Top 100 Oilers: No. 35 — Dwayne Roloson

Notable

It was 2006, and the Edmonton Oilers were back in the playoffs after missing in 2003-04 and the 2004-05 season being cancelled due to the league-wide lockout.

Dwayne Roloson, whom the organization had acquired at the trade deadline for first- and third-round picks, was immediately thrust into a starting position, posting a 2.43 goals-against average and a .905 Sv% through his 19 games with the team.

To say that Roloson was amazing during the first three rounds of the playoffs wouldn’t be doing him justice. Over 18 games of playoff hockey, the goaltender held a 12-4-1 record. His .927 save percentage was a major step above his regular season stats, as well as his previous NHL playoff appearance with the Minnesota Wild, where he held a .905 in 11 games.

The team’s success throughout the first three rounds was largely thanks to him, as he was setting himself up to win the Conn Smythe Trophy if the Oilers were able to close it out in the final. However, disaster struck, and the Oilers’ playoff MVP was injured in Game 1 of the final. This forced the team to play through a full seven-game series without their best player, and man did they still put up a fight.

Unfortunately, the Oilers would end up losing to the Hurricanes, beginning a decade-long playoff drought known as the Decade of Darkness. For the last 20 years, Oilers fans have found themselves asking the same question, “What would have happened if Roloson had not been hurt?”

It is a commonly shared view that the Canadian teams’ cup drought would have been ended that year had he been healthy.

The Story

Roloson had an unconventional start to his long professional career.

He went undrafted and played four years of collegiate hockey with the UMass Lowell Riverhawks from 1990-94.

In the 93-94 season, Roloson won 23 games and achieved a plethora of personal accolades for his success. He was a Hobey Baker finalist, won the Leonard Fowle Award as the Player of the Year in New England, and was named an All-American player who was recognized as a Hockey East All-Star and a New England Hockey Writers All-Star. Among all of this, he also led his team to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1999.

His stellar showing throughout his last season with the Riverhawks put him on the radar for NHL teams and he ended up signing with the Calgary Flames in July 1994. He spent the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons with the Flames’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Saint John Flames, playing 113 games for the club.

He was called up for the 1996-97 season to compete for a starting role in the Flames’ crowded goaltending situation. He played 31 games and posted just a .897 save percentage, demonstrating he wasn’t quite ready for the NHL, before he was sent back down to the AHL for the remainder of that season. He was given another shot the next season but ultimately ended up in Saint John again.

Then in 1998 he signed with the Buffalo Sabres. However, his time in Buffalo was spent as the clear-cut backup to NHL Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hašek, who was in his prime and well-established as one of the best goaltenders in the world. Roloson only played in 32 games over the span of two seasons with the Sabres.

In 2000, he was taken by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL expansion draft, and he was a Blue Jacket for 21 days before signing with the St. Louis Blues. In his 52 games with the Blues’ AHL affiliate the Worcester IceCats, his 32-15-5 record was accompanied by a .929 save percentage, and he was finally ready to be an NHL regular.

Roloson signed with the Minnesota Wild in 2001 and played 167 games during the four seasons he spent in the State of Hockey. He had a .919 save percentage and a 2.19 goals-against average despite his 62-71-27 record. Three of his four seasons in Minnesota ended early with the team missing the playoffs entirely. However in 02-03, Roloson helped the squad get to the Western Conference final, winning 5 of 11 games he played in, and recording a .903 save percentage.

During the 04-05 lockout, the goaltender elected to sign with Rauma in Finland for this season as NHL players wanted to ensure they weren’t missing too many reps throughout the league’s pause. Played lockout with Lukko Rauma in Finland. In Rauma he played 34 games and won 20.

When the NHL opened again in 2005-06, Roloson returned to the Wild until he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on Mar. 8, 2006.

With the Oilers, he played 198 games, recorded 78 wins, had a .909 save percentage, and a 2.78 goals-against average, despite Edmonton’s overall lack of success during his time here. Now, Roloson is regarded as one of the best goaltenders in Oilers history, and if he had a playoff-calibre team in front of him in those post-2006 years, he could have been revered even higher.

He had a couple of two-year stints with the Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The most notable of his last four seasons came with the Lightning, where he led them to the Eastern Conference Final, in which he won 10 out of 17 games and had a .924 save percentage. Ultimately, the Lighting lost in Game 7 of the series, and this would be the last time Roloson saw playoff hockey in his career.

His final season in Tampa Bay was not the sendoff that he would have hoped for his career, as he posted a save percentage of .888 – a career low for the 42-year-old goaltender. Throughout 16 seasons in the NHL, Roloson was unable to win a Stanley Cup.

What Brownlee said

Simply put, Dwayne Roloson is on this list because of the part he played in the stunning and unexpected roller-coaster ride the Edmonton Oilers took their fans on during the 2006 playoffs. When the underdog Oilers needed him most, starting in the opening round of the post-season against the Detroit Red Wings, Roloson was the best he’s ever been until the thrill ride ended when his right knee buckled in the goal crease.

Absolutely nothing in Roloson’s career as an NHL goaltender to that point led anybody to believe he was capable of the kind of performance he would produce for the upstart Oilers. For eight glorious weeks, 18 games, Roloson blocked pucks, refused to yield an inch of blue paint and seemingly sneered at critics who could not or would not believe what they were seeing. Every save seemed like a “screw you” to the doubters. Then, the play, the knee. Rollie stayed down.

The Last 10

• No. 45 — Tommy Salo
• No. 44 — Kevin McClelland
• No. 43 — Kelly Buchberger
• No. 42 — Bill Guerin
• No. 41 — Mattias Ekholm
• No. 40 — Mike Krushelnyski
• No. 39 — Todd Marchant
• No. 38 — Darnell Nurse
• No. 37 — Petr Klima
• No. 36 — Joe Murphy