, 50/50 puck battles, along the boards, etc. When Rosii isn’t on his game, John Hynes and Bill Guerin believes he loses focus in those areas. So much so that longtime Wild insider believes a trade involving Marco Rossi is coming, sooner or later, and he is worried Bill Guerin will regret it, in the end.

“[Marco Rossi’s] game has been up and down, but there’s a ton of guys on this team that have been up and down Jakob Trenton has been, a lot of times, down. And there are just certain guys that seem to get nitpicked, and I’ve seen this for my history with certain players. There’s just always that one player. Kevin fiala was that guy here, treated very differently than other guys.

My biggest concern is that I think that this isn’t just the coaching staff. I think it’s upstairs too. I am still convinced that they are going to trade him. I don’t know when, I don’t know if it’s imminent, or you know, by the deadline or next summer. I just think that they do not feel like he’s the player to commit to long term.”

Michael Russo – Worst Seats in the House Podcast

They still have multiple years of team control over Rossi and he’s proving himself to be a legitimate top-6 center, not to mention the commitment he has shown for the organization in recent offseasons, staying in the Twin Cities instead of going back overseas to be with family.

Russo worried Wild could regret trading Marco Rossi

Rossi even skipped out on Olympic trials with his Austrian national team last summer, which failed to qualify for the games without him. At every turn, Rossi has proven to be worthy of the 1st round draft pick Minnesota spent on him a few years ago. Yet, Guerin & Co seem intent on moving him.

“For a guy that’s done everything they wanted, skipped his sister’s wedding, didn’t participate in the Austria Olympic qualifiers. They asked him to get faster, he worked with [local skating coach] Andy Ness all last summer. They asked him to get stronger, he worked with Matt Harder all last summer. He wants to win, he’s a total pro. It just seems like, to cut ties with this guy at 22 and sometimes, in my eyes, treat him the way they are… I just think that they’re gonna really regret this.”

Michael Russo – Worst Seats in the House Podcast

As Russo and Anthony Lapanta — his podcast co-host and the voice of the Minnesota Wild on FanDuel Sports Network North — discuss, nobody knows Marco Rossi better than Guerin and Hynes. So why do they not see what we see, when we watch him blossom into one of the better forwards on this roster?

Who knows. But one thing is clear. Those leading the Wild organization are not fans of Marco Rossi, so don’t go buy any No. 23 jerseys anytime soon… no matter how well he plays. Here is the full episode of “Worst Seats in the House”.

The full Rossi conversation happens around the 29-minute mark, but this is a subject Russo eludes to throughout the episode. He is not on the same page as the Wild, when it comes to the 2020 No. 9 overall pick.