Report: Marco Rossi Camp Not Happy with Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild’s 2024-25 season is officially over. Maybe it’s because they jumped out to a 2-1 series lead, before losing three-straight… but the Wild’s latest exit out of the postseason still has a shock factor that I’m not sure the entire fanbase has come to grips with yet.

But time heals all wounds, and before long we’ll be thinking about 2025-26 and what the MN Wild will look like once they (hopefully) redo Kirill Kaprizov’s contract and spend some of the remaining cap space to acquire new talent. Cap space that won’t be impeded by Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyout penalties.

Minnesota Wild expected to trade Marco Rossi this offseason

No doubt, it should be an exciting offseason, and one that — according to Michael Russo (The Athletic) — will almost certainly include a trade of Marco Rossi, who was relegated to the fourth line and played less than 12 minutes per game during the NHL Playoffs.

In a fiery interview with KFAN Radio Sunday morning, the longtime Minnesota Wild insider told KFAN host Dan Barreiro that he’s more convinced than ever that the 23-year-old former No. 9 overall pick will be dealt at some point this offseason. How convinced? Russo puts the odds at “way higher than 75-80%”.

“Well, I’ve thought all year long that they’re going to trade him this summer and I think we’re talking probably way more than 75-80% [chance] now. Part of that is because I don’t know if he’s going to be willing to [take] even what [the Wild] would be willing to offer him right now. I don’t even know if that 5 year x $5 million contract they offered, that I reported a couple months ago, is even on the table anymore.”

Michael Russo – KFAN Radio

All regular season long, Marco Rossi was an incredibly important player for the Wild, especially once Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek went down with injuries that cost them much of the second half.

Related: New Minnesota Wild Arena Name and Sponsor Revealed…?

In fact, Rossi finished behind only Matt Boldy in assists (36) and points (60). Only Boldy and Kaprizov scored more goals than Rossi’s 24. He was also one of the only top-line regular season forwards who played in all 82 games, where he centered mostly the first or second line and was on the ice for 18:15 per game.

MARCO ROSSI IN OVERTIME. WILD WIN pic.twitter.com/28cqDJbqmj

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 6, 2025

Then, the playoffs started and president of hockey ops Bill Guerin and his head coach John Hynes stuffed Marco Rossi down on the fourth line, presumably deciding his smaller frame and finesse-style game isn’t fit for the NHL postseason.

Marco Rossi’s people are big mad at the Minnesota Wild

Even with Gustav Nyquist and Freddy Goudreau playing poorly above him, Rossi never got off the fourth line. And while he did get run on the Minnesota Wild’s playoff power play, he still averaged just 11:08 total TOI, third least of any skater, behind only Yakov Trenin and Justin Brazeau.

Yet, Marco still potted 2 goals in six games and assisted on another. We still aren’t sure how Marco Rossi feels about his fourth line relegation. But according to Russo, those surrounding the young Austrian are not happy with what they believe was mistreatment of Rossi Minnesota Wild mistreated him during the 2024-25 playoffs.

“I can tell you his camp is not happy with the way that he was deployed down the stretch. It just felt like there was a double standard there. Obviously, he would up on the fourth line, was never elevated even though guys like Goudreau and Nyquist were absolutely awful in this series.

The times he was elevated, I think the Wild would point to, ‘well his fingerprints were on the winning goals in games five and six’. So, I can see both sides, but I just think that [Rossi’s camp] feels like he was mistreated throughout this postseason.”

Michael Russo – KFAN Radio

You can’t even blame Rossi’s camp for being upset

You can’t blame those around Marco Rossi for being upset with how he was utilized during the Minnesota Wild’s latest attempt at a playoff run. Hell, I was upset. Sure, he made mistakes in the minutes he did get on the ice, and he would have made more of them, had he played more often.

But as Russo pointed out during his KFAN interview Sunday, Gustav Nyquist went offsides in the third period of game five and may have cost Minnesota the entire series. Yet, there Rossi sat at the bottom of the Wild’s depth chart all series long. And when these sort of things happen, it never ends well.

“I think that ship has sailed on a short term deal, I don’t think the Wild want to invest in him on seven or eight year deals and that 5×5 I don’t even know is on the table anymore…I don’t think he’s going to spell out publicly that maybe he wasn’t happy during these playoffs, we’ll see, he is usually a pretty honest kid.

But I can tell from talking to people in his camp that they’re not happy, and I think that now affects things because I don’t think, where they feel he deserves to make money and term, I don’t think the Wild are going to go that route and the usually spells out the beginning of of a player on a team.”

Michael Russo – KFAN Radio