Marco Rossi, the Minnesota Wild’s 2020 First Round Draft Pick

 

With the ninth overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, the Minnesota Wild selected Marco Rossi, a 5’9” center who spent last season with the Ottawa 67’s—amassing 39 goals, 81 assists (120 pts) with a +69 in 56 games—where he won the CHL scoring title and was named the league’s most outstanding player.

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman had this to say about the Wild selecting Rossi:

“In Rossi, the Wild get one of the best players in junior hockey last season. He’s a player with tremendous skill and a high compete level. He’s undersized and a good, not great skater. But the skill and compete level are so good that I think he can become a low-end, first-line center in the NHL who can play on both special teams. He becomes a very important part of the Wild’s future and gives them much needed young depth at center.”

 

Drafting Rossi in the first round also helps address a serious need by the Minnesota Wild—by eventually having a true first line center. I previously stated in my article posted on September 19 (here) that the Wild have not had a true first line center in quite some time (or for as long as the team has been in existence).  Along with the Wild moving on from now-former captain Mikko Koivu and Eric Staal having been traded to Buffalo, there are two center slots that now need to be filled (which I will address is a future post).

 
I will admit I didn’t know much about Marco Rossi before the draft tonight, but after the Wild selected him in the first round—I looked up videos of him on YouTube and I will admit I was impressed with what I saw in two highlight videos—which are posted at the end of this article Yes, Rossi’s only 5’9”, but he has some amazing stick handling skills. However, from what I have read so far and the videos I’ve seen, Rossi is a player Wild fans can get excited over. Hockeywilderness.com had this comment about Rossi:

 

“The Wild take the gift that was dropped right into their lap. Rossi has elite positional awareness that makes up for his 5-foot-9 frame. You don’t score points in the OHL being bad.”

 

Even as I was writing this and still trying to research Rossi, Scott Wheeler from The Athletic posted his take on the winners and losers from the first round of this draft. He had the Wild ranked first with the selection of Marco Rossi and basically stated that he (Rossi) is ready to play in the NHL.

Well, welcome to the State of Hockey, Marco Rossi.

Can you imagine a line with Rossi at center and Kirill Kaprizov at right wing? 

As I stated earlier, here are links to two of the highlight videos of Marco Rossi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRWA90nw4IM&ab_channel=WolfHockey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHAaUFuDIQ&ab_channel=OntarioHockeyLeague

Sources:

Corey Pronman, The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/2089449/2020/10/06/nhl-draft-2020-live-first-round-updates-and-analysis/

Hockeywilderness.com https://www.hockeywilderness.com/2020/10/6/21504816/2020-nhl-minnesota-wild-draft-tracker?fbclid=IwAR2fwzItMAUl9vnjbXpP_VAt6JS2nmKWiPHIPnPusf4nffEY1g_0mVkOIXA

Scott Wheeler, The Athletic https://theathletic.com/2068998/2020/10/07/nhl-draft-winners-and-losers-ranking-every-teams-first-round/?source=twittered