- The Athletic’s Thomas Drance says Vancouver sees Marco Rossi as its first-line centre over Elias Pettersson
- Rossi posted 22 points in 33 games as a Canuck after arriving in the Quinn Hughes trade
- Read below for what the new role means for Rossi’s next contract
The Canucks might already have their top center, and it isn’t Elias Pettersson.
Thomas Drance of The Athletic reported Friday that Vancouver considers Marco Rossi its first-line centre. Rossi came over from Minnesota in the Quinn Hughes trade, and after half a season in blue and green, the front office already leans on him over the guy earning $11.6 million a year.
That’s a quick drop for Pettersson. He scored 39 goals and 102 points in his age-24 season and cashed in on a long extension. He has hovered around a 55-point pace ever since, and Vancouver has spent the last year reshaping its roster around younger, cheaper pieces.
Rossi wasted no time making his case. He put up 22 points in 33 games with the Canucks and buried 20 of them across the team’s final 25 games after returning from a February injury.
He also clicked with Brock Boeser late in the year. The two could open next season on the top line next to Jake DeBrusk.
Here’s Rossi’s first goal in a Canucks sweater:
The bump up the depth chart matters for his bank account too. Rossi carries a $5 million cap hit for two more years, and he becomes an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent when it expires, one summer short of unrestricted free agency.
Pile a full season as a first-line center on top of that timeline and Rossi will have “an enormous amount of leverage,” Drance wrote, if the Canucks let the deal run out without an early extension.
Vancouver used the No. 3 pick on center Caleb Malhotra last month, though most scouts tagged him as a second-line piece rather than a true top-line force. The 24-year-old Rossi holds the first-line job right now, and a rebuild gives him the runway to prove it’s his to keep.
