The Minnesota Wild made no secret of wanting to get bigger, faster, and stronger this offseason. Did that happen? Depends on whether 6-foot-2 Yakov Trenin or 6-foot-0 Jakub Lauko being in the bottom-six moves the needle for you.

That wasn’t the plan for Minnesota to add size, though. As reported repeatedly by Michael Russo and Joe Schmidt of The Athletic, the Wild had their feelers up to move out 5-foot-9 Marco Rossi. As Russo pegged on June 25, the Columbus Blue Jackets were one destination that made sense.

The Jackets had a collection of young, once highly-touted prospects who may have fallen out of favor. David Jiricek (sixth overall, 2022) and Kent Johnson (fifth overall, 2021) had high-profile demotions that put their futures in Columbus into question. Meanwhile, Cole Sillinger (12th overall, 2021) has seen his development plateau since his 18-year-old rookie season.

Of those three, Johnson was the most intriguing option in a potential Rossi trade because he was the closest to a one-to-one comparable with the young Wild center. While Johnson has mostly played the wing in the NHL and took a total of 23 faceoffs in his two years at Michigan, Columbus drafted him as a center. Would the Wild have tried moving Johnson back to the pivot? In a world where Ryan Hartman is a center, anything is possible.

If so, Johnson could have been an ideal return for Bill Guerin in a Rossi trade. While Rossi is more filled-out at this stage of his career, Johnson has a 6-foot-0 frame that offers him more height. Maybe Johnson’s skating isn’t better, but one out of three ain’t bad?

However, the draft and free agency have come and gone. If you were dreaming about Johnson in a Wild uniform, that dream was already dwindling. Rossi appears to be locked into a roster spot on the Wild, and Minnesota’s $1.5 million in cap room dictates that they keep Rossi’s Entry Level Contract in-house.

Last week, the door slammed shut on Johnson completely. The Blue Jackets signed Johnson to a bridge deal, locking the restricted free agent into a two-year contract for $1.8 million per season.

That’s more than a movable contract, but that’s also a big reason Columbus wouldn’t move him. Say what you want about how much he struggled last year, but Johnson had a 16-goal, 40-point rookie season in 2022-23. There’s plenty of room to grow there.

Plus, the Jackets have an opportunity to put any unpleasantness from last season behind them. They fired general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen and kicked interim GM John Davidson upstairs. They also cycled through coaches Mike Babcock and Pascal Vincent. In comes GM Don Waddell and head coach Dean Evason, and thus, an opportunity for a fresh start.

For that trade framework to be possible going forward, Rossi and Johnson would likely have to be distressed assets. The Wild would still have to send out signals that they want to offload Rossi, and Johnson would have to burn through his goodwill with a new coach/GM regime. At that point, it wouldn’t be a particularly attractive trade.

The good news is that Minnesota’s inability to move Rossi has a great shot to be a blessing in disguise from Guerin’s perspective. It’s still confusing that the Wild, with their lack of centers throughout their history, would look to trade (arguably) the first true center in their history to score 40 points before turning 23.

The Wild have hesitated to commit to Rossi in the same way they’ve done with Matt Boldy and, most recently, Brock Faber. But their young center has shown a fanatical commitment to improving in the offseason, and he has every bit as much room to grow as Johnson. The Johnson Dream may be over, but realizing the Rossi Dream may be an even better outcome for the Wild.