Wild center Marco Rossi knows he has to play with more confidence to stay in the NHL

Marco Rossi didn't realize just how enjoyable summer is in the Twin Cities.

"I like to rent a boat and just chill," he said. "Even just go for walks around the lake."

But that's not all Rossi has been up to lately.

The Wild prospect is training for the season, his next opportunity to become an NHLer after the 21-year-old made the team last year before eventually getting sent back to the minors.

"One hundred percent I want to be here next year full-time and have a big impact on the team," Rossi said.

When he met with the Wild for his end-of-season meeting, Rossi was asked if he wanted to spend the summer in Minnesota instead of his native Austria.

The answer was a no-brainer for him.

"I want to be here," he said. "Let's get to work."

Over the last three weeks, the center has been working out on and off the ice Mondays through Thursdays, concentrating on his strength and quickness but also his stickhandling and shooting. But what Rossi hopes to showcase in training camp is what last season taught him.

"You always have highs and lows, and sometimes you learn more in your lows," Rossi said last week at Tria Rink in St. Paul. "For me, it's very important to have that season what I had last year because you learn so much from it. Even if you're at your peak, you can learn a lot. But I think in the moments when it's not really going your way, you can learn a lot of things."

Make no mistake: Rossi was happy with his season.

In the American Hockey League, he registered 16 goals and 35 assists for 51 points in 53 games with Iowa — this after he tallied 53 points in 63 AHL games during 2021-22.

A call-up that season led to Rossi making his NHL debut in January 2022 and after a strong audition at camp last September, he cracked the opening-night roster but then struggled to produce offensively.

He went on to sit as a healthy scratch for four straight games before the Wild assigned him to Iowa at the end of November. Rossi exited with just one assist in 19 appearances.

He still hasn't scored a goal in the NHL.

"It's not really easy at the beginning," Rossi said, "but I think over the night or the next day you kind of realize, 'OK, now it's back to business.' "

Even so, Rossi acknowledged he didn't have enough confidence last season.

That conviction had been strong through the years: He was a torrid scorer in the Ontario Hockey League before the Wild drafted him ninth overall during the first round in 2020. But then Rossi was sidelined with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that can be a complication from COVID-19.

"All what happened to myself, to miss a whole year, I think it wasn't easy at a young age," Rossi said. "So, I'm really proud of myself, how I dig out of that and where I am right now."

Rossi knows he has to play with more confidence, and he has that belief in himself.

He can't wait for the season.

"Of course, I want to make the team and be here," Rossi said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. For me, it's just important to have that confidence. All I'm thinking is about that."