Is This The Year Jack Roslovic Finally Gets Paid?

If any player has ever been forced to earn a multi-year contract, it is forward Jack Roslovic. The 29-year-old has had to sign one-year “prove it” contracts in back-to-back summers and hopes this will be the summer he finally lands a lucrative multi-year contract in free agency. No one will feel sorry for Roslovic, as he’s made $14.7MM (as per PuckPedia) in the past five seasons, nor will they feel sorry for him as he enters this market, which is absolutely a players’ market with a rising cap and so few impact free agents available. Roslovic might be hitting the UFA market at exactly the right time, having rebuilt his value after betting on himself again.

We’ve seen this movie before. However, after entering last summer coming off a solid season, he couldn’t find a long-term deal to his liking and settled for a one-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers in October. His overall numbers dipped this season, but he played in just 69 games, tallying 21 goals and 15 assists, along with solid underlying numbers. Roslovic doesn’t play much on the power play and hasn’t killed penalties regularly for a few seasons, but his speed and puck handling, along with his age (29), make him an intriguing player in free agency. He clearly isn’t a star, but he is a useful middle-six forward who can be a good fill-in for the top six and can comfortably play on an impact third line.

On the negative side, there is a need for a team to shelter Roslovic at times by giving him offensive zone starts, though he can use his speed to make defensive recoveries if needed. There is also the knock on Roslovic: his inconsistency from year to year. But after a 36-point season this year and a very productive season in Carolina during 2024-25 (22 goals and 39 points in 81 games), those concerns should be set aside. Roslovic also has multiple 20+ goal seasons, which might be enough offensive output to lead general managers to overlook his deficiencies if they are looking for help in their middle six, especially for teams that are looking for speed.

On the contract front, a three- or four-year deal for Roslovic would take him through what should be the rest of his prime seasons, minimizing risk for any interested parties. But it is fair to wonder why he hasn’t received that big contract in free agency thus far. The tools are there, and some of the numbers bear this out, but for whatever reason, Roslovic has bounced around to four teams in four seasons and has not found a long-term home. That is certainly a concern for teams, along with the financial commitment to a player approaching 30 who has warts in his game.

Roslovic can fill any number of roles for an NHL team, and the league often rewards players who consistently do so, even if they never become stars. That adds another weird dynamic to the Roslovic story, but at the moment, it appears that Roslovic has reached the point in his career where he will finally get paid. After twice betting on himself with short-term contracts, Roslovic may finally be positioned to cash in on the multi-year deal that has remained just out of reach. Much of it isn’t due to some incredible level of play, but rather to market forces tied to the salary cap and the lack of accomplished UFAs. The quickly escalating salary cap has changed the marketplace, and giving a guy like Roslovic $4MM or more annually isn’t the cap hindrance it was a few years ago.

So, what exactly can one expect Roslovic to get? AFP Analytics has him tabbed for a three-year contract at $4.7MM annually, which seems plausible given the deals handed out thus far to pending UFAs and RFAs. Jack Drury just received five years and $4.5MM from the Nashville Predators as an RFA, and it’s not crazy to think Roslovic could top that in AAV. Drury is much more of a defensive forward, having never topped 27 points in any one NHL season, whereas Roslovic is more offensive-minded and has a bit of a goal-scoring touch.

The projection for AFP could be close to correct, but it could also fall well short, depending on how desperate NHL teams are for forward help. Many of the contracts have been handed out thus far, and quite a few have dramatically topped AFP’s projections, including Drury’s, which came in about $1.6MM above the projection per season. For what it’s worth, Tony DeAngelo doubled his projection a few days ago as well, and forward Pavel Dorofeyev was projected at $9MM annually and finished signing with the New York Rangers for $11MM annually. Now this isn’t to suggest Roslovic will magically get $7MM or more per year, but it’s certainly possible that he surpasses the AFP projection, which would make all the gambles in previous summers worth it.