{"id":793892,"date":"2026-07-11T16:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793892\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T16:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:49:09","slug":"latest-on-marco-rossi-vancouver-canucks-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793892\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest On Marco Rossi, Vancouver Canucks \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since trading away franchise face Quinn Hughes<\/a> in the middle of the 2025-26 season, the Vancouver Canucks have made no mystery of their competitive direction: they are rebuilding.<\/p>\n

Under new GM Ryan Johnson and new head coach Manny Malhotra, the Canucks are moving forward with a clear focus on stockpiling future assets and prioritizing player development so that a true Stanley Cup contender can be built down the line.<\/p>\n

When it comes to constructing a true Stanley Cup contender, one essential building block is a true No. 1 center. The Philadelphia Flyers, who are emerging from a five-year rebuild, emphasized the importance of this by extending a stunning $18MM offer sheet to ascending Anaheim Ducks No. 1 center Leo Carlsson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move made Carlsson the league\u2019s highest paid player on the basis of annual salary, further showcasing just how important \u2013 and scarce \u2013 top centers are.<\/p>\n

Just a few years ago, it seemed the Canucks were set at the position, holding one of the better young No. 1 centers in the NHL. Swedish pivot Elias Pettersson<\/a> scored 39 goals and 102 points in his age-24 campaign, and was eventually rewarded with an $11.6MM AAV contract extension.<\/p>\n

That deal has not aged well. While Pettersson followed up his 102-point breakout with a strong 34-goal, 89-point 2023-24 season, he has scored at around a 55-point pace since. That has raised questions as to who the Canucks\u2019 No. 1 center will be by the time the club emerges from its current rebuild.<\/p>\n

Vancouver began to answer that question at the 2026 draft, investing the No. 3 overall pick in OHL center Caleb Malhotra<\/a>. But while Malhotra was generally ranked as the top pivot of the draft by most public-facing outlets, many projected him to become a high-end, do-it-all No. 2 center rather than a true top-of-the-lineup force. That could very well be true, and it could very well be that the Canucks\u2019 future top center hasn\u2019t yet been drafted.<\/p>\n

In the more immediate term, it appears the Canucks\u2019 view of who their top center is\u00a0right now is already shifting in the direction of Marco Rossi<\/a>, the pivot they received from the Minnesota Wild in the Hughes trade.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Thomas Drance wrote today<\/a> that he believes \u201cthe Canucks consider Rossi as their first-line centre,\u201d not Pettersson.<\/p>\n

The ninth-overall selection at the 2020 draft, Rossi scored 22 points in 33 games with the Canucks after being traded from Minnesota, including 20 points in the team\u2019s final 25 games following Rossi\u2019s return from injury in February.<\/p>\n

Drance writes Rossi \u201chad legitimate chemistry\u201d with veteran winger Brock Boeser<\/a>, and could start the season on the first line alongside Boeser and fellow veteran Jake DeBrusk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is Rossi likely to hold the No. 1 center spot throughout the Canucks\u2019 rebuild and be their top pivot by the time the team morphs into a contender? That seems unlikely. But the 24-year-old, who scored 24 goals and 60 points in 2024-25, still has an immense opportunity ahead of him. He could get some real runway as the Canucks\u2019 top center, and the chance to be a No. 1 pivot in the NHL is one he likely wouldn\u2019t find in many other organizations.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Rossi can capitalize on that massive opportunity will be one of the more intriguing storylines to track in Vancouver next season.<\/p>\n

Rossi\u2019s success or failure in that role will also go a long way in determining what kind of contract he\u2019ll receive in two years, when his $5MM AAV contract expires and he becomes an arbitration-eligible RFA. Rossi will be just one year from unrestricted free agency at that point. According to Drance, Rossi will \u201cprobably have an enormous amount of leverage\u201d if the Canucks let his deal expire without an early extension.<\/p>\n

If he does manage to take another step with the minutes afforded to him in Vancouver, Rossi could position himself for a massive pay raise.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since trading away franchise face Quinn Hughes in the middle of the 2025-26 season, the Vancouver Canucks have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,35564,575,85,2371],"class_list":["post-793892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-marco-rossi","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}