More Marco Rossi talk

The Minnesota Wild seem hesitant to give Rossi a lucrative extension and he could be traded as a result.

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Marco Rossi is one of the biggest names being thrown around in trade rumors. His potential availability stems mostly from contract concerns.

Rossi’s camp has its sights set on the Matthew Boldy deal (7 x $7 million), according to Elliotte Friedman, and the Minnesota Wild appear hesitant to give it to him.

That’s not entirely surprising given Rossi’s usage towards the end of Minnesota’s 1st round series against Vegas.

I think that kind of deal is more than reasonable, though, and believe the New Jersey Devils should be interested in trying to acquire Rossi this summer.

Let’s get into it.

Boldy contract a good reference point

Rossi aiming for the Boldy deal may carry some sticker shock but it’s not unreasonable at all. There are plenty of parallels between the two.

Boldy is a former 12th overall pick who scored at a 26-goal pace as a rookie and followed that up with a 63-point campaign as a sophomore. He was handed his lucrative extension afterward.

Rossi is a former 9th overall pick who potted 21 goals in his debut season and followed that up with 60 points this past year.

We saw more goal-scoring prowess from Boldy but the gap wasn’t sizeable. Rossi also bested Boldy in plenty of other areas.

Rossi, for example, averaged 1.72 points per 60 minutes of 5v5 play as a sophomore and helped the Wild control 11% more of the goal share than they did without him.

Boldy only produced 1.56 points per 60 minutes of 5v5 play in his second year, and the Wild’s goal share was 5.5% higher than without him on the ice.

Rossi managed to outperform Boldy at 5v5 despite playing more difficult minutes. Only 27% of his ice came against bottom-tier competition, per PuckIQ. Boldy played more than 37% of his ice against such competition.

Not to mention, Rossi had more responsibility on his plate in that he was tasked with playing a premium position.

This isn’t to say Rossi is or will be better than Boldy, who is a fantastic young player. Only that Rossi’s camp isn’t exactly out to lunch asking for that kind of payday, especially in a different financial landscape with the salary cap about to soar.

The Devils should be interested