It’s getting to be repetitive.
Jack Roslovic is growing weary of hearing, “Yeah, but don’t forget about playing defense,” whenever the idea of him becoming a top center for the Blue Jackets is the topic. It’s getting a little old, honestly, but the 24-year old forward also gets why it’s said so much.
Despite playing the position almost exclusively until breaking into the NHL in 2017 with the Winnipeg Jets, who moved him to wing because they were a team brimming with centers, Roslovic is still in the early stages of proving himself at the position while playing among the world’s best players.
“I don’t like saying it, but it’s a little bit reality,” said Roslovic.
Roslovic requested a trade from Winnipeg because he wasn’t playing as much as he would have liked for the Jets. He then signed a two-year contract with the Blue Jackets after being acquired, along with star forward Patrik Laine, in a major trade Jan. 23 that sent center Pierre-Luc Dubois the other way.
The offensively-gifted forward opened eyes with his high level of skill and production as a top-six center in Columbus. Playing two minutes per game longer than he did the season prior with Winnipeg (2019-20), Roslovic tied his NHL high with 12 goals and set career marks with 22 assists and 34 points.
Defense was a different story, and so was taking faceoffs against some of the NHL’s top centers. Roslovic showed improvement by the end of the season, particularly in his faceoff win percentage, but a lot of honing is still needed in those areas for him to become a dependable two-way center who anchors a line with skilled top-six wingers.
Belief that he can do this relatively soon is based on three things: work ethic, a familiar face from Winnipeg hired as one of the Jackets’ new assistant coaches and the hope that coach Brad Larsen’s systems will be better suited for a center with his talents than the one former coach John Tortorella deployed.
Larsen was Tortorella’s top offensive assistant, but is looking to instill a more “progressive” system for a team filled with young, skilled players. Part of the plan included bringing aboard Pascal Vincent as an assistant. He was hired away from his post as head coach of the Manitoba Moose and will be reunited with Roslovic in Columbus.
Vincent worked with Roslovic for almost two full seasons with the Jets’ top affiliate in the American Hockey League. Roslovic was used as a center in that stint, which turned out to be his only professional experience playing the position until joining the Blue Jackets.
“Looking back on it, I’m not going to take anything back but it definitely would’ve been nice to play center (in Winnipeg) and help me grow my game,” Roslovic said. “But I had a really good step this year and a lot of the teaching was from (Vincent) and the coaching I got in the (AHL). Center has always been my natural position and he trusted me with it, and hopefully when he comes here, we’ll continue on.”
Looking at the Blue Jackets’ depth chart at center ice, that’s almost a certainty. What remains a question mark is the one thing he’s getting tired of hearing.
Will his defensive game close the gap on his offensive skills?
“I think it’s going to be interesting,” Roslovic said. “I’m going to start, hopefully, learning new reads that you’re going to have to make and the system adjustments that are going to be in place with new coaches. That’s just the nature of it. And then it’s keeping my creative juices flowing offensively, just striving to not only help the team win defensively but help us win offensively when we need it as well.”
bhedger@dispatch.com
@BrianHedger