The Philadelphia Flyers need a young, top-six center more than any hockey team in the world needs anything. Could they find their answer on the Minnesota Wild?
Marco Rossi’s name has come up in trade rumors for at least the last 12 months. The 23-year-old Wild center has been seen as on his way out of Minnesota since the team doesn’t view him as the high-end center that they want to build a lineup around that he could have been when drafted ninth overall back at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
Now a pending restricted free agent, the Wild need to make their decision to either push him around and get him to sign short-term contracts that walk him to free agency, consistently having this push-and-pull between a player that deserves a larger role and a team that doesn’t think he’s anything more than a bottom-six center if not playing with Kirill Kaprizov. Or, commit to him with a long-term contract. With that choice looming, Wild general manager Bill Guerin might just pull his parachute and decide to trade the young center and get a player that is more in their own image.
This has caused endless trade rumors and speculation — and confirmation from The Athletic’s Michael Russo that it is more than a possibility that Rossi is playing in a different organization before next season. And now, a recent report from RG Media’s Jimmy Murphy has connected the Philadelphia Flyers to Rossi, listing them as one of the teams interested in acquiring the 23-year-old Austrian center.
Per @MurphysLaw74 Marco Rossi is very much on the block for the Minnesota Wild, with chatter expected to pick up next week.
Flyers, Sabres, Penguins and Blackhawks are among the teams to have already shown interest, with the field expected to expand. https://t.co/IDQevGjf2j
— Marco D’Amico (@mndamico) May 28, 2025
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Based on conversations with numerous NHL sources, the Philadelphia Flyers, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, and Seattle Kraken have all expressed interest in acquiring Rossi.
“For whatever reason—I think maybe he just doesn’t fit the Guerin mold—there doesn’t seem to be a fit there in Minnesota,” another NHL source told RG. “Whatever it is, there’s a market for him right now. I think some teams see him as a real middle-six guy with a lot of upside. He may not be as physical as you’d like, but the skill is there.”
— Jimmy Murphy, RG.org
It’s not the first time the Flyers have been interested in Marco Rossi. According to reports, when the Flyers were very quietly trying to trade then-prospect Cutter Gauthier for a player of his equal, the Wild were very interested. And discussions surrounded on getting Rossi as part of the package in return for the maligned fifth-overall selection. Of course, the entire picture is not clear whether or not the Flyers were the first ones to name Rossi in the trade discussions or not, but there is history here.
We previously went over the pros and cons of the Flyers trading for Marco Rossi.
Rossi would solve a lot of issues for the Flyers. He is listed at just 5-foot-9 but doesn’t play like it whatsoever. A heavy forechecker with more speed than a whole lot of top-six centers in the NHL, Rossi can punish a team’s defense. He can elevate a skilled player — like he did when he was playing with Kirill Kaprizov during his Hart Trophy-earning run earlier last season — or provide a stable offensive force in the middle six.
He might not be the Flyers’ ideal option as a top-six center partnered with Jett Luchanko, considering both centers are under six feet tall. But both happen to play an ultra-aggressive style that can be exactly the way this team wants to play, especially under new head coach Rick Tocchet. He would check a whole lot of boxes, so we’ll see where this goes.
Considering the Wild are nowhere near in need of future assets, the Flyers might be the only team that can offer long-term NHL players that are interested in Rossi. The Blackhawks have no one but prospects; the Penguins have no prospects and unless the Wild are interested in Rickard Rakell, they have no hope; the Buffalo Sabres might be in competition but who knows if the Wild want their miscast young players; and the Kraken are too conservative to move anyone of merit for Rossi.
It feels like the right situation for the Flyers to take advantage of.
In his second consecutive season where he played all 82 games — impressive after having an early-career health scare with COVID — he scored 24 goals and 60 points while averaging 18:15 TOI.