The Philadelphia Flyers have been linked to Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi for over a year now, but it is much more possible that the young Austrian forward could be moved this offseason. Could it be to Philadelphia? Recent rumors have complicated the possibility of that happening, but for just another twist, the Wild general manager rebuked that recent report.
Basically, we’re all the way back at anything can happen but it is interesting how we got here.
Last Wednesday, a report from RG Media revitalized the rumors and connected the Flyers to the reportedly available center. While it could just be old information, it is fairly obvious that the Flyers will be looking into any young center that could fit into their top six for the next decade.
After that brief mention of interest, Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco expanded on it, saying that he doesn’t think there is a particular fit. How the contract demands for Rossi this summer — since he is a pending restricted free agent — will be too rich for both the Wild and the Flyers. And, specifically mentioned how the Wild would want 23-year-old winger Tyson Foerster or one of the Flyers’ late first-round picks this year, included in the deal. And how the Flyers don’t want to part with either.
Fast forward to Sunday night and The Athletic’s Michael Russo got information from the main source. In a quick chat with Wild general manager Bill Guerin, it was explained that the report from Di Marco was almost entirely false — how no specific trade packages have been discussed with any team, and how it’s mainly just been throwing names around.
Guerin denied a report from DailyFaceoff that he asked Philadelphia for Tyson Foerster or one of the Flyers’ late first-round picks in a trade for Rossi, saying, “I’ve talked to lots of teams about lots of players — not just Marco — and names come up all the time, but there’s never been any serious discussion with anybody yet.”
The Flyers are in the market for a second-line center, as are teams like the Vancouver Canucks, Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Flames and Montreal Canadiens.
Asked if he’s gotten much interest so far in Rossi, Guerin said, “Yeah, teams see this stuff written and they call, but like I said, Marco’s a good player and I’m not interested in making our team worse or postponing our team being better. So I’m not dying to get rid of Marco. That’s the bottom line.”
Most trades this month happen around the draft, which is June 27 and 28, but Guerin indicated he could be active much sooner.
“If we ever did something, I don’t have to wait for the draft or anything,” he said. “But again, that’s not for Marco. That’s for anybody.”
–Michael Russo, The Athletic
While that report was exposed as false from Guerin, there are certainly some reasons why it could have been put out there in the first place. Obviously, the noise surrounding Rossi and the Flyers was getting noisy at the time, so some concrete information other than being in a list of teams that have expressed interest, was probably viewed to be useful at that time.
But there could still be some truths in there. It could be true that the Flyers are not willing to part with Tyson Foerster or the later first-round picks that they own — Philadelphia has Colorado’s 22nd-overall pick and Edmonton’s first-rounder that will settle in at 31st or 32nd overall. Especially for a player that they might not be super in love with themselves or seen as not the perfect answer for their first-line center problem. Considering how quiet the Flyers operate, they could certainly be planning on using those draft picks for something more significant. Or, just to spiral down the list of other possibilities, they are getting word of what other teams’ draft boards look like and know they can get a player they think extremely highly of, down around that range.
Basically, it’s still status quo. The Flyers are certainly looking around for good centers that fit their timeline, and it could be Rossi, or someone else we have not even heard that Philadelphia is interested in yet.
We’ll see how this plays out.