The stalemate is over in Minnesota as the Wild and Marco Rossi have agreed to a three-year, $15 million contract extension. The deal secures a major part of the future for the club, while also being a solid deal for both sides.
The summer for Bill Guerin has seen a major back-and-forth between the franchise and Rossi. There was a discrepancy between what the team was willing to pay and what their forward wanted. This led to speculation that there could be a trade that would send the Austrian forward out of town. His name kept coming up in trade rumors, as the two sides continued to be far apart.
It got to the point where there was the possibility that Rossi could hold out of training camp. Now, the drama is over, and Rossi will be joining the team when they report to camp in September.
Marco Rossi is a budding star
With the No. 9 overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft, the Wild selected Rossi, a forward out of Austria. After spending time in the OHL and Swiss NL, he would join the organization in 2021-22, playing with the Iowa Wild of the AHL. He would spend the majority of two seasons with the AHL squad, but would play 21 games at the NHL level with one assist.
The forward would then play all 82 games in 2023-24. He lit the lamp 21 times while adding 19 helpers that year. He would take a massive step forward in 2024-25. That season, he once again played in all 82 games, finding the back of the net 24 times and adding 36 assists. That placed him second on the team in points for the season.
Rossi is primed to have a massive breakout season in 2025-26. His passing improved tremendously in 2024-25. He was the primary assist on just 10 goals in 2023-24, but would increase that to 22 times the next year. His overall turnover numbers did increase, but his offensive zone turnover rate when in a scoring situation decreased.
He also showed major improvement on the powerplay. His individual point percentage, IPP, on the power play jumped from 40 percent to 66.7 percent in 2024-25. Further, his shooting percentage on the powerplay went from 5.26 percent to 21.21 percent. Finally, he had just four powerplay assists in 2023-24, which increased to nine the next season, and five of them were the primary assist on the play.
The Austrian forward is projected to play on the second line for the team, joining Matt Boldy and Vladimir Tarasenko. This should put him in a position to keep his assist numbers high while also scoring more goals. He will also lead the second powerplay unit for the team.
Final thoughts and grade on the Marco Rossi contract
For the Wild, they got most of what they wanted. The initial contract that was rejected by Rossi was for five years at an AAV of $5 million. They sacrificed years on the contract, but kept him at the $5 million AAV mark. This is big for a few reasons. First, it keeps money available for Minnesota to re-sign Kirill Kaprizov. He is projected to be at or above $14 million in AAV for his next contract, meaning the front office needed to save as much money as possible.
Meanwhile, the cost of the contract is great for the team. Using a baseline of $100,000 of salary per point of production, a $5 million AAV would require Rossi to contribute 50 points. He eclipsed that total by 10 points in 2024-25, and looks to increase on that total in 2025-26. This means the Wild will be getting great value for the forward, especially as the salary cap grows in the coming years. The growth of the cap also places the team in a position to retain the forward in three years when his contract expires.
For Rossi, he did not get the money he wanted. He could have expected between $6 and $6.5 million per year. Still, this is just a three-year deal on a team that is expected to contend. He will be able to potentially play for a Stanley Cup while also getting paid $15 million. Further, he will be a free agent in three seasons. This will put him in a position to get a major payday if his production continues to grow.
Both sides gave a little to make this deal happen. Minnesota would have liked to have him on a longer-term deal, while Rossi would have liked a higher salary. Still, both sides also got wins in this deal, and it is a pact that helps the franchise overall. Now the front office can focus on signing Kaprizov and contending for a title.
Minnesota Wild contract grade: A-
Marco Rossi contract grade: B+
