The Carolina Hurricanes and their fans are 18 days away from opening night of the 2024-25 season. Furthermore, training camp has been fully underway for almost a week now with a preseason hockey coming up on Tuesday, Sept. 24 in Tampa, Florida. While everyone is excited for the start of a new season, journey to the 2025 NHL Playoffs, and a quest to the Stanley Cup, questions are being asked about newer Hurricanes players for the upcoming season. How will they perform? Will they be here all season? Do the Canes have a chance to win the Stanley Cup? All of those are valid questions and many will be answered by the number of points they put up, because that is the major component of scouting and evaluating a player. However, for some, the ways they help their team win goes beyond the scoresheet. The Hurricanes have a few players who fit that mold such as captain Jordan Staal, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and even recently added Jack Roslovic.
Roslovic Adds an EDGE to Hurricanes’ Speed
Roslovic is not known for piling up points throughout a season. The 25-year-old Columbus, Ohio native joins the Hurricanes on a one-year, $2.8 million deal and is looking to fit within the organization that saw many changes over the offseason. One of the aspects of his game that can benefit him and the team is his high-end speed. The team is known for having fast players like Martin Necas, Seth Jarvis, defenseman Jalen Chatfield, and more; adding Roslovic gives them another speedy winger who can add another wrinkle into how to defend quick, transitioning, on-the-rush forwards.
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When asked about how his speed can help the Canes, Roslovic stated after day two at camp, “It’s the reason why I wanted to come here, because of the fit. They get their wingers up the ice and their D know it. I think it’s a really good system that they’ve created here. I want to be able to fit in and already playing with speed is an advantage that hopefully I can bring to the team.”
Per JFresh Hockey’s advanced stat card, it is clear Roslovic is a quick player, having a 92% skating speed and an upper 80% range of rush offense, rush assists, and zone entries/exits. In terms of quick transitions that the team likes to play, Roslovic will easily fit in with the off-the-rush mentality head coach Rod Brind’Amour likes to use on opponents.
It was Roslovic’s speed that caught Brind’Amour’s attention during the second round of the 2024 NHL Playoffs when Roslovic was with the New York Rangers. Brind’Amour stated, “He can skate. That was the one thing I learned from coaching against him, especially in (May’s playoff series). He really stood out. It was that speed. I didn’t notice it as much before, but for whatever reason, that was there.” During Game 6 alone, Roslovic torched the Canes with his speed and ability to assist teammates as he had two helpers in the comeback win for the Rangers to eliminate Brind’Amour’s squad.
During the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Roslovic recorded 44 bursts of speed over 20 miles per hour (mph) per NHL Edge and was ranked in the 96th percentile among all skaters. Furthermore, he was able to eclipse a top speed of 22.55 mph. Only Necas bested him on the radar gun when he topped out at 23.84 mph.
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Roslovic even managed to have a top skating speed of 22.55 mph which put him in the 87th percentile. The NHL average was 21.62 mph. Just by looking at his skating speed as a whole, no matter the speed, he just knows how to stay fast on the ice:
| League average by position (F/D) | Percentile | ||
| Top Speed (mph) | 22.55 | 21.62 | 87 |
| 22+ mph bursts | 2 | 0 | 90 |
| 20-22 mph bursts | 42 | 14 | 95 |
| 18-20 mph bursts | 107 | 57 | 87 |
Granted, this was just from the 2024 NHL Playoffs, but it is clear that if Roslovic is in the right system that utilizes speed, he can be unlocked to give a team an edge in the rush game. He did manage eight points in 16 games for the Rangers in the playoffs while not playing very high in the lineup.
It makes sense based on this to potentially play him in the top six since has spent some time on top-six minutes with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Winnipeg Jets. Furthermore, if Brind’Amour and his staff line him up with Necas on his opposite wing and Kotkaniemi as their second-line center, it could be difficult for opposing defenses to slow them down with two speedsters on the wings and a Staal 2.0 in the middle.
While the shot might not always be there, if the Canes staff can put the new addition in the right spot to succeed, there is no reason why Roslovic cannot have a huge season for the team in Raleigh. If he is going to get a high amount of time on the top six and the second power-play unit, expect him to have a bounce-back season with his new team and if all works out, snag a contract extension next summer.
Preseason Hockey Is Here
The Hurricanes play their first preseason game on Tuesday, Sept. 24 in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. The game will be at 7 p.m. Eastern at Amalie Arena. We are almost there, Caniacs. At least we have some preseason hockey to look forward to.
