Getting to know the newest Edmonton Oiler Jack Roslovic

The Edmonton Oilers made a surprising move on Wednesday evening, signing Jack Roslovic to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million.

Hilariously, the news was broken by Elliotte Friedman during the first intermission of Wednesday’s game against the Calgary Flames. That said, several questions have arisen, such as “where does the cap come from to sign him?”, “where will he play in the lineup?”, and “what does he bring to the table?”

In this article, we’ll look to answer the last question.

Getting to know Jack Roslovic…

Roslovic was born in Columbus, Ohio, in January 1997. That means he was a part of the stacked 2015 draft class, with the right-shot centre dropping to the Winnipeg Jets with the 25th overall pick.

The 28-year-old spent his junior hockey with the United States Hockey League’s U.S. National Development Team before heading to Miami University (Ohio). There, he scored 10 goals and 26 points in 36 games during his freshman year, turning professional the following season.

Aside from one National Hockey League game in 2016-17, Roslovic spent the 2016-17 season with the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose. He earned 31 games in the NHL in 2017-18, scoring five goals and 14 points, splitting his time between the AHL and NHL.

Roslovic finally became a regular in 2018-19, scoring nine goals and 24 points in 77 games with the Jets that season. In the pandemic-impacted 2019-20 season, Roslovic continued to build on his career-high, potting 12 goals and 29 points in 71 games.

Roslovic remained a restricted free agent heading into the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season until he was traded alongside Patrik Laine to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Pierre-Luc Dubois, a trade of all-time.

It was with his hometown team that the 6’1” centre broke out. In just 48 games, Roslovic scored 12 goals and 34 points, on pace for 20 goals and 58 points over an 82-game period. In 2021-22, Roslovic scored a career-high 22 goals, as well as a career-high 45 points in 81 games. His scoring decreased in 2022-23, scoring just 11 goals but picking up 44 points in 77 games.

Beginning the 2023-24 season with the Blue Jackets, Roslovic scored six goals and 23 points in 40 games. Before the trade deadline, the Blue Jackets sent him to the New York Rangers, where he scored five goals and eight points in the remaining 19 games. The right-shot centre also had a deep run in the 2024 postseason, playing 16 games where he scored two goals and eight points as the Rangers were bounced in the Conference Finals by the Florida Panthers.

During the 2024 off-season, Roslovic signed a one-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes, matching his career-best of 22 goals while picking up 39 points, but was a -10 in the process.. In nine postseason games, Roslovic scored a goal and had four assists.

Roslovic shoots right and can play both centre and right wing, incredibly useful versatility for the Oilers. Last season, Roslovic mainly played wing, taking just 355 faceoffs where he had a 54.1% win percentage. However, he has a 44.4% career win-rate at the face-off dot and is a better fit on the wing for the Oilers.

One area where Roslovic will help the Oilers is even-strength scoring. Last season, all but one of his goals and two of his points came during even-strength action. He doesn’t kill penalties, and he’s often on the minus side of +/- (he was a team worst -10 in 2024-25), but Roslovic slots in nicely in the Oilers’ middle six.