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Where will Jack Roslovic play? Who will the Oilers move out?
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Photo credit: © Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
Jason Gregor
Oct 9, 2025, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 9, 2025, 14:48 EDT
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Stan Bowman made another low-risk, high-reward signing on Wednesday, inking 28-year-old Jack Roslovic to a one-year, $1.5 million contract. Roslovic arrives in Edmonton on Thursday and is scheduled to be on the ice with his new team on Friday as the Oilers prepare to face Vancouver on the weekend. This signing means Bowman has to make a roster move once the contract is officially filed with the NHL.
Roslovic scored 22 goals and 39 points with Carolina last year. He also scored 22 goals and 45 points with Columbus in 2022. The two years in between weren’t as productive, and he’s looking to build off of last season. He led the Hurricanes in 5×5 goals with 19 and points with 34. He was tied with Sebastien Aho in even-strength goals with 21 and was second on the team with 37 points. His other goal came on the power play.
Bowman was interested in him all summer due to his even strength scoring.
“The one thing we’re trying to add to our group is even-strength scoring,” said Bowman last night during the second intermission. “Obviously, our power play has been pretty strong the last few years. We haven’t had as much success scoring when we weren’t on the power play. So, I think that’s something that Jack does really well. We also like his speed. He brings a lot of quickness to his game. He can make plays, play with good players. He’s been an offensive player, and he plays at a high pace. So, I think those qualities fit perfectly with our group here.”
Where will Roslovic fit? He played more on the right wing than at centre, although he can play the middle. We could see him play both. He’s a career 44.4% in the faceoff dot, although he was 54% last year, so maybe he’s improved, or maybe it is best to use him on his strong side. I’d have to ask him about his faceoff prowess.
Suddenly, the Oilers have an abundance of forwards. I wouldn’t be shocked if Bowman is working to make a trade rather than send someone to Bakersfield. He will need to make a trade or roster move before Friday morning’s practice.

OPTIONS FOR REASSIGNMENT…

The easiest move would be sending rookie Isaac Howard to the minors. As an aside, I asked him which name he prefers. He said he likes to be called Ike, but to honour his parents, he’d like to be called Isaac when written.
The reigning Hobey Baker Award winner doesn’t require waivers, so that is the easiest transaction right away. But I’m not sold that the Oilers will do it. Howard had a solid, but not spectacular, first game. They might want to see more of him before the bigger decisions need to be made when Zach Hyman comes off LTIR in November.
The other option is waivers, and they have many options there. With Hyman on LTIR, the salary cap isn’t an issue, so the Oilers don’t have to waive a player with the same AAV as Roslovic. They just need to make room on the 23-man roster. But they don’t have the cap space to move a player to IR and add Roslovic.

WHERE WILL ROSLOVIC PLAY?

I think at some point, he will get an opportunity with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Bowman mentioned they’ve been looking at Roslovic since July 1.
“We talked about it a couple of weeks ago, the type of player looking at our team that we would be wanting to look for around the trade deadline would be this type of a player exactly,” said Bowman. “And, you know, he’s available now and he’s a free agent and you can get him signed at a low amount. There are a lot of things that really worked in our favour. So, instead of waiting to see what was available, we think he could be a nice piece to our group right now.”
They could play him with McDavid and Draisaitl right away, and move Trent Frederic down, but he’s only played one game on the top line. I could see them play Roslovic with Adam Henrique and David Tomášek. They could move Henrique to LW and play Tomášek at centre, but that means Howard comes out. Having him play big minutes in Bakersfield is not a bad option. I’m sure he won’t love it initially, but long-term, it often helps players more than hinders them.
They could move Tomášek or Henrique into the middle of Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen and take out Noah Philp, and then have Roslovic play RW with Howard on the left side.
I’m not sure I see another option to come out of the lineup right now. Do you?
Kris Knoblauch has to make the decision. It is a good problem, but a difficult one, and it will become more challenging when Hyman, and before him, Mattias Janmark, is ready to play. The good news for Knoblauch is that he has many options, and the internal battle for ice time and a spot on the game-day roster should create healthy competition.
One thing is clear with this signing: Bowman is constantly looking at options to improve his team.

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