Trading for Marco Rossi is a swing the Flyers should take

As the focus shifts in Philadelphia to the upcoming draft, it’s increasingly likely that the Flyers look to shore up the most pressing organizational need – the center spot. Especially with the ongoing speculation over the arrival of Matvei Michkov, the pressure ramps up on the organization to find one or two dance partners for the Mad Russian.

Currently, the Flyers number one center prospect is…Massimo Rizzo? The struggling Elliot Desnoyers? And when you look at the NHL level, Ryan Poehling played first-line center minutes as the injured Sean Couturier struggled, while Morgan Frost took a step up to a serviceable second-center level. To make matters more complicated, Couturier recently switched agents to Pat Brisson, a move that has sparked rumors about the captain’s long-term future in Philadelphia.

So, where might the Flyers look to add a controllable, young, dynamic center?

Look no further than the Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi.

A recent report from The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco suggested that the 22-year-old forward was being made available by Wild general manager Bill Guerin – and while they aren’t actively shopping him, he is on the market in a “hockey trade”.

Add on to that the earlier reports from The Athletic’s Michael Russo, which detailed some reported previous discussion about a Cutter Gauthier-Marco Rossi swap when the maligned Flyers prospect wanted out, and it becomes clear that Rossi could be had for the right price. The Wild are currently waiting on the impending arrival of heralded center prospect Danila Yurov who will most likely be coming over to North America at the end of next season, and already have Joel Eriksson Ek taking down top-line center minutes next to Kirill Kaprizov. Add those two to the beloved Frederick Gaudreau and Ryan Hartman taking depth minutes and Mason Shaw or another young grinder playing the fourth-line role, and you have a young player potentially on the out.

And it feels like it’s for no reason. Guerin’s perception of Rossi is that he just doesn’t exactly like the way he plays the game, as a player who has fallen in love with his gutsy grinders like Marcus Foligno. This is an opportunity that Danny Briere should just jump all over.

Let’s take a look at Rossi’s game, how it could fit in Philadelphia, and some potential trades that could make sense to get Marco Rossi in the Orange and Black.

Rossi’s fit with the Flyers

It’s only been one full season in the NHL for Rossi, but the 22-year-old center had quite the first season with the Wild, at least at even strength. By the counting stats, Rossi put up 21 goals and 19 assists, with 18 of the goals coming at even strength. In rookie scoring, Rossi finished only one goal behind Connor Bedard’s mark of 22, and one ahead of both Utah’s Logan Cooley and Philadelphia’s Tyson Foerster. His rookie performance with the Wild might have been overshadowed by Calder-finalist Brock Faber on Minnesota’s backend, but make no mistake – Rossi had an excellent rookie campaign.

In all situations, Rossi carried a 56.87 CF% and a 60.49 xGF%, per Natural Stat Trick. Further, the Wild had 61.08% of the high-danger scoring chances with Rossi on the ice, as Rossi put up elite play-driving statistics in multiple categories. He was especially strong at even strength, though, operating at a 51.60 CF% and a 52.88 xGF%, good for fourth in both categories among qualifying Wild forwards. The only guys he trails? Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov, and Joel Eriksson Ek. That’s a pretty strong group for a rookie forward to have played his way into.

Rossi has the type of game Flyers fan would fall in love with – a hard nosed, high-skill, and unafraid style who is dependable in all three zones of the ice.

For a forward that’s only 5-foot-9 (a main reason why the Wild are open to moving on), you watch Rossi and he doesn’t jump out as a “small” player. He’s remarkably unafraid to get to the dirty areas, and he’s incredibly effective in front of the net. Courtesy of Evolving Hockey, Rossi’s heat map at even strength demonstrates this willingness to get below the dots, with all of his goals (shown in red) coming from in front of the net, below the dots, or barely beyond the dots. His shot attempts (shown in blue), obviously expand to beyond the dots a lot more, but Rossi found a ton of success going where players of his stature don’t usually go – right in front of the goaltender.

The clip above is just one example of this type of fearless play from Rossi – on the first goal, Rossi finds a bit of space behind the Blackhawks defense to creatively tip the puck past the goalie, while Rossi serves as the bumper position on his power play goal later in the clip.

His rookie season even included a Gordie Howe hat trick, and there’s probably no other game that is more indicative of the playing style that a peak version of Marco Rossi wants to execute. In the video below – his power-play assist, where he wins a board battle against two Canadiens and snuck the puck to Kaprizov, is indicative of his surprisingly strong physicality in puck battles. His goal (0:45 mark), where he puts himself in a dangerous position in the slot and wires a puck far side, demonstrates Rossi’s abilities to create time and space through his puck smarts. And finally, particularly endearing and rare for a small forward like Rossi, his willingness to jump into the fire and defend his teammates by fighting the much-taller Brendan Guhle (1:30 mark) is the type of guy Philadelphia could fall in love with.

There seems to be some sentiment that Rossi is not nearly as effective on the power play as he should be – but it’s likely that the jury is still out on if Rossi has this particular skill or not. He simply did not get top powerplay usage, as Kaprizov, Boldy, Eriksson Ek, Zuccarello, and Faber were entrenched on the 10th ranked NHL unit this season. He finished with only six power-play points, so there’s plenty of room for growth on the man advantage for Rossi to come.

And finally, one of Rossi’s perceived strengths is his ability on the faceoff dot, where he ranked second among all qualifying rookies with a 44.7 faceoff win percentage, trailing only Boston’s John Beecher. That’s not a sterling number by itself, but when you consider Rossi’s adjustment to the physicality of the NHL’s faceoff circle, it leaves plenty of room for him to grow. Consider the rookie seasons of notoriously strong-on-the-dot Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux, where they won 47.0% and 47.2% of their draws, respectively. There’s a lot of runway for the faceoff dot to become a strength for Rossi’s game, another skill the Flyers are lacking.

The Flyers angle 

The Flyers need gamebreaking talent down the middle in the worst way, and considering the path they’ve decided to take, they are going to have to be creative to obtain it.

They might take a swing at center with pick No. 12 in the upcoming draft, as Scott Wheeler’s recent mock draft has the Flyers selecting the shifty Berkly Catton, but Catton is no guarantee of a star. Rossi certainly wouldn’t be a guarantee either, but with this stealth rebuild approach, the Flyers should gather as many darts to throw at the board as they can. I will say, I doubt the Flyers would go down a path where they both acquire Rossi and draft Catton, as this would leave the Flyers with two small players down the middle. That just doesn’t feel like something the average hockey man would do, even if the Flyers priority should be acquiring as many high-end skill sets as possible.

If they are going to have trouble obtaining their number-one center in the draft, then that leaves two main options for the Flyers front office – the trade route, and the uncertainty of future free agency periods. Considering the trade route, Rossi might be one of the only young center options actually made available by his team. There’s been the obvious rumblings about Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras too, but his acquisition cost is likely higher than Rossi’s by a substantial amount. And lastly, there’s the looming decision to trade or extend Martin Necas with the Hurricanes, but that price seems outrageously steep when you consider both the acquisition and the extension costs. Necas might not even stick at center, so I’m not sure that’s the right swing on upside for the Flyers to take. Rossi, if he’s truly up for sale, feels like the proper amount of risk for Danny Briere to take.