The Blackhawks, Kraken, Flyers, Penguins, and Sabres are among the teams that have shown interest in acquiring Wild pending restricted free agent center Marco Rossi, according to RG’s James Murphy. While general manager Bill Guerin has refuted trade speculation surrounding the 2020 ninth overall pick in the past, there hasn’t been much noise around progress in contract talks so far this offseason, especially after he had his minutes slashed in the playoffs by head coach John Hynes.
For a team considering parting ways with a young player, it’s never a good sign when virtually every club with a need at the position with the assets to make an appealing trade work steps up to the plate. Minnesota’s deployment of Rossi, particularly this season, has been puzzling. The Austrian pivot finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting in 2023-24 and took strides in 2024-25 to prove his floor as a second-line center, notching a 24-36–60 scoring line in all 82 games despite missing star wingman Kirill Kaprizov for most of the campaign. He averaged north of 18 minutes per game in the regular season but played just 11 minutes per night in the playoffs, although that didn’t stop him from still contributing a pair of goals and an assist in the Wild’s first-round elimination at the hands of the Golden Knights.
With Rossi posting those point totals on a bottom-10 offensive team, it’s easy to see why many clubs are optimistic about his ability to slot into their top-six immediately and, at worst, replicate his performance from last year. From Minnesota’s standpoint, assuming their internal projection of him is as pessimistic as his late-season role reduction indicates, it makes sense they wouldn’t want to commit to a long-term deal that will likely cost north of $7MM per season. For Rossi, it makes little sense for him to sign a bridge deal in Minnesota if he feels he won’t get the minutes there to maximize his earning potential a few years down the line.
If the Wild can’t work out a trade for Rossi, an offer sheet threat looms. A long-term deal for Rossi will likely end up at seven years at around $7.4MM per season, AFP Analytics projects. That would require a team to surrender their 2026 first, second, and third-round pick as compensation if the Wild decline to match. As such, they’ll likely set their price around there in trade talks, at least in terms of comparable value. Considering their increased salary cap flexibility this summer and intact core, it makes sense they’d rather pursue trade options to land a more NHL-ready asset in place of a return largely centered around draft picks.
Of the five teams mentioned by Murphy as having interest in Rossi, all but the Sabres have the picks to acquire Rossi in the $7.02MM to $9.36MM range for an offer sheet. Buffalo would need to reacquire their 2026 second-rounder to do so. They sent it to the Senators in this year’s Dylan Cozens/Joshua Norris swap.