LAS VEGAS — The executive team and scouts for the Minnesota Wild are in Las Vegas, sniffing around for trades and free agent deals and steals while preparing for Friday night's NHL draft, making sure they take a player at No. 13 who will help propel the franchise into its next chapter.
Truth be told, the Wild have a pretty good start on the future, after two players currently on the roster were named to the 2023-24 NHL All-Rookie Team. Defenseman Brock Faber and center Marco Rossi got the nod from voters, after seasons that put both on the map as serious up-and-comers.
Faber, 21, notched 47 points (8 goals, 39 assists) and 150 blocked shots while piling up more ice time than any other rookie in the NHL. In fact, he finished fifth overall among ALL players with nearly 25 minutes on ice per game. The hometown defenseman from Maple Grove was used in the biggest situations every game he skated in, and was more than up to the task. He finished second behind Chicago center Connor Bedard - considered a lifetime talent - in voting for the Calder Cup, awarded to the league's top rookie.
Rossi, 22, had the breakout year the Wild had been waiting for since they drafted him ninth overall in the 2020 Draft. He used an intense off-season program over the summer to improve his skating stride and strength en route to 40 points (21 goals, 19 assistants) with significant time spent playing in a top-6 role. Rossi was also nominated for the Masterton Trophy, awarded to the player who overcomes adversity and exhibits the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
Rossi missed an entire season after developing myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart he experienced after contracting COVID in 2020.
Rounding out the All-Rookie team are defenseman Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils; former Gopher standout Logan Cooley of the Arizona Coyotes; forward Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks; and goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Faber and Rossi are the third set of teammates to make the All-Rookie team in the same year, joining Toronto's Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner (2016-17) and Detroit's Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider (2021-22).
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