Wild Rumors: Rossi Offered Multi-Year Contract Extension

The Minnesota Wild can finally go all out on contracts to make their team even more competitive than it has been. While they may have lost the opening round of the playoffs every time they've made the postseason over the last 10 years, they have had a lot of money tied up in dead cap, so they are essentially playing shorthanded to their opponents each year. Even making the playoffs eight times in that span is impressive.

That being said, Kirill Kaprizov is going to get what he wants on his next contract as he is one of the best players in the NHL, but Marco Rossi's contract is an important piece of business that needs to get done. There have been conflicting reports that the Wild aren't big fans of Rossi, but Cam Robinson has also reported that the Wild are believed to have offered the young center a five-year, $5.5 million AAV deal. That would take him to the summer ahead of turning 28 where he can sign his big ticket in his prime if he's earned it.

Rossi was the number one center for a good chunk of this season at 22 years old and broke out, scoring 24 goals and 60 points. With the cap going up, he likely thinks that $5.5 million AAV for that long isn't worth it as he'll just outperform it quickly, if he already hasn't with his stat line this season.

The playoffs showed us where he could be utilized in the lineup, even though it makes much more sense for him to play in the top-6. Joel Eriksson Ek will challenge him for top line minutes, but Ryan Hartman and Frederik Gaudreau are on and off. Rossi shouldn't be a fourth line center and he proved that with a strong first round performance, even with lesser NHL talent.

The contract reportedly offered to Rossi is somewhat fair, but he has improved drastically over the past two seasons, so a shorter contract with the same AAV might be the result of negotiations. It also doesn't make sense for the RFA to be without a contract heading into the season.