Disaster Brewing in Minnesota: Marco Rossi's Contract in a Nasty Standstill

For much of the off-season, speculation around young centre Marco Rossi in Minnesota has been that he is likely to depart the team via trade at some point, with many teams around the league interested in the 23-year old.

However, we've seen little movement on the situation as of late, and according to a report from Wild reporter Michael Russo, there's a few reasons why that is.

According to Russo, the two parties have not engaged in extension talks in Minnesota for 3-4 weeks now, and when they did, the team were hesitant to even listen on some of Rossi's demands, with GM Bill Guerin reportedly unwilling to even talk about a deal in the $6 million AAV range.

From Rossi's perspective, a bridge deal opens him up to a demotion in the post-season, something he was not pleased with this past season, and from the team perspective, they're worried that a player of his size can't compete in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This past season, Rossi tallied a career high of 24 goals and 60 points in the regular season, but was demoted for the Wild's series with the Vegas Golden Knights, with all signs pointing to the team moving on from him this summer.

At this point in time however, it's incredibly unclear what the future holds for the player or the team, as Rossi wants to sign a long-term deal somewhere, and while Minnesota have been unwilling to extend him, they haven't pushed hard to trade him either, so keep a close eye on a situation that could become explosive at some point before next season.