Big Turn of Events in Marco Rossi Trade Talks

Pending RFA Marco Rossi's contract situation has just become "more complicated," writes Minnesota Wild insider Joe Smith.

When it comes to upgrading their center position, the Minnesota Wild (and the rest of the league, to be honest) find themselves in "a tough spot," writes Smith, along with Michael Russo in The Athletic. The number of available centermen on the market—be it the trade market or the UFA market—has seriously dwindled in recent days.

This big turn of events has put a whole different spin on the Wild's intentions with Rossi, whom they were prepared to trade, rather than re-sign.

Here are the centers that are seemingly no longer available this summer:

UFA Brock Nelson: re-signed with the Colorado Avalanche (the Minnesota state native was heavily on the Wild's radar).
UFAs Sam Bennett, John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Claude Giroux: all heavily expected to re-sign with their own teams (Panthers, Maple Leafs, Stars, Senators, respectively).
Potential trade candidates Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal: They have been told by NY Islanders new GM Mathieu Darche that he will not be trading them.
William Karlsson: The latest reporting out of Vegas is that the Golden Knights are not looking to trade him.

And therein lies the turn of events on the Wild's plans with Rossi. As Smith & Russo write:

Before, the Wild may have entertained trading Rossi, a pending restricted free agent who is seeking a long-term contract, for a scoring winger. Now it’s hard to trade a young center without getting a center back in that deal or a subsequent one.
If the Wild trade Rossi, the team’s second-leading scorer last season, without getting a top-six center elsewhere, the team would be significantly weaker up the middle.

Why has pending RFA Marco Rossi not re-signed yet with the Wild?

Rossi's agent, Ian Pulver, said this past week, “There clearly is a difference of opinion (between us and the Wild) with respect to Marco’s value."

Rossi had a big upgrade in production in his second full NHL season this year, with 24 goals and 60 points (the latter a 50% improvement from his rookie year), but then found himself on the fourth line in the playoffs.

There's some baggage here for the two sides to overcome, but with the scarcity of available centers around the league, the Wild would do well to smooth things over and get something done with their young star before potentially losing him to an offer sheet. Even a short-term bridge deal would be satisfactory, as noted by Smith & Russo.