Wild’s Marco Rossi suffers lower-body injury versus Kraken

Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi left Wednesday’s contest versus the Seattle Kraken after inadvertently blocking a shot from teammate Matt Boldy. Rossi exited at the 9:13 mark of the opening frame, with the Wild later ruling out the forward for the remainder of the contest due to a lower-body injury.

Through 68 appearances with the Wild this season, Rossi has tallied 21 goals and 32 assists to sit second in team scoring with 53 points, three shy of Boldy for the team lead.

Originally chosen ninth overall by Minnesota in the 2020 NHL Draft, the Austria native has since skated in part of four seasons with the Wild totaling 171 career contests in which he has recorded 42 goals and 52 assists for 94 points. Becoming a full-time NHL skater a year ago, Rossi notched 21 goals and 19 assists for 40 points through 82 games in 2023-24.

Rossi has also spent part of two seasons with the AHL affiliated Iowa Wild where through 116 contests he collected 34 goals and 70 assists for 104 points. A graduate of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, Rossi spent two seasons in the junior circuit highlighted by the 2019-20 campaign in which he was presented with the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player following a dominant performance that saw him pace the league with 120 points counting 39 goals and 81 assists in 56 games.

The 23-year-old is eligible to become a restricted free agent this coming offseason, per PuckPedia.

Entering Wednesday’s contest against the Kraken, the Wild sat 38-25-5 on the season to hold down the first wildcard seed in the Western Conference with 81 points. The Wild have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in four of the past five seasons but have not won a playoff round since 2015.