With Kyle Dubas looking to shore up the forward core with young high end game changing talent comes a peek at a certain player in Vancouver who may not be safe from the full on fire sale that the Sedin Twins and Ryan Johnson indicated was afoot. That player is Canucks forward Marco Rossi.
Rossi was traded from Minnesota to Vancouver as one big piece of the big package in the Quinn Hughes trade. Rossi checks the boxes off in Dubas search of young talent and has bridge term left on his three year contract with two years left in 2026 and 2027. He comes with a cap hit of $5,000,000 AAV and still has an RFA status on his next contract.
Marco Rossi, 24, the former ninth overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft had a bit of a dip last season in production but did miss 32 games due to injury. He finished his 2025-26 campaign with a combined 35 points in 50GP, (12G-23A) between MIN and VAN.
Rossi also has had two 20 goal plus season, one in 23-24 (21) and one in 24-25 (24).
In terms of value for a Rossi trade, now would be the best time to trade for him since this past season was his worst production wise season of his young NHL career.
Rossi is a centre that could slot right into the 2C or 3C hole and provides that young blood that this hockey team desperately needs.
In terms of Rossi's game, Rossi has an a really good sense of spacing, gap control and can be noticeable both on and off the puck. He is capable of playing in the most heavy area's of the offensive zone and can eat up heavy minutes in a game. If there's an opening anywhere on the ice, you will find that a player like Rossi is going to find it and exploit it by having the puck in the back of the net or getting the puck to someone else. Rossi can also at times be responsible defensively with great off the puck positioning and support below the hash-marks.
In 235 games of his career, Rossi has secured himself 235GP, 57G 79A - 136pts.
Marco Rossi, acquired by VAN, is a second line centre. Drafted as a playmaker, has used his sense and nose for the net to become a versatile utility player. Lack of size and average speed have maybe limited his upside, one of the league's smaller centres. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/2vl6XPNvYj
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 13, 2025
Rossi received an NHL Rookie team honour in his rookie season in 2023-24. He also received multiple high end CHL honours in his junior days and was a top CHL scorer.
It is a very realistic option for Kyle Dubas and Rossi could be a player that may just be on Dubas radar but again it will be up to him to do his due diligence on the high end talent. The fit for Rossi and PIT seems good and makes a lot of sense, the cap hit and past seasons will carry any value he has plus his young age and RFA status.
Add us as a preferred source on Google