No one trading for Rossi is playing him on the third line, and will, in all likelihood, be pairing him with someone at least as good as zuccarello.
And he isn't "extremely skilled?" Is that why a 5'9 guy who isn't fast got drafted top 10 and was being mocked as high as 3rd leading up to the draft? Why was he a consensus top 10 pick then? Because he's such a great teammate?
"A joke", "not a chance in hell", "it'll be"...I'm glad we have the omnipotent sensodyne here with his long track record of 43 posts to tell us for sure what's going to happen. Maybe you can give us the Powerball numbers too
Here are the facts:
- Rossi is 5'9
- Rossi's most common linemates are Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov, and Mats Zuccarello
- Rossi's ESP/60 is 117th in the league, tied with Sean Couts and Martinook
- To give context to the above, he is not a matchup center eating minutes, he actually got a 63% offensive zone start this year
- Rossi is 46.8% on the dot
- Rossi was stapled to the 4th line and averaged 11 minutes a game in this years playoffs
- Rossi scored at a 17% clip this year, previous 100 games his % is closer to 11%
- Rossi had 60 giveaways this year and 17 takeaways
- Rossi is an unsigned RFA with arb rights
Here's what we think we know:
- NHL GMs love size and don't value smaller/shorter players
- Bill Guerin (and the coaching staff seemingly) wants to move on from Marco Rossi, doesn't think they can win with him
- Marco Rossi is looking for a Matt Boldy esque contract and reportedly doesn't want to sign a bridge deal
- The relationship between player and org seems to have fractured; meaning a move is best for both parties... Minny likely wants this done prior to completion of draft to avoid competition from free agency
So if we are looking at this objectively, in what world is Rossi going to command a large package? I much rather have 15th overall pick and a top prospect like Lekkerimaki or Willander + $7-8M cap space over Rossi.
Yeah I mean sure, if a GM wants to overpay and make a stupid move, they are definitely inclined to do so.
If Marco Rossi was truly good, Bill Guerin would have inked the extension months ago. GMs don't move on from 9th overall picks that THEY drafted. It's likely Rossi has been on the block for a while and nobody has been willing to pay a significant package. His value has only decreased as his play has dropped off in the second half of the year - but you guys would know better than anyone... don't need me reminding you.
He's in the Kirby Dach/Alex Newhook trade capital discussion. 15th + a minor piece is more than fair at this point.