Ohgren, an athletically gifted left winger, has shown impressive flashes due to his straight-line speed, sturdy strength, and underrated skill. It\u2019s Vancouver\u2019s job to help the 21-year-old Swede translate his physical gifts into consistent middle-six offence at the NHL level.<\/p>\n
Rossi, a player the Canucks have been interested in since last summer, is the most established of the group. At 24, he\u2019s already a two-time 20-goal scorer, coming off a 60-point campaign last season, and has proven himself a reliable two-way player. Given the club\u2019s issues at second-line centre and how challenging it is to acquire help down the middle via trade and free agency, he has to continue on his trajectory as an impact player at a premium position.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a closer look at what Rossi brings to the table, including both the strengths and question marks of his game.<\/p>\n
Rossi is one of the most unique player types in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Listed at a diminutive 5-foot-9, Rossi is the smallest top-six centre in the league. What makes his profile especially rare, though, is that he\u2019s undersized and an average skater.<\/p>\n
Besides Rossi, there are only four full-time top-six centres in the NHL who are listed below 6-feet and 200 pounds \u2014 Connor Bedard, Jack Hughes, Brayden Point, and Vincent Trocheck. Hughes, Point, and Bedard make up for their smaller frames with dynamic, game-breaking skating. Even Trocheck\u2019s max skating speed hit the 99th percentile last season. Meanwhile, Rossi\u2019s max skating speed this season ranks below the 50th percentile of NHL forwards. He\u2019s not a slow or sluggish skater by any means (there are certainly shifts where he looks quick), but it isn\u2019t a clear advantage of his game the way it is for virtually every other undersized top-six centre in the league.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a massive testament to Rossi\u2019s skill, work ethic and on-ice intelligence that he\u2019s beaten the odds and become an impactful top-two line centre despite these extreme physical disadvantages.<\/p>\n
Rossi thrived in unconventional ways en route to a 24-goal, 60-point sophomore breakout last season. He evolved into a net-front scoring ace for the Wild \u2014 18 of his 24 goals were from the \u201chigh danger\u201d areas, according to NHL Edge. This matches the eye test: Nearly all of his best offensive looks come from near the opposing goaltender\u2019s crease.<\/p>\n
You might be wondering: How did a 5-foot-9 forward become so effective in the hardest, most physical areas of the offensive zone? It\u2019s a combination of factors.<\/p>\n
First, despite being short, Rossi is built muscular and stocky. He\u2019s stronger than you\u2019d expect, and he\u2019s got a gritty, hard-nosed motor that energizes him to play through contact and win battles against bigger defenders.<\/p>\n
Rossi\u2019s hands around the net are very quick. He\u2019s swift to snatch loose pucks around the net and is a confident, decisive finisher. He also has terrific hand-eye coordination for tips, redirections, and deflections.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, Rossi\u2019s instincts and intelligence are excellent. He\u2019s a master at sneaking into dangerous open ice areas where he\u2019s unguarded. He understands how to read skilled players, offer them options, and attack spots with perfect timing.<\/p>\n
All of these tools are exciting, but they paint Rossi as a complementary scorer rather than a solo offensive driver. That\u2019s an important distinction, and it raises a key question: Will Rossi\u2019s offensive production translate as prolifically in Vancouver?<\/p>\n
Rossi was at his best with the Wild when riding shotgun with a star playmaking winger. Last season, he usually played on a line with either Kirill Kaprizov or Matt Boldy. I reviewed all of Rossi\u2019s goals from last year, and it was notable that 13 of his 24 goals were preceded by an east-west pass through the slot. These cross-slot passes (also known as Royal Road passes) are almost unstoppable for goaltenders. Some research\u00a0shows that shots following these east-west passes are scored on about<\/a>\u00a030 percent of the time<\/a>, which is three times more dangerous than the average shot.<\/p>\n Many of Rossi\u2019s goals resembled the clip below. During this play, Boldy commands the opposition\u2019s attention from the half-wall with his spin move and drive to the interior. With everyone focused on Boldy and the puck, Rossi gets open on the weak side and finishes off Boldy\u2019s gorgeous pass.<\/p>\n Stars like Kaprizov and Boldy have gravitational pull. They draw defenders toward them like magnets, which means less attention and more space in prime real estate for a linemate like Rossi. It also begs the question: Who\u2019s going to be the elite playmaker to tee Rossi up with the east-west passes that he so clinically finishes off?<\/p>\n As a rookie in 2023-24, Rossi played nearly 600 five-on-five minutes on a line with Kaprizov and scored 1.92 points per 60 in that time. That\u2019s the equivalent of a low-end first-line rate. Without Kaprizov, Rossi scored 1.51 points per 60, which is closer to a third-line rate.<\/p>\n Overall, Rossi played nearly 1,000 five-on-five minutes away from Kaprizov and Boldy over his last two seasons. In that timeframe, his line scored a measly 1.77 goals for per 60. The good news is that he still held his own from a two-way perspective, thanks to his strong defensive metrics. However, the broader point is that Rossi is a supporting player on a top-six line and that his early-career offensive production has dipped when he hasn\u2019t had a star winger to play alongside.<\/p>\n To this point, Rossi has yet to prove he can be the primary driver of an offensive line. He isn\u2019t a puck-dominant player. He isn\u2019t a dynamic puck transporter who\u2019s going to drive consistent rush offence \u2014 he manufactured controlled entries at the second-lowest rate of all Wild forwards last season, according to Corey Sznajder\u2019s tracking data.<\/p>\n The challenge for the Canucks is that they don\u2019t have a Kaprizov or Boldy-calibre winger for Rossi to play with. His current linemates, Brock Boeser and Evander Kane, are both complementary scorers as well. Stylistically, it\u2019s an awkward fit because there isn\u2019t a natural puck transporter and playmaker on that line.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Adam Foote doesn\u2019t have many better options.\u00a0Conor Garland is the club\u2019s best play-driving winger. However, he\u2019s nowhere close to the kind of game-breaker that Kaprizov or Boldy are. Not to mention, it\u2019s not ideal to have two tiny forwards on a line together.<\/p>\n I imagine these complications were part of the reason that nobody blew the Wild away with a massive trade offer for Rossi last summer (he was in trade rumours and in a contract dispute), despite the league\u2019s top-six centre crunch. For all of Rossi\u2019s production and admirable qualities \u2014 there are many, including his puck skills, intelligence, and unimpeachable work ethic \u2014 teams don\u2019t exactly line up for sub 5-foot-10 centres with average speed and a net-front offensive skill set that may require a star playmaking linemate to maximize.<\/p>\n To be clear, I\u2019m not suggesting that Rossi\u2019s offensive production will dramatically fall off a cliff in Vancouver, per se. He boasts enough talent and will get enough plum offensive opportunities to still produce at a respectable level. This also isn\u2019t an overreaction to the one point he has in five games with the Canucks so far. I would never rush to judge a player this soon after a whirlwind trade, and he\u2019ll presumably get easier matchups once Elias Pettersson is healthy and can return as the 1C. My observations and uncertainty about Rossi\u2019s playing style and potential fit with the Canucks date back to last summer, when his name was first connected to Vancouver.<\/p>\n Moving forward, there are a couple of possibilities that the Canucks will be hoping for.<\/p>\n One scenario is that Rossi becomes faster and\/or finds other ways to develop into a more prolific offensive driver. This isn\u2019t entirely far-fetched \u2014 Rossi has playmaking smarts to his game and once had an elite pedigree, as evidenced by his draft year when he piled up 120 points (81 of them were assists) in 56 OHL games.<\/p>\n If that doesn\u2019t happen, though, it\u2019s incumbent on the Canucks to draft and develop (or eventually trade for) a star play-driving winger for Rossi to play with. The Canucks don\u2019t need a Kaprizov-level superstar to maximize Rossi (though that would be great); their own version of Boldy would suffice. That\u2019s still an awfully high bar because Boldy is an elite player, but with enough first-round draft capital, you should eventually be able to land a similar winger.<\/p>\n The Canucks need one of these scenarios to unfold; otherwise, Rossi may not become the dream 60-70-point centre fans want him to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vancouver Canucks\u2019 lucrative return from the Quinn Hughes trade could be a massive building block for their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99,1320],"class_list":{"0":"post-369223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-vancouver-canucks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766662087_623_giphy.gif\"\/)
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