Marco Rossi

4:30 p.m.: As expected, the Wild announced that Rossi has been placed on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Minnesota’s announcement indicated that Rossi would miss the next few weeks.

9:13 a.m.: Wild top-line pivot Marco Rossi will miss at least the team’s next few games – potentially longer – with a lower-body injury, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports Friday. Minnesota will be down to the bare minimum of 12 forwards if he’s not available, and they don’t have an open roster spot. Hence, an injured reserve placement is likely to permit the recall of a forward from AHL Iowa.

It’s unexpected news after Rossi made his last appearance, an overtime loss to the Sharks on Tuesday, in full without incident. He missed one game in October due to a lower-body issue. Russo reports that he’s not fully healed from that injury and will need a more extended break to get back to 100 percent.

The 24-year-old has remained the centerpiece of Minnesota’s top line this season with Kirill Kaprizov after a tumultuous summer. He was involved in a drawn-out round of contract negotiations after reaching restricted free agency, and early in the summer, it seemed likelier than not that he’d be dealt away. No trade materialized, though, and he returned to the Wild on a three-year, $15MM bridge deal in late August to avoid being a training camp holdout.

While the Wild didn’t have the best October, Rossi was on a roll. He took the absence of his other routine wingman, Mats Zuccarello, in stride and rattled off 11 points (two goals, nine assists) through his first 11 games. However, he’s only managed two goals in six games since the calendar turned to November and has just one point in his last five. With Zuccarello now back in the fold and registering two assists through his first three games of the season, he and Kaprizov will be centered by Joel Eriksson Ek for the foreseeable future as Rossi exits the lineup.

There’s no timeline yet for Rossi’s return, but he’s expected to be out long enough to intensify the Wild’s documented pursuit of a middle-six forward. Picking up a depth center if one hits waivers might also be a stopgap possibility to keep veterans Ben Jones and Tyler Pitlick, neither of whom has recorded a point this season in a combined 15 appearances, out of a regular spot in Rossi’s absence.

As Russo writes, it’s 2022 first-rounder Danila Yurov who stands with the most to gain while Rossi rehabs. The 21-year-old rookie has just two goals with a -5 rating through his first 13 NHL games, but that’s to be expected given his fourth-line deployment and lack of special teams usage. Yurov has averaged 9:51 of ice time per game and is starting just 36.2% of his even-strength shifts in the offensive zone. He’s spent most of his time centering Marcus Foligno and Yakov Trenin, who’ve combined for no goals and four assists this season. A promotion to top-nine duties is a far more suitable assignment for Yurov’s capabilities and should result in a significant increase in productivity.

1:36 p.m.: The Wild have made Rossi’s new deal official in a team release.

10:36 a.m.: After months of trade speculation, restricted free agent center Marco Rossi is signing a new deal in the State of Hockey. PuckPedia reports the forward will sign a three-year deal with the Wild worth around $15MM in total, working out to a cap hit around $5MM. The backloaded deal will pay Rossi $4MM in 2025-26 and increase by $1MM increments each season, giving him a $6MM qualifying offer when he can become an RFA again upon expiry in 2028, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic.

It’s a welcome increase for Rossi as he comes off his entry-level contract, but it’s still significantly less than he was hoping for. The 2020 ninth overall pick took major strides in his development last season, posting a career-high 24 goals and 60 points for Minnesota in first-line deployment despite missing star wingman Kirill Kaprizov for more than half the season. As a result, he entered talks this summer looking for a long-term deal in the $7MM range annually.

It was how Rossi ended the season that set the stage for a rather sour offseason. After cooling off down the stretch, posting nine points and a -11 rating in 20 games after the trade deadline, he was demoted to fourth-line deployment in their first-round loss to the Golden Knights. He still managed two goals and 11 shot attempts in the six-game battle, but averaged only 11:08 of ice time per game.

In most cases, that would be seen as only a minor roadblock for a high-potential pick. But Rossi, who was Bill Guerin’s first draft pick as the Wild’s general manager, had been the subject of trade speculation for some time – to the point where Guerin said outright last December that he was highly impressed with Rossi’s forward progress and wasn’t looking to move him. The Wild’s hesitancy to offer a long-term deal remained, though, leaving the two sides at an impasse for most of the offseason and forcing Guerin to explore trade packages, none of which were appealing enough to get a deal done despite wide-ranging interest.

The contract itself is likely bang-on for his market value. AFP Analytics projected a long-term pact for Rossi to come in at seven years at $7.4MM per season and a short-term one to be two years at $4.5MM annually. With an extra year thrown in on top of that shorter projection, it makes sense that the AAV comes up a notch as well.

After trade interest quieted in July, the Canucks and Kraken had reportedly resurfaced in talks in recent days, with Rossi’s contract situation still unresolved. Whether that was a significant impetus for Rossi’s camp to agree to a bridge remains to be seen – either to solidify his future in Minnesota or to make himself a more palatable trade asset with cost certainty.

Rossi’s long-term projection as a legitimate top-six center remains optimistic. After losing a good chunk of his development due to a serious bout with COVID, he’s steadily upped his offensive production each year since turning pro. He’s improved on draws as well, going from a 44.7% win rate in his rookie season to 46.8% last year. He was significantly more involved in the forecheck in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24, nearly doubling the amount of hits he laid, and he has had strong relative possession impacts in each of his two full NHL seasons.

The Wild now end up with a full roster and north of $4.4MM in cap space to open the season, per PuckPedia. The club projects to have much more financial flexibility to make in-season adds than they have in the last couple of years as a result. He’ll enter camp as the odds-on favorite to start next season alongside Kaprizov again despite how his minutes were cut in last year’s playoffs, firming up a familiar center corps of himself, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman, and Nico Sturm.

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.

One way or another, it looks like RFA center Marco Rossi won’t be in limbo for much longer. After reports this morning indicated the Canucks and Kraken had shown renewed interest in trading for his signing rights, the Wild now made “significant progress” in talks to re-sign him and keep him in Minnesota, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic.

It’s not expected to be a long-term pact of any sort if it gets across the finish line, Russo relays, indicative of the two sides’ hesitancy to commit to each other over the past few months. After breaking out for 60 points and playing all 82 games in 2024-25, upping his rookie season production by 50%, Wild head coach John Hynes demoted Rossi to fourth-line duties during their first-round playoff loss to the Golden Knights. That prefaced a summer where general manager Bill Guerin’s focus was seemingly set on trading the young pivot rather than keeping him in the fold, looking to leverage him for a more experienced middleman.

There was an effective months-long moratorium on actual contract negotiations between Guerin and Rossi’s camp, led by The Will Sports Group’s Ian Pulver, with new talks likely kicking off only within the last couple of weeks. Rossi can only sign a deal up to three years in length to remain a restricted free agent upon expiry – a four-year commitment would make him UFA-eligible at the earliest possible point in 2029.

The Wild haven’t had many forwards in Rossi’s age range come up through their system in recent years, so it’s hard to gauge precedent. In applicable situations, Guerin and the Wild have tended to go long-term with who they perceive as core pieces, so zeroing in on a bridge pact is a notable departure that continues to signify his long-term future in Minnesota is anything but guaranteed. Minnesota’s other top-six center, Joel Eriksson Ek, was an RFA at age 24 coming off a two-year bridge and signed an eight-year pact. Defenseman Brock Faber got an eight-year extension last summer, before he even wrapped up his entry-level deal.

If there’s a desirable trade still to be had for the Wild involving Rossi, applying some cost certainty to him for the next year or two could end up boosting their odds of getting the deal across the finish line. Earlier in the summer, Rossi’s desire for a long-term contract in the $7MM range annually was the principal hold-up in talks, along with only a limited number of teams being willing to part with a top-six forward piece in kind to acquire him.

Locking in a bridge deal would remove one of those factors. It’s still up to Guerin to decide whether playoff success this season is a more realistic endeavor with Rossi in the fold compared to any of his potential replacements via trade, but the obstacles to finding the 2020 No. 9 overall pick a long-term home would be easier to overcome.