Marco Rossi is the Devils’ Ideal Offseason Acquisition

The Devils would be wise to remedy their mistake from the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

As much as I’m still disappointed about the Devils’ postseason departure, I really am quite excited to continue diving into the off-season content I’ve been looking forward to for a while. From now until early July, I’m going to be hard at work providing as much content as I can throw at you in every way imaginable, from free agency to trades to the NHL Entry Draft.

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In the Devils’ off-season pursuit of a top-six talent who can play center for the third line, perhaps no better target exists than current Minnesota Wild 2C Marco Rossi.

In previously citing the 23-year-old Austrian-born forward as an ideal trade target for the Devils, I’ve been met with some pushback, particularly refutations of his overall availability. I’m still skeptical. Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin publicly said in December of 2024 that Rossi was not on the trade block, and yet he continued to appear in rumors throughout the deadline. When asked about his future with the Wild in the end-of-season presser, Rossi responded with uncertainty. He was demoted to the fourth line during the playoffs in favor of Ryan Hartman, who isn’t half the offensive talent Rossi is, to which he expressed discontent. He already refused a five-year, $5 million AAV extension that was offered to him in the winter, with Michael Russo of The Athletic reporting that Rossi is looking for $7 million-plus on a long-term deal.

Basically, what I’m getting at here is that the writing is on the wall for Rossi to have already played in his last season for the Wild.

Enter the Devils, who should unequivocally be in the market for the stockily-built, 5’9 forward. The emphasis there is on “stockily-built,” as despite his height, he is listed as 195 pounds (Elite Prospects). That right there is not a small player — far from it — nor does he play like one. He isn’t fragile, either, having been one of just two Wild players to appear in all 82 games this season. He played in all 82 last year, too.

Let’s break down why Rossi is such a good fit for the Devils, stylistically:

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Offensive Play

Just looking at his box score, the Devils should have interest. The former 9th Overall selection from the 2020 NHL Entry Draft put up 24 goals and 60 total points this season, after somewhat breaking out in 2023-24 (21 goals, 40 points). I can only imagine that with more seasons behind him, he’s only going to get better, and should flirt with a point-per-game pace as soon as next season — especially if playing with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt (wink wink).

Rossi, though he shoots at an about-average clip, is a solid finisher. In the past two seasons, he’s scored his 45 goals while having an individual expected goals (ixG) of 42.69. Essentially, what that means is that his shot attempts were expected to result in 42 goals, but he scored 45. That number isn’t world-beating, but it’s certainly a step up for a team like the Devils, who need players who can finish at an at least average clip.

Rossi gets Grade A chances off at will, excelling at generating individual scoring chances because of his excellent positioning and ability to get to the interior without drawing too much coverage. He plants himself in high-danger areas, and is quick-triggered enough to get high-danger shots off before coverage even knows he’s there. Most often, Rossi sits in a sort of bumper position in the middle slot.

At times, he uses this positioning and the threat of a shot to feign an opportunity for himself before doling the puck off to one of his teammates instead. This results in gaps in coverage and overall higher-danger opportunities for his teammates. Rossi has an aptitude for passing to the right player for a chance, displaying his high-end IQ and facilitation abilities. Much like where he likes to shoot from, he is at his best when playmaking from the inner slot.

Rossi also has pretty great hands while operating in a netfront role, tipping the puck on net from odd angles and being a threat to score in that way from practically anywhere in front of the crease. He also gets off a ton of rebounds, grinding away for dirty goals much more than you’d expect from a player who is listed at 5’9. Rossi’s affinity for netfront play stems from his strength and stockiness — he’s incredibly hard to move because of his relatively low center of gravity, muscle, and toughness, and it results in a ton of opportunities for himself and teammates right at the goal mouth.

He isn’t superb at zone entries, but my sneaking suspicion is that he simply deferred to his linemates, most of whom were some combination of Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, and Matt Boldy, all of whom excel at transitional play and carrying the puck through the neutral zone. It’s no surprise to me that, with Rossi’s extremely high offensive IQ, he was simply smart enough to let the bigger dogs get that work done. Rossi does operate well as the second man in transition, though, sitting back just a bit and playing the pass-recipient role in transition. This means that he gets a good amount of high-danger opportunities off the rush.

Speed is one thing the Devils need in their lineup, and Rossi certainly has it. According to NHL EDGE, he ranked in the 75th percentile for top speed and 68th percentile for speed bursts of 20+ mph, logging 100 in 2024-25, as compared to the league average of 76.5. The Devils outright need to get faster, so he’d certainly be a good fit in that regard.

Rossi is also pretty great on the forecheck, relying on his speed and bull-in-a-china-shop mentality along the boards. As I’ve mentioned a few times, Rossi’s game is surprisingly heavy, and his forechecking ability is no exception to that rule. While I think the notion that the Devils’ top-six needs a player who can grind in the “dirty areas” and corners is a bit overblown, Rossi presents as a nice, healthy balance between that and pure skill.

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Defensive Play

From a defensive front, there’s a lot to like about Rossi’s game.

He has always been one of the hardest-working players in the league, and that truly shows when he’s playing off-puck in his own zone.

The only drawback to Rossi’s defensive work is that he’s a bit too quick to turn around and try and bring the puck the other way, in the sense that he can cut corners a bit and lose the puck because of it. This overzealousness results in a good few defensive-zone turnovers.

I wouldn’t be overwhelmingly concerned with this part of Rossi’s game, simply because of the system the Devils run in the D-zone. Head Coach Sheldon Keefe employs an ideology he likes to refer to as “fight the panic,” which basically entails sending the puck backward before moving it up-ice to negate dangerous breakout strategies. With this in mind, Rossi would be sending the puck to a defenseman who theoretically is operating behind their own goal line before breaking out, limiting the amount of defensive turnovers he could generate. With that in mind, this worry becomes instantly less… worrisome.

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Acquisition

There are a couple of ways the Devils can go about acquiring Marco Rossi, if that’s the route they rightfully decide they should take:

Offer Sheet

I’ve been on record as saying that offer sheeting young, skilled players is the best way the Devils can upgrade their team this season. There are a few cap-strapped teams that they can take advantage of in that regard (looking at you in particular, Buffalo), and there are some individuals who are on the outside looking in for their respective teams. Rossi, in my opinion, is one of those players.

If the Devils were to offer Rossi a bridge deal worth $4,680,076, with the offer sheet compensation being a second-round pick, surely the Wild would match.

However, if they up the ante and offer Rossi a contract worth upwards of $7 million AAV, where the compensation then rises to a first-rounder and a third-rounder (for the 2026 Draft), I’m not sure the Wild match. Take it one step further and offer him a contract worth $7.5 million, and the compensation rises to a first, second, and third-rounder. I’d do either of those in a heartbeat.

It’s not like the Wild are cap strapped — they have $16.5 million to play with, with no significant UFAs or RFAs to extend except for Rossi. They could absolutely make the money work if they really wanted to. The question there, though, is “Do they want to?”

I don’t think so, or it would have already been done.

Trade

The Devils could also trade for Rossi’s rights, though I feel like that endeavor would be more costly than an offer sheet.

I tried for about 45 minutes to search through the NHL’s trade history for recent trades involving highly-touted expiring RFAs having their right traded, but to no avail. Instead, think of it this way:

There have been young, highly drafted players who have been traded in recent memory (Kaapo Kakko, Alex Newhook, Yaroslav Askarov, Rutger McGroarty), but none of them have the production or upside Rossi has, and none of them were in similar contract situations. It’s tough to get any sort of comparison for.

The Wild, though, already sent out a king’s ransom for 21-year-old defenseman David Jiricek, giving the Columbus Blue Jackets a first, second, third, and fourth-rounder, as well as youngster Daemon Hunt, to acquire him. Jiricek will be good, no doubt, and will complement a young core of defensemen in Minnesota that already includes Brock Faber and Zeev Buium, but that’s a ton to give up for someone who hasn’t proven anything at the NHL level.

Rossi, though, has proven quite a bit at the NHL level, and is still just 23 years old (shoutout to him for being born two days after me).

Perhaps Guerin was more inclined to go after Jiricek than keep Rossi because of size — Guerin is a noted size queen himself, and Jiricek is 6’4, 205. The fact is, though, Rossi has a proven track record of NHL success, and even if Guerin doesn’t like how short he is (even though he’s dense), he can leverage that production to start a bidding war with the many teams that would be interested in acquiring his services. To me, that’s a recipe for an overpayment.

The other issue is that I don’t think the Wild and Devils are particularly great trade partners. What the Wild need is help up front (which is why it’s so astounding in the first place that re-signing Rossi hasn’t been made a priority, and that he’s probably getting moved), and what the Devils have a surplus in is young defensemen. As much as it would be tantalizing for the Wild to have a blueline consisting of Faber, Buium, Jiricek, and Simon Nemec/Seamus Casey, it’s just not in the cards. Up front, the only Devils player I can see Minnesota having interest in is Dawson Mercer. I’d send him and a first-round pick for Rossi without question, but I’m not sure the Devils’ FO has any interest in that.

With those two points in mind, to me, the best route is an offer sheet. The Devils would need to clear some space, but that’s almost certainly happening anyway. This way, they can bolster what they truly need without giving up any real NHL assets. Sign me up for that.

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Rossi seriously does check all the boxes for the Devils. I’m sure GM Tom Fitzgerald will shy away from the thought because of his size — Fitz is certainly a bit of a size queen — but he really shouldn’t. Rossi’s offensive game speaks for itself and is only still developing, he’s one of the hardest-working players in the NHL, his defensive work is great, he crosses off a positional need for the Devils, he’s young, he’s fast, he has a high ceiling, and he could be had for much cheaper than he should be. It’s the perfect scenario for New Jersey, and one that the front office should, in my opinion, absolutely keep at the forefront of their minds.

Plus, who wouldn’t want to fix the mistake that the Devils made in that draft? It would be poetic justice.