October 8, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Leon Draisaitl scoring his 400th career NHL goal isn’t even the most intriguing thing that happened during the Edmonton Oilers home opener on Wednesday night. It was exciting, but we knew he would get that goal in short order. We didn’t know that the Oilers would announce the signing of Jack Roslovic in the middle of the second period.

The Oilers signed Roslovic to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman broke the news on the broadcast during the first intermission, and the Oilers confirmed it late in the second period.

We interrupt game coverage for a moment to let you know the #Oilers have agreed to terms with forward Jack Roslovic on a one-year contract with an AAV of $1.5 million. https://t.co/475rPk9mbW

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 9, 2025

Roslovic reportedly turned down an offer from the Oilers in the summer. Roslovic later switched agents. Interest clearly remained on the Oilers side, and Roslovic was clearly willing to sign with the Oilers at this point since offers weren’t pouring in.

The 28-year old has 260 points in 526 NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the New York Rangers, and the Carolina Hurricanes. Roslovic scored 22 goals and got 39 points in 81 games with the Hurricanes last season. Notably, he only played in nine of the team’s fifteen playoff games en route to the Eastern Conference Final last spring.

One likely reason that he made it into the regular season before being signed by a team is that he won’t win the Selke Trophy any time soon. Roslovic isn’t highly regarded as a defensive player. He hasn’t done more than break even in five-on-five goal share in a season since 2017-18. Part of that is a result of being on bad Blue Jackets teams for a long time. To be fair, his dangerous fenwick for percentages (DFF%) and expected goals for percentages (xGF%) have all been above 49.1% for the last three seasons. He has one season below 50% in each category in the last three seasons.

The 2015 first round pick has a ton of speed and a silky set of mitts. Roslovic’s production has never lived up to his skill level. He has consistently produced middle six point totals throughout his career though.

The Oilers could definitely use some support scoring in their middle six, especially while Zach Hyman is out. Roslovic is also a right-handed centre that was 56.9% in the circle last season. That’s a void the Oilers have been looking to fill for quite a while. They have David Tomasek, Noah Philp, and Curtis Lazar in the fold already; but Roslovic gives the Oilers another option there just in case.

Roslovic will fit under the cap as long as Hyman is on LTIR. The Oilers will have to move someone off the roster on Thursday to make room for Roslovic. That will be as simple as putting Jake Walman on IR. The issue will come when the Oilers have to shed $2,815,442 when Hyman comes back. They could be pressed to make some roster moves sooner if Walman and Mattias Janmark return to action sooner than Hyman, which is the expectation for both players.

Related: Walman extends with the Oilers

The addition of Roslovic will put the most pressure on Tomasek and Philp since they have the least NHL experience of the right-handed centres on the roster. They are essentially getting an extended tryout while the Oilers deal with their injuries. Time will tell how all of this shakes out when the team returns to health by early November.