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While Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin will have ample salary cap space to utilize this offseason thanks to the contract buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise finally coming off the books, one player that he may not be able to retain is Marco Rossi.
Rossi, who is a pending restricted free agent, reportedly rejected a contract offer during the 2024-25 season and could soon be traded by the Wild.
But one place he isn't going to be dealt to — at least for now — is the Vancouver Canucks, who reportedly tried to acquire Rossi but were rebuffed, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo. The Canucks offered an unnamed roster player along with their first-round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft.
“That’s the offer (the No. 15 pick) that the Vancouver Canucks likely made for Rossi,” Russo wrote.
Rossi was allegedly offered a contract that spanned five years with a $5 million cap hit, but countered with a shorter term, higher cap hit deal that the Wild declined.
“As of now, the Wild and Rossi have taken a break on negotiations. Earlier this season, the team offered Rossi a five-year, $25 million extension, which he rejected. His camp countered with a short-term deal with a high average annual value, which the Wild didn’t accept. Minnesota recently offered a two-year deal with an AAV less than $5 million, and Rossi didn’t accept that.
“He had been looking for a long-term deal in the Matt Boldy range ($7 million) — an area the Wild have so far shown no appetite to go near.”
Rossi scored 24 goals with 36 assists for the Wild this season, both representing new career highs.
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Wild GM Bill Guerin acknowledged contract stalemate with Marco Rossi
Guerin recently acknowledged the breakdown in contract negotiations between himself and Rossi's camp, saying that sometimes there are disagreements in the process. Still, he didn't close the door fully on his time with the club.
“I think sometimes you just have disagreements on where a player is at, and that’s fine,” Guerin said. “And sometimes it takes a little while longer to work through things. But out there, there’s this belief that we don’t like him or we’re going to trade him.
“And look, he’s no different than any other player. If we can make our team better by trading someone, we’re going to do it. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like the player. And Marco is a player that we like. He had a good season again. So I don’t know where all this is coming from. … Marco’s a good player.”
Rossi, who was the ninth overall pick of the Wild in 2020, has scored 45 goals with 56 assists in 185 NHL games, while adding two goals and one assist in six postseason games.
