Has Rossi been bad or why isn’t he with Boldy?

No he's been good - 9 points in his 6 preseason games and eye-test checks out. They just like those arrangements to start the year. Both of those 3rd and 4th lines have shown good chemistry. Rossi played quite a bit with Dewar in Iowa, so they have a lot of familiarity with each other's games.

I'm sure we'll see some shuffling as the year goes on, but it's been a good fit thus far.

I'm sure there's also an element of "make the rookie earn his ice time" at play too.

@drmantalban Which lead the entire NHL for points this preseason.

But yeah, it's just to start the year, and to say you made the roster... now earn your spot higher up.

They're simply pushing him and daring him to grab more responsibility in the right way.

It was also the preseason and it might as well have been AHLers he was mostly playing against.

Exactly.

Yep, preseason can help identify players but if you went solely based on preseason/AHL, Beckman would be in the NHL by now and Mayhew wouldn't be on his 3rd or 4th organization in as many years.

Interested to see Rossi's development. Wild fans, would you say he could be promoted to 3C this year?

For sure. In fact, that's what most expect. For now, he's expected to make up for the lack of 5v5 ice time with time on the PP2 and PK.

1C... In the AHL.

Rossi also isn't as fast as Steel nor Gaudreau. He also needs to build up some strength as he's very good against the boards but gets pushed over often in open ice. I think the biggest thing is for the Wild to develop his confidence. Evason hasn't done a great job in instilling that through the first 2 games but hopefully things change. Rossi is one heck of a player. Personally, I think everyone needs to let him move on from his health scare so he can fully return to his hyper-competitive, confident self.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. Even if it was the preseason, he kept up with Zucc & Kaprizov on the top line....which is more than can be said about some of our other centers. He's still got some work to do but I feel he's best served playing in the NHL and earning his minutes through special teams.

The lack of speed (he might be the slowest FWD on the team) combined with his small size is why I don't think he can be a quality center in the NHL. A Zucc type of player is what I see him being in the NHL.

I totally agree w/ the concerns over speed and size. Which is why we still need a franchise center. However, I do see him being able to become a quality center in the NHL. I believe he can find a ton of success (like Zucc) but is unlikely to be the superstar that many pegged him to be prior to the draft. Hopefully, I'm wrong. I love the kid and his approach towards things. But his physical attributes are concerning. I'm trying to stay positive tho as I'm seeing more and more 5'9"-ish centers get drafted early. So maybe the NHL is moving to the equivalent of "small ball" in basketball.

No he didn't. Kap, Rossi, and Zucc had a combined 3 shots that game. Rossi was behind them and the play most of the time, and that was playing against trash. Having your center consistently be the F3 back into the d-zone is not a good thing. He got points, but I would call then great plays. A fluke situation that led to a his goal (nice shot on it), and his apple was from a small pass in the neutral zone.

Most of the small centers drafted are 5'-10" to 6'-0" and have speed. Rossi is like 5'8" and has maybe average NHL speed. The coach is afraid to use him against anything more that 4th liners. The tone has changed from "we're fine running our 4th line against anyone" last year to "our 4th line didn't play because theirs didn't" this year.

The faster they move him to wing the better. I don't want to see them waste years of Rossi, like they did with Granny, trying to play center.

2017 Draft:
1(13). Nicholas Suzuki C - 5'10
1(20). Robert Thomas C - 5'10
2019 Draft:
1(1). Jack Hughes C - 5'10
1(5). Alex Turcotte C - 5'11
1(26). Jakob Pelletier C - 5'9
2020 Draft:
1(9). Marco Rossi C - 5'9
1(10). Cole Perfetti C - 5'10
1(30). Maverik Bourque C - 5'10
2(38). Thomas Bordeleau C - 5'10
2(59). Roni Hirvonen C - 5'9
2021 Draft:
1(7). William Eklund C - 5'10
2022 Draft:
1(3). Logan Cooley C - 5'10
1(9). Matthew Savoie C - 5'9
1(13). Frank Nazar C/RW - 5'10
1(15). Jonathan Lekkerimaki C/RW - 5'10
1(16). Noah Ostlund C - 5'10
1(26) Filip Mesar C/RW - 5'10

2023 Mock Draft:
1(1). Connor Bedard C - 5'9
1(2). Matvei Michkov RW - 5'10

Granted, these values are all cherry-picked but hopefully they're indicative of a trend towards smaller players. Obviously, those aforementioned have the speed that you mentioned is a key to overcoming size limitations, that Rossi does not....but then again, Rossi consistently beat Stüzle in a foot race while at Ottawa.