Wild finds 'harmony,' lands player it targeted all along in Rossi

ST. PAUL -- There's often a debate among draftniks regarding whether a team should focus its efforts on filling a position of need or selecting the best player available.
Not often, but sometimes, those intersections intersect, as it did for the Wild on Tuesday during the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
In desperate need of a centerman, Minnesota had arguably the draft's best one fall to its ninth selection, where the Wild happily pounced on Ottawa 67s star Marco Rossi, a diminutive but dominant offensive force in the Ontario Hockey League.

Judd Brackett, the Wild's Director of Amateur Scouting, called it "perfect harmony."
"Once in a while, it becomes real easy where that intersection is," Brackett said. "And tonight, we're very happy with how things worked out. He was the player we wanted, and we're really excited about it."
Wild General Manager Bill Guerin announced the pick virtually from the team's headquarters in downtown St. Paul before the celebrating began. Need and opportunity came together for the Wild on Tuesday night and the franchise couldn't be more excited about it.
For all the talk of selecting a goaltender with its first pick, it quickly became clear that it was Rossi whom the Wild targeted all along.
"We felt he was the best player available at the time, and the fact that he's a center, we accomplished what we wanted," Guerin said. " We're just really happy to have him at that pick."
Indeed, that was the primary worry of the evening. Once Rossi got out of the first six picks, there was concern that either New Jersey, picking seventh, or Buffalo, selecting eighth, might take Rossi.
"I can't say we were confident [he'd be there]," Brackett said. "Marco had a tremendous year in a heavily scouted league, so we sat here with a lot of anxiety and some nervous anticipation, but that's the best part of the draft. It's not scripted, things play out sometimes in your favor and I think tonight was one of those situations."
In Rossi, the Wild is getting a playmaking centerman with a knack for making highlight-reel plays. A simple YouTube search will yield a number of unbelievably skilled players that left scouts and general managers in awe.
At 5-foot-9, he doesn't possess prototypical size of a centerman, but scouting reports say that he doesn't play like a small player.
"It depends how you define size. He sure is strong enough," Guerin said. "He's 5-9 1/2 and he's probably almost as wide, and that's what makes a difference. To be able to handle the physical nature of the game, I have no problems at all with his height."
Brackett said his low center of gravity makes him difficult to move off the puck despite weighing well under 200 pounds.
"I think he's certainly built with a strong lower half so some of what he lacks in length or height he makes up for with balance and headwork and some explosion," Brackett said. "He's always on the inside and underneath defenders and first to pucks. When you have a player of his size something we look for as scouts is his courage. He plays with that every night."

Rossi said he believes he is "100 percent" ready to come to Minnesota and compete for a job with the NHL club this upcoming season.
At 19 years old, that won't be easy. But Guerin said he likes the determination.
"Any time you're an elite player like this, and you're picked high in the draft, you have some element of high confidence. And I like that. He's got a swagger to him. He believes in himself. He's gonna bet on himself," Guerin said. "If he can come in and play well enough, he can make the team. If not, we'll figure out what's best for him. But I like the fact that he has a confidence and that's what he's going for."
On paper, Rossi checks nearly all the boxes for the Wild. Not only is he a centerman, but he's capable of filling the net. He scored 38 goals and led the OHL with 81 assists and 120 points.

With a pedigree like that, it's certainly fun to think about him centering a line with someone like Kevin Fiala or Kirill Kaprizov in the future.
Just how soon that will be is unknown, but it's a vision you can bet Guerin and Brackett have already had running through their heads ... apparently, for a lot longer than just Tuesday's first round.
"I certainly think he has all the tools to be a No. 1 center," Brackett said. "The transition to playing in the National Hockey League is going to have some new nuances and challenges for him, but I think Marco will be up for it. He's a determined and dogged worker, I think he'll do everything he has to do to be the best that he can be."
Related:
- Rossi has a big fan already in Vanek - Wild selects Rossi with ninth pick in 2020 NHL Draft