ST. PAUL -- It’s telling that when the Minnesota Wild lost Joel Eriksson Ek to a major injury, they didn’t turn to Marco Rossi. It’s also telling that when the Wild struggled on the power play in the playoffs, they didn’t turn to Calen Addison.
Examining the Wild prospect pool, Rossi and Addison are at the top of pretty much every ranking. Many think Rossi can be an impact center in the future. And that Addison can be an elite playmaker on the blue line.
Yet with the 2022-23 season on the line for the Wild last week, neither general manager Bill Guerin nor head coach Dean Evason felt comfortable playing Rossi or Addison. Instead, those two prospects watched from off the ice as the Wild bowed out of the first round with a Game 6 loss to the Dallas Stars.
It raises the question: Where do Rossi and Addison fit?
It’s no secret that the Wild expected more out of both players this season as Rossi and Addison made the team out of training camp. In the end, though, Rossi played just 19 games, spending most of his time with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, while Addison played 62 games before getting benched down the stretch.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We’ve got some really good young players in the system that will be here soon,” Guerin said. “Honestly, I wish I could kind of speed things up and get some of these kids here now.”
It’s unclear at this point if Guerin is putting Rossi and Addison into that grouping. The organization seemed to lose confidence in both players this season.
That said, with only about $8 million in cap space at his disposal this summer, it would probably benefit Guerin to make it work. The fact that Rossi and Addison each carry cap hits of less than $1 million next season would go a long way as the Wild try to put together a competitive group of players.
Asked to assess how Rossi played this season, Guerin noted that he simply wasn’t ready to contribute in the NHL on a nightly basis.
“I think the worst thing that we could have done is just kind of force him in the lineup every night,” Guerin said. “That would have hurt his development, so I think he was in the best place possible, and that was in the American Hockey League. He played a lot of minutes. He played every situation. He did exactly what was asked of him.”
Asked to assess how Addison played this season, Guerin talked at length about Addison needing to improve his ability 5-on-5 moving forward.
“He has the ability to be better 5-on-5, and he needs to be, and that needs to be his focus,” Guerin said. “You can’t just be a specialty player in the National Hockey League. (The league is) too good. There’s no room on a roster for just a specialty guy. We know he has the ability. It’s just a matter of focusing in on it and getting to work on it.”
Needless to say, the next couple of months are important for Rossi and Addison. They plan to spend most of the summer in the Twin Cities to train with the Wild specifically. That should help as both players try to put themselves in a good position heading into next season.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I think the guys are really determined to get better,” Guerin said. “We need that. We can’t go out and spend big dollars on free agents and stuff like that, so for Marco and Calen to be ready and come in ready to have an impact is really important for us.”
______________________________________________________
This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.
The Trust Project
