Inside Marco Rossi’s offseason of sacrificing ‘everything’ to be ready to make

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Since last year’s training camp, Marco Rossi has put on 15 pounds of muscle. This offseason, as part of his decision to spend most of his summer in Minnesota working with the Wild staff, Rossi changed his skating stride and missed his sister’s wedding back home in Austria because he didn’t want to skip one day of skates with some of the NHL’s most talented Minnesotans or a single captain’s practice.

It’s safe to say the 2020 first-round pick is not only determined to make the team out of camp (again) but also to show this time around he’s ready to make an impact.

Just looking at Rossi on and off the ice, there’s zero doubt he put in the work this summer.

We’ll all learn in three weeks if the third-year pro is ready to shine when the lights turn on.

“I mean, it wasn’t hard, because my goal is to be an NHL player,” Rossi said when asked about missing Marielle’s wedding last month and not spending the offseason in his sanctuary, the tranquil, picturesque Rankweil, Austria. “Of course, you miss home and stuff, but I have my goal and that’s No. 1: I want to be an NHL player. So you do everything to try to sacrifice everything you can.”

Every Wild fan knows Rossi’s story by now.

After becoming the first European to lead the OHL in scoring and the second European import to be named MVP, this was a blue-chip prospect selected with the No. 9 pick in 2020 ahead of talented, now-NHL forwards Cole Perfetti, Anton Lundell and Seth Jarvis.

It just hasn’t happened for him yet at the NHL level.

He lost basically a year of hockey after being diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that could have turned tragic had it not been discovered by Wild doctors. He returned from that to set an Iowa Wild rookie record with 53 points in 63 games two years ago and ended up averaging nearly a point a game last season in Iowa (51 points in 53 games) but only after showing he was not ready for the NHL to start last season.

Despite leading the NHL with seven assists and nine points in the preseason, Rossi had no goals and one assist in 16 Wild games before being reassigned after a handful of healthy scratches. He came up again late in the season but failed to register a point in three games. In the playoffs, the Wild were without Joel Eriksson Ek and played an injured Ryan Hartman. The fact that they didn’t turn to Rossi, a fellow centerman, and opted for Sam Steel instead was an unmistakable indictment.

That’s why in his end-of-the-year exit meeting general manager Bill Guerin “encouraged” Rossi that it would be a good idea for him to stick around Minnesota to work out with strength and conditioning coach Matt Harder and get on the ice with skating and skills coach Andy Ness.

Rossi’s no dummy. The encouragement was more an unofficial instruction, so he took part in the world…