C Marco Rossi - Ottawa 67’s, OHL (2020 Draft)

[Sens of Anarchy]

Lafreniere
Stutzle
Byfield
Perfetti
Drysdale
Holtz
Raymond
Rossi
Lundell
Quinn
Zary

did Perfetti pp on your cf?

 

[Gargyn]

did Perfetti pp on your cf?

I think Perfetti is going to be a star. I think he could be number 2 in a redraft 5 years from now. Whoever gets him is going to be very happy.

 

[NHL Dude 120]

Does he project to be more of a 1st line or 2nd line player?

 

[TheMule93]

Few weeks ago people were projecting him at 4 quite often, now people are cooling on him. Interesting to watch the ebbs and flows of draft hype despite zero hockey being played. People are playing mind games with themselves.

This goes for all these prospects, not just Rossi though

 

[TheMule93]

How does Rossi compare to Martin St Louis?

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Few weeks ago people were projecting him at 4 quite often, now people are cooling on him. Interesting to watch the ebbs and flows of draft hype despite zero hockey being played. People are playing mind games with themselves.

This goes for all these prospects, not just Rossi though

It is really, really hard to do nothing at all. I think we are all struggling with this in more ways than one.

 

[Dr Salt]

Does he project to be more of a 1st line or 2nd line player?

Rossi's ceiling is quite easily first line. He's a very dynamic players that can make things happen, great combination of skill, iq, and skating.

 

[DrSense]

How does Rossi compare to Martin St Louis?

Very different. St. Louis was much faster and dynamic. Rossi is a bit bigger than St. Louis and much more cerebral, but doesn't have high end speed, which is really the only thing holding him back from being a top 3 player in this draft. That's why some question his upside - there really aren't a lot of elite centers in the NHL that are both small and don't have elite speed. He won't be beating NHL dmen 1 on 1 very often either. But while small, he is quite strong and has a good solid frame. His turns and edges are awesome, so he'll be a little buzz saw down low on the cycle as he gets stronger. His head is always on a swivel and his vision is perhaps elite, even by NHL standards.

He is going to be a good NHL center, versus a scoring winger (St. Louis), so his floor is actually pretty high. His speed might hold him back, but his hockey IQ and playmaking is tremendous. The best comparison I've heard is Nick Backstrom, although he's a little smaller and slower than Backstrom, but could end up a very similar player if he hits his absolute upside. Either way, I think he projects as a really good two-way center who plays on both special teams and likely helps some average scoring line wingers pot 25-30 goals pretty consistently. Very little bust potential. Worst case, you're probably looking at an elite checking center on a cup contender, ala Pageau. Quite and unassuming kid, but already a professional. Crazy focused on being the best he can be.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

That seems like a stretch. Why would his coach shackle the best offensive player in the league with such stringent D assignments that his production drops by more than half? And only against a subset of teams? No amount of defensive work by a forward can compensate for a loss of 1-1.5 PPG.

I have nothing against Rossi; he's a fantastic prospect. I'd probably still take him over Perfetti. But he is playing on the best team in the league, in a significantly weaker conference, and he does apparently get a disproportionate amount of his production against weaker teams, and IMO it needs to be taken into account when comparing numbers.

I don’t think the 8 games proves much. How many games outside of those games did he only average a ppg?

 

[slovakia18]

Very different. St. Louis was much faster and dynamic. Rossi is a bit bigger than St. Louis and much more cerebral, but doesn't have high end speed, which is really the only thing holding him back from being a top 3 player in this draft. That's why some question his upside - there really aren't a lot of elite centers in the NHL that are both small and don't have elite speed. He won't be beating NHL dmen 1 on 1 very often either. But while small, he is quite strong and has a good solid frame. His turns and edges are awesome, so he'll be a little buzz saw down low on the cycle as he gets stronger. His head is always on a swivel and his vision is perhaps elite, even by NHL standards.

He is going to be a good NHL center, versus a scoring winger (St. Louis), so his floor is actually pretty high. His speed might hold him back, but his hockey IQ and playmaking is tremendous. The best comparison I've heard is Nick Backstrom, although he's a little smaller and slower than Backstrom, but could end up a very similar player if he hits his absolute upside. Either way, I think he projects as a really good two-way center who plays on both special teams and likely helps some average scoring line wingers pot 25-30 goals pretty consistently. Very little bust potential. Worst case, you're probably looking at an elite checking center on a cup contender, ala Pageau. Quite and unassuming kid, but already a professional. Crazy focused on being the best he can be.

i think not that St.Louis was faster, he was not in the beginning. His first Elite Year was 4 years ago from his first Game in the NHL.
St.Louis trained like a beast for that what he later was.
Rossi and St.Louis its hard to compare i think.

 

[DrSense]

i think not that St.Louis was faster, he was not in the beginning. His first Elite Year was 4 years ago from his first Game in the NHL.
St.Louis trained like a beast for that what he later was.
Rossi and St.Louis its hard to compare i think.

St. Louis was lighting fast since the beginning. And he put up huge points at every level. Teams just dismissed him because a 5'7 150 lb winger was not a player teams really drafted back in the early 90's. Even a guy like Theo Fleury, who came before St. Louis, put up ridiculous numbers, but got drafted in the 8th round a few years earlier (which is not drafted in this day and age).

Teams are a lot more open to diminutive players now - they learned their lesson given when they do make it, they can be allstars.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I think Perfetti is going to be a star. I think he could be number 2 in a redraft 5 years from now. Whoever gets him is going to be very happy.

I strongly agree. I don’t think he actually gets drafted in the top 5, but easily should IMO

 

[Belos]

Ceiling: Columbus RyjO
(minuse the shot, obviously a tad less strength too)
A lvl under that might be David Krejci.

Realistic comparison/floor : Mikko Koivu. Skating is what could bring him to that lvl. Still good tho. Lacks dynamism and next lvl off. awareness. ( A very patient passer tho). Good def awareness. Hockey IQ quite high

Size, skating and lack of dynamic abilities does bring him a high chance of not being a top line player. I do see bust potential in him also. However, the hockey IQ will prevent him from being non serviceable on a championship team low end 2nd line players say.

 

[Llamamoto]

Ceiling: Columbus RyjO
(minuse the shot, obviously a tad less strength too)
A lvl under that might be David Krejci.

Realistic comparison/floor : Mikko Koivu. Skating is what could bring him to that lvl. Still good tho. Lacks dynamism and next lvl off. awareness. ( A very patient passer tho). Good def awareness. Hockey IQ quite high

Size, skating and lack of dynamic abilities does bring him a high chance of not being a top line player. I do see bust potential in him also. However, the hockey IQ will prevent him from being non serviceable on a championship team low end 2nd line players say.

I'm pretty sure Koivu was a better player than RyJo.

 

[Belos]

I'm pretty sure Koivu was a better player than RyJo.

As a complete player no doubt. But Ryjo seemed like he had higher offensive potential. At the time, I'm pretty sure people would say he was better than Koivu had his career trajectory stayed on track. That's why Nashville felt comfortable trading a surefire 1D for him. So yeah I'm seeing realistically Koivu but if he were to peak on his offensive talent, it would be at few years ago Ryjo's lvl. How bout that?

 

[57special]

Rossi is nothing at all like Koivu, at least not Mikko.

 

[bland]

If any comparison is necessary, think a more dynamic Logan Couture.

 

[Llamamoto]

If any comparison is necessary, think a more dynamic Logan Couture.

Or a poor man's Crosby.

 

[jibbz]

Rossi has a far higher ceiling that just a mere 70 point center

 

[DrSense]

Rossi has a far higher ceiling that just a mere 70 point center

I think most scouts feel he doesn't. The point has been made, but there isn't one top 6 center in the NHL 5-9 or smaller. And Rossi also isn't an elite skater, making it all the more challenging for him. An exception like Brayden Point is a bit bigger and much faster, and even Point is a bit alone at his size as a top 6 center. That said, I think most of us feel Rossi is exceptional enough in other areas he'll be the exception of being a top 6 center at this size / speed metrics, but even if he does that, keep in mind there are only around 15 centers in the league that crack 70 points (0.9 ppg). So only 1 in 4 top 6 centers are bonafide 70 point guys. If Rossi ends up like a RyJo or M Koivu, I think most teams drafting in the 5-10 range would be over the moon with that type of impact.

 

[McGilliScout]

Few weeks ago people were projecting him at 4 quite often, now people are cooling on him. Interesting to watch the ebbs and flows of draft hype despite zero hockey being played. People are playing mind games with themselves.

This goes for all these prospects, not just Rossi though

I've found myself changing the order my first round quite a bit in the last week or two despite not a single one of these kids actually playing hockey.

It's amazing what the mind can do when we overthink and hyper-analyze our lists because of boredom. My top 10 has stayed the same but my 11-31 keeps getting jumbled.

 

[Belos]

Rossi has a far higher ceiling that just a mere 70 point center

I'm not trying to damper any dreams but definitely not trying to fall in love with a prospect lol. Size and skating are concerns but IQ his high enough that he'll be a good producer. Backstrom's production is a bit of a reach. I get the low center of gravity, thick base, strong leg thing but poor man's Crosby? Just don't want guys to get disappointed, happens every year.

 

[Scintillating10]

I think Rossi will go either 4th or 5th. Him and Drysdale are a tossup to me

 

[Mark Edwards]

Team Scouts I've spoken to are really varied in their opinions of Rossi. I don't know one Scout who doesn't like him as a prospect, but their projections and rankings vary quite a bit. The majority project him as a winger because of the size/skating combo (same for Perfetti) which drops him down their personal lists. Many tell me the opinions of him are wide ranging on their own staffs as well.

FYI, we posted a new free podcast today and one topic we spoke about was on stats. We included the chart along with the podcast. Rossi had 2.75 points per game vs the bottom 10 teams in the OHL (88 pts in 32 games) and 1.27 pts per game vs the top 9 teams (28 pts in 22 games ) Ottawa was obviously in that top 10 group, thus vs 9 teams. He really feasted on the bottom feeders - 38 points in 13 games (2.92 PPG) vs the very weak Kingston, Niagara and North Bay.

If you want to see some other players here is the link. We've done a version of this going back many years.

 

[DrSense]

Great stuff, Mark. Will check it out. I can see how Rossi is a tough one for scouts to wrap their heads around - certainly varying opinions here too.