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Buckeye State Breakout - July. 19, 2021 – Vol. 74, Issue. 08 - Ken Campbell
SOMETIMES, YOU TAKE A calculated risk. So, when Jack Roslovic returns your call after finishing one of his legendary off-season workouts, you decide to open the conversation with, “Hi, I was hoping to speak to the best player in the Pierre-Luc Dubois-Patrik Laine trade.” Then you wait. And gulp. “And that would be…?” is the received response. “Just so I know who we’re talking about.” Well played, Mr. Roslovic. Well played.
Speaking of well played, those words also describe Roslovic’s season. Far better, in fact, than they do the principal components of the season’s foremost blockbuster trade. When Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen decided to deal Dubois to the Winnipeg Jets, he wanted Laine in return, to be sure. But he also insisted on the inclusion of the son of John and Jane Roslovic, original season-ticket holders of the Blue Jackets. There haven’t been many seminal moments in Blue Jackets history, but Jack Roslovic has been there for some of the bigger ones. The most prominent came when he was 17 and watched Brandon Dubinsky tie Game 4 of Columbus’ 2014 first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins with just 22.5 seconds remaining. Dubinsky had an all-time great goal celebration and, sitting in the first row of Section 104, right behind the visitors’ bench at Nationwide Arena, Roslovic celebrated right along.
That Roslovic, of all players involved, would have the most productive season was almost inconceivable when Columbus and Winnipeg agreed to the swap. After all, Dubois was coming off a monster playoff in which he established himself as a legitimate No. 1 center, and Laine was, well, Laine. Roslovic, meanwhile, never seemed to fit into Winnipeg’s jammed depth chart and was in the midst of a contract dispute with the team that held him out of camp. But lo and behold, both Dubois and Laine underachieved, and Roslovic achieved.
“I knew that for myself, I was not just a throw-in, at least for Columbus,” Roslovic said. “And I knew they were going to give me the opportunity that Winnipeg never gave me. And that was to play center and a legitimate chance to play center. No one had ever seen me at what I call (my) natural position.”
It really should have worked out better for both sides in Winnipeg. After acquiring the Buffalo Sabres’ first-round pick in the massive Evander Kane trade in 2015, the Jets took Roslovic 25th overall from USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, where he starred on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk. (Look Ma, no Michigan, Massachusetts or Minnesota!) He came to Winnipeg as a skilled player in an organization that puts a premium on that dimension.
Blue Jackets Prospect To Miss Time Due To Shoulder Surgery
The Athletic's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6609525/2025/09/08/yegor-chinakhov-adam-fantilli-blue-jackets/?source=emp_shared_article">Aaron Portzline has reported</a> that CBJ defensive prospect Luca Marrelli, will miss the first two months of the season. Marrelli apparently had shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum suffered last season.
Even though Roslovic would blow his teammates away annually in training-camp fitness testing, the combination of inconsistent play and the Jets’ embarrassment of riches at forward seemed to continually push him down the depth chart. He thought of himself as a natural center, but the Jets had him play primarily on the wing. When he did get a chance to show his stuff, he would display spurts of the untapped potential, but then that would dry up.
It was a classic coach-player conundrum. The player maintains in order to play better, he needs to play more. The coach, Paul Maurice in this case, insisted the player had to play both better and more consistently to earn more ice time. “It could have been a really good fit,” Roslovic said. “But it was just the way they wanted to utilize me wasn’t the way you were going to get the player you drafted. It’s not their fault, it wasn’t my fault. You can call it what it is.”
THEY WERE GOING TO GIVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY WINNIPEG NEVER (DID). A CHANCE TO PLAY CENTER– JACK ROSLOVIC
With the opportunity to play second-line minutes down the middle, Roslovic had a tantalizing season, scoring 12 goals and 34 points in 48 games. But with 20 career playoff games to his name, he’s still looking for his first post-season goal. The way the Blue Jackets seem to be trending, he might be waiting a while yet for that elusive marker. But there’s no doubt Roslovic could be on the verge of breaking out offensively. The pressure of playing in a Canadian fishbowl has been replaced by performing in his hometown, but Roslovic is looking forward to a full season in front of big home crowds.
And he’s confident he can use his 2020-21 success as a springboard. He is heartened by the on- and off-ice chemistry he has formed with Cam Atkinson, who was on that 2014 Blue Jackets team with Dubinsky.
“My job is to be the best I can be,” Roslovic said. “I think it’s really good now I have a couple teammates that live in Columbus, and Cam being one of them, and somebody I enjoy playing with. Being a dominant line is definitely a thing I want to have, to share the success and help the team and carry the team along and be good and top guys.”
35 Days Until Opening Night At NWA: The History Of Jersey #35
The Columbus Blue Jackets have 35 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Today, we look at the history of jersey #35.
36 Days Until Opening Night At NWA: The History Of Jersey #36
The Columbus Blue Jackets have 36 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Today, we look at the history of jersey #36.
Former Blue Jackets Forward Signs PTO With Hurricanes
According to <a href="https://x.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1964697408752988591">NHL insider Elliotte Friedman</a>, former Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kevin Labanc has signed a professional tryout (PTO) with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Report Suggests Stars Had Interest In Blue Jackets' Olivier
Earlier this week, a <a href="https://x.com/NHLRumourReport/status/1963673416621252960">report surfaced from Jeff Marek</a> suggesting that the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/dallas-stars">Dallas Stars</a> were one of the teams interested in <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/columbus-blue-jackets">Columbus Blue Jackets</a>' forward Mathieu Olivier if he had hit the open market.