Among the most discussed free agents this summer was forward Jack Roslovic, who didn’t sign a contract – not even a training camp try-out – until October 8th. The Edmonton Oilers finally stepped up to add the forward on their Opening Day, signing Roslovic to a one-year, $1.5MM contract.
Roslovic’s free agency stretching into the Fall was shocking. He scored 22 goals, a career-high, and 39 points with the Carolina Hurricanes last season – in an impactful, middle-six role. That is the exact presence he has brought to Edmonton so far. He has carved out a spot on the second-line and second power-play unit en route to nine goals and 17 points in his first 22 games with the Oilers.
His knack for making the gritty play has proven to be exactly what the high-skill Oilers were lacking. It has also helped Edmonton separate Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl onto two lines. Of the two, it’s Draisaitl’s – and, Roslovic’s – line that has dominated the competiton. Their trio, along with Vasily Podkolzin, has outscored opponents eight-to-three in 120 minutes of even-strength action. They’re also winning the battle for possession, generating eight shots for and seven shots against per game on average.
That line is vastly outperforming their expected-goals (2.50), and Roslovic himself is outperforming his career average shooting percentage (18.0% this year, 12.5% average), suggesting their red-hot scoring will slow down soon. On the same coin, it seems Edmonton isn’t getting quite all they could out of their flashy new addition. Roslovic has continued to dominate the faceoff dot despite operating on Draisaitl’s wing. He has won 58.7 percent of his 46 faceoffs this season, technically the highest on the team, just above Draisaitl’s 56.9 percent on a much more commendable 385 draws. Still, Roslovic is showing that he could stick at the center position if called upon, after posting a career-high 54.1 FO% on 355 faceoffs last year.
That could offer Edmonton a sneaky bit of flexibility as the season drags on. Previously, bumping Draisaitl up to McDavid’s flank would leave Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – and his career 44.7 FO% – as the team’s second-line center. With Roslovic, Edmonton could keep Nugent-Hopkins on the wing when he moves to the second-line.
Roslovic’s lineup impact is likely to look quite a bit different in March than it does now. His hot scoring is bound to slow, but his spot in the lineup should only become more concrete. He won’t provide McDavid with another star winger, but the security he provides Edmonton’s middle-six is invaluable. It’s a nifty bit of support for the cheap cost of $1.5MM, or only 1.5 percent of the salary cap. He is due for a new contract next summer – but it should be no issue to re-sign him with a slight pay boost if he continues to provide this kind of impact.
Edmonton is pushed up against a Stanley Cup championship. They have lost back-to-back Finals, and re-signed superstar McDavid to a three-year extension that upped the pressure to win before 2028. Any positive addition is one more body pushing towards that goal – and the Oilers have landed a discount in their October signing of Roslovic. His impact in the second-half could tilt the needle, and prove 31 other teams wrong for leaving him on the open market.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone, He’s a more than serviceable 3rd line guy on a bad team, Trying to get his next multi year deal, And If Bowman gave Frederic a ton of cash, Imagine what Roslovic could garner if he can put up a 40 point campaign.
Imagine how good the Oilers would be right now if they had Jesper Wallstedt.
A gift from the hockey gods that fell into their lap and they were like “nah, let’s trade down and get a scrub who we’ll trade for a different scrub instead. A cheap young franchise goalie would make life too easy for us.”
Still utterly stupefied by what they did.
Yeah, but goalies are kryptonite, after all. I don’t need more than three or four fingers to count the stoppers over the last twenty years who never had even an AVERAGE season. Why would they presume that Wallstedt was guaranteed gold? It’s not that he showed jack last season in the AHL. And it’s not as he’s established himself as a perennial All-Star based on an eight game sample.
What’s more stupefying to me are (a) how many teams are crying for centers, who (b) passed on a guy who had 22 goals last year, whom they (c) could have had for free.
Wallstedt was considered the best goalie prospect (seems like good scouting) in years when he fell to #20.
It was the greatest draft gift I’ve ever seen.
They PROMPTLY regifted Wallstedt to the Wild. So they could draft Xavier Bourgault, who was lousy, so they traded him for something called Roby Jarventie.
They could have had the best young goalie in the league. He was there for the taking.
McDavid looks poised to retire as hockey’s Dan Marino because of this horrific choice.
Wallstedt wasn’t NHL ready until this year and his numbers show that. The Oilers biggest window was the last 2 years and Wallstedt wouldn’t have helped with that.
So, as we sit here today, you’d rather have…
A) Jesper Wallstedt (6-0-2 1.98 GAA .935 SVP 3 SO in the NHL right now)
B) Roby Jarventie (who knows or cares)
Your refusal to admit that they blew it is the only thing that keeps this from being a rhetorical question.
I’d rather have Wallstedt than “Who?” Obviously. But — if you cared enough to look him up — you’d know that it wasn’t that they “blew” it by drafting Roby Jarventie; he had a solid post-draft year in Finland, lit up the World Juniors in 2022 … and his career promptly derailed due to serious knee injuries. GMs no more have crystal balls than we do.
By the bye, after missing most of the last couple seasons, he’s lighting them up in Bakersfield, and he’s still only 23.
Cool.
He could be the next Jere Lehtinen and it doesn’t matter with Skinner in net.
“Wouldn’t it be good if the team that needs goaltending the most had the best young goalie in the league?” seems like a fairly easy question.
So at the time of the draft the Oilers had Campbell, Skinner, Rodrigue, Konovalov, and Fanti in their system. Goaltending wasn’t their biggest need at the time. Their forward depth was abysmal. Cooper Marody, Tyler Benson, and Adam Cracknell were their leading scorers in Bakersfield going into that draft. Hindsight is 20/20 and maybe Wallstedt would have been a better pick. But at the time G wasn’t their biggest need. Oh, and Sebastian Cossa was the top ranked G that draft, not Wallstedt.
It wasn’t hindsight. I said it one minute after they made that terrible choice. None of those guys had the pedigree to ignore this prospect.
And Cossa was drafted first because Yzerman…but Wallstedt was not just the top ranked for that draft but considered the best G prospect in years.
He would have been their Fleury or Vaz.
Cossa had a 1.57GAA and .941Sv% entering that draft. Wallstadt had a 2.23GAA and .908Sv%. Cossa was very much the top G prospect that year.
And once again the team drafted for immediate need, not future potential need. If they drafted him he likely doesn’t get developed properly due to the amount of older prospects in their system.
“Here are NHL.com’s top 10 goalies available for the 2021 NHL Draft:
1. Jesper Wallstedt, Lulea (SWE)
NHL Central Scouting ranking: No. 1 (International goalies)
Wallstedt was 11-8 with three ties, a 2.23 goals-against average, a .908 save percentage and two shutouts in 22 games in the Swedish Hockey League. He also had a .923 save percentage in two games for Sweden at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
2. Sebastian Cossa, Edmonton (WHL)
NHL Central Scouting ranking: No. 1 (North American goalies)
Cossa (6-6, 210) was 17-1-1 with a 1.57 GAA, a .941 save percentage and four shutouts in 19 games in the Western Hockey League. The 18-year-old is 38-7-4 with a 1.98 GAA, a .928 save percentage and eight shutouts in 52 games in his two WHL seasons.”
“Without further ado, let’s dive into the rankings…
Tier 1 (Round 1)
Jesper Wallstedt – It’s no secret who the top rated goalie in this year’s draft is – Jesper Wallstedt is more than likely a top 10 pick. He spent his entire draft year playing for Luleå in the SHL putting up impressive numbers and looking comfortable against men. His technique and composure give him the ability to make difficult saves look easy.
Sebastian Cossa – Cossa came into the season on the border between being a first and second round pick. His short but stellar season in the WHL makes him a much safer bet to be the second of two goalies taken in the first round. His size is the first thing that stands out, but don’t let that fool you, he can make the athletic, flashy saves. Cossa has a great understanding of his depth in net and knows when and how to use certain save selections.”
“It’s OK that we took a bad prospect instead of a good one (that would have altered our franchise) because we would have ruined the good one anyway” is a unique prism through which to view events.
biggest miss by Treliving. could have looked great with Matthews and Knies but instead they have tried a rotating door, impacting their depth.
With all the teams that have trouble scoring (cough, the Preds), it’s amazing how long it took for someone to sign him.
@Gbear — It seems as if the other GMs & Coaches looked at Roslovic as having the dreaded “Goldilocks-itis”. They don’t like players who aren’t top-tier in their eyes to be picky in who they want to sign with. While I think it’s way too early to commit to him for a longer-term extension, he does seem to be a good fit for now. And, I wholeheartedly agree that GMBT might be kicking himself on that miss. Way back on Nov. 3rd, they lost to Vancouver on Boeser’s GWG with two seconds left in OT. I was listening to SN650 and literally as soon as Batch said, “O’Reilly will be taking the faceoff” with 10 seconds left, I said, “He’s already won it” before the puck even dropped. Of course, he did, but he and Skjei were scrumming it up in the corner with Boeser and Pettersson, with Hughes and Forsberg flying the zone. Almost as soon as the puck hit O’Reilly’s stick, Petey poke checks him from behind so cleanly, it seemed to stun #90. Boeser then picks up the loose change and backhands it past Saros. Barry should have had that seminal moment right there.
@Mac – As of right now, the Preds are last in GPG, goal differential and point total. Yet Bruno still has a job. We didn’t know how good we had it when Laviolette was HC.
@Gbear — This should bring a smile to your face (it did mine 😄):
link to nhl.com
(I wonder how PL felt about the personnel moves, or lack thereof.)
@Mac – This is why former coaches often make bad GM’s. They remember getting fired and thinking they didn’t deserve it, so they give their HC too long of a leesh. Dating back to last season, this is 100+ games of the same issues.
Lavi getting the roster he had to a SC final was a truly an underappreciated feat.