Report: Canucks ‘very interested’ in trading for Wild’s Marco Rossi

A pending restricted free agent is garnering a lot of attention from the Vancouver Canucks.

During an interview with Thomas Drance and Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650 on Thursday, Michael Russo of The Athletic stated that he believes the Canucks are taking a solid look at Minnesota Wild forward Marco Rossi.

“I definitely hear from really good sources that Vancouver really likes Marco and is very interested in Marco,” Russo said. “Does that mean a trade? Does that mean an offer sheet? One or the other? Who knows.”

Rossi is at the end of his entry-level contract, which had a cap hit of $863,333, with the AAV coming up to $1,713,333, thanks to $850,000 in performance bonuses.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin has reportedly made a couple of sizeable offers to Rossi’s camp to extend the young Austrian, including a bridge deal. However, according to his agent, Ian Pulver, a bridge contract was no longer appealing to his player after Rossi was buried in the lineup during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights.

With that, and the Wild seemingly uninterested in signing Rossi to a long-term contract, Russo believes Rossi’s tenure in the Twin Cities is nearing its end.

“We’ll see where it goes,” Russo mentioned on Thursday. “But I definitely get the impression that we’re going to see him getting a new change of address here by the end of the month.”

While there’s concern about his lack of size and how it translates to the style of play in the postseason, Rossi still has time to grow into a talented scorer that many saw coming up through the junior ranks with the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67s.

The 23-year-old has spent the last two seasons entirely with the Wild. After posting 40 points during the 2023-24 campaign, Rossi set career highs in goals (24), assists (36) and points (60), finishing second on the team in scoring behind Matt Boldy. He went on to score two goals and an assist in the six games against Vegas.

When it comes to the Canucks, they should have the space, both financially and roster-wise, to fit Rossi into the fold. According to CapWages, Vancouver has a little under $14 million in cap space. He could fit into a second or third-line centre role, providing a secondary scoring touch the Canucks need.