NHL Rumours: Update on Minnesota Wild RFA Forward

It’s time for another edition of NHL rumours. The Stanley Cup Final is ongoing, but there’s plenty to discuss among teams that didn’t make that last series. We saw big strides taken by a number of clubs. However, the off-season brings some tough decisions. It’ll always be a struggle to keep pieces on a roster. However, some clubs may have to part with a key player of two.

One team that’s facing a hard choice this off-season is the Minnesota Wild. This edition of NHL rumours deals with an update on an important restricted free agent forward.

All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.

NHL Rumours

What the Future May Hold for an RFA Minnesota Wild Forward

Rumour: Michael Russo of The Athletic gave an update on the situation regarding Marco Rossi. The younger forward is an RFA and has been the subject of trade chatter this off-season.

Analysis: According to Russo, there seems to be an impasse between Rossi and Wild General Manager Bill Guerin. The insider added that a deal doesn’t appear to be close between the two sides. This lack of movement in contract talks means the trade speculation is only going to intensify.

Rossi only saw 11 minutes and eight seconds of ice time per game in the first-round exit at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. This seems be a bone of contention as he put up 60 points in a breakout campaign for him. The young Austrian has contributing more as he’s progressed the last few seasons.

His increased projection and the rising salary cap seemed to create the perfect recipe for stalled contract talks. Rossi feels that he should get a nice pay rise, but the Wild want to keep costs down as they have to line up funds for the impending Kirill Kaprizov extension. Kaprizov can sign a contract on July 1 since he’s entering the last year of his deal.

What It Mean

The Wild do have more flexibility after the steep buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter drop sharply. However, there are some thing Guerin has to take care of. Brock Faber‘s extension hits the books and Kaprizov will need to be taken care of. This may mean that Rossi might not get the payday he desires.

Russo said that Minnesota would love to give Rossi a bridge deal of $5 million or just a bit over that number over five years. However, Rossi’s camp seems to believe he’s worth more money. Russo mentioned that Rossi’s representatives are looking for deal like Matt Boldy‘s of seven years and $7 million per season. One thing that’s not in the 23-year-old’s favour is that he’s not arbitration eligible.

Rossi and his agent could go shop for offer sheets from other teams to put the pressure on Guerin. Teams like the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers were mentioned by Russo as possible suitors for a trade.

Dealing Rossi would also meant that the Wild would have to look for a centre in free agency. Sam Bennett, John Tavares and Claude Giroux were mentioned, but the latter two may stay put this off-season. The Wild have struggled to have centre depth, but there may not be enough to keep the promising young pivot in the fold.