Roslovic’s production doesn’t tell the tale

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This article was published 05/07/2016 (3390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SCOUTING goes to the front row of hockey every year around the NHL Draft, but there is no longer any time of the year, literally, that scouts are not doing their thing.

And so, long after Jack Roslovic was the Winnipeg Jets’ second first-round selection of the 2015 proceedings in Florida, in the 25th slot, the book on the 19-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, continues to grow.

Late in the 2015-16 season, when Roslovic was winding down his freshman year of college hockey with the Miami University Redhawks, there came this assessment from a scout who had been keeping tabs on him: “His point production went down as the season went on, but his game went up.”

Tim Campbell

It seems there always some sobering news with the good news, and vice versa, but Roslovic took it as nothing but encouragement in a conversation Monday on the second day of the Jets’ development camp.

“It’s very tough,” the young centre said. “I think that, well, it’s really hard to comment about me because when you’re not getting points, you don’t think anything’s going right.

“I think it was all in the little things that fans really don’t see, that’s where I made strides. I learned how to work a little bit harder in practice. I learned how to play with the pros and how to keep up the pace. I think my point production didn’t go up, but our team got better as the season went on. I think I contributed to that.

“I was part of Sean Kuraly and Kiefer Sherwood’s line and they started getting some points, so I think I was boosting morale of the team, too. I wasn’t maybe showing it on the stats sheet, but that leadership (improved).”

It’s not like Roslovic fell off a cliff in 2015-16.

He caught eyes out of the starting gate, with 13 points in his first 12 NCAA games. He finished the year with only 13 points the rest of the way, ending with 10 goals and 26 points in 36 games.

Hardly a disaster, as the first-year player was second in team scoring.

Roslovic said much of the team’s season had the feeling of almost but not quite.

The Redhawks were 15-18-3 overall, and sixth of eight teams in the NCHC with a 9-13-2 mark.

A particularly frustrating episode was in November in Grand Forks, N.D., when a series split with the eventual champions was looking good with two different leads in the Saturday game that eventually went to UND in overtime.

“Yeah, that game was a turning point for us,” Roslovic said. “We had North Dakota there on the ropes one of those nights and kind of dropped it. That was kind of our season, that we were close but just that last push (wasn’t there).

“That’s something we’ve been working on this summer, pushing hard and mentally finishing it off whether you’re up three or down three.

“The season wasn’t anything to write home about, but we’re going to take strides from that and learn how to get better.”

Roslovic said he can count himself among those who learned plenty in the season just finished.

“I definitely did,” he said. “Physically, I gained 10 to 15 pounds. I definitely matured there as a player. The coaches we had were good, they’re teaching us how to play the pro game.

“They instilled some good work ethic and I bought into that, about what it takes.”

Along with the promise in his voice, a question about his future came up again 10 days ago in Buffalo.

In the OHL, the Flint Firebirds, who drafted him in 2013, dealt his rights to the London Knights for a pick and potentially two more if he plays in the junior league.

As of Monday, though, Roslovic said he’s remaining at Miami.

“When I got traded, Basil McRae (London GM) called, and it was news to me,” Roslovic said. “As of now, I like Miami. We’ll see what goes on throughout the duration of camp but as of now, back to Miami it is.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca