The Minnesota Wild had a very good season in 2024-25, but it wasn't enough to make a playoff run in the stacked Western Conference. After a very competitive six-game series in the first round of the playoffs, the Wild went home at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights.

This offseason, the Wild know that they have to take steps forward in order to take the next step in the coming years. However, they are in danger of losing one of their best players in center Marco Rossi.

Rossi is a restricted free agent and has been at the center of trade talks in recent weeks since the end of the season. Despite the rumors flying around, the Wild aren't going to just give him up for nothing, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

“I just wanted to remind everybody, there's been a lot of rumors flying around about Rossi,” Friedman said on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. “I just wanted to remind everybody that Minnesota has made it very clear. If they're making this trade, they're not making their team worse. There's a lot of talk going out there right now and I think one of the real challenges to making trades at this time is that everybody is trying to get better, basically with the exception of Pittsburgh.”

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Rossi will turn just 24 at the start of next season, but he has already proven to be a very productive player for this Wild group in his young career. The former first-round pick played in all 82 games this season and finished second on the team with 60 points, scoring 24 goals with 36 assists.

The Austrian got his feet wet in the playoffs, getting his first taste of postseason hockey against the Knights. While he did notch two points in a Game 3 victory, he could only muster one point over the other five games of the series. However, he should continue to get better and better as he gets into his prime.

The Vancouver Canucks already tried to make a run at Rossi, but the Wild turned them down. Now, Minnesota will either look for a better deal to get a big return for the talented youngster, or it will try to get to a contract that both sides can agree on to keep him in Minnesota for the future.