Roslovic showing more consistency, earning Jets head coach’s trust
It was a jarring indictment. Not necessarily because of its substance, but rather the comment itself and the fact it came out of Paul Maurice’s mouth to begin with.
Maurice wasn’t lying in the assessment of the play of forward Jack Roslovic, although the Winnipeg Jets head coach hasn’t been one to publicly criticize his players during his tenure here.
He’s avoided it, for the most part, like the plague.
But after getting shelled with 53 shots in a game last Friday against the San Jose Sharks, where every single player on the roster not named Connor Hellebuyck was bad, Maurice took a dig at Roslovic, even after the man set up the deciding goal in a 3-2 game the Jets had no business winning.
“Jack Roslovic created that goal and he needed to because he was so bad through 2½ (periods),” Maurice said after that game.
The stinging criticism was followed by some redeeming praise for the 22-year-old.
“You know what, good for him, right? Because that’s important, because you play 82 games, you’re going to have a night where you just can’t get it done, it’s not going for you,” Maurice said. “He didn’t sulk. He didn’t sit on the bench. He went out and he and (Nikolaj) Ehlers win us the game along with our goaltender after a real, real tough night. I got a lot more faith in him that there’s a young man that’s going to stay in the game, that he’s learned a really valuable lesson — stay in the game, stay in the fight because you truly can be the difference-maker.”
Roslovic deserved the kind words.
He’s been one of the team’s more consistent players over the past few weeks. He’s stood out in positive fashion when some of the team’s veteran contingent, say Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, have been given a pass for their struggles.
But Roslovic wasn’t surprised by this particular comment.
“You get exposed sometimes when you have bad games,” Roslovic said Monday after the team assembled for practice ahead of their four-game homestand, which begins Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils. “I’m fine with that. I’m sure you guys want to know how a coach evaluates a player and I guess you got a little taste.
“To be completely honest, there’s been many times where it’s been a lot more brutal, too. I think you get stronger with it. You develop better relationships.”
Players getting chewed out by coaches is fairly commonplace at all levels of competitive hockey. It’s just hard to justify that it was warranted in Roslovic’s case on Friday.
Roslovic is becoming an important piece in Winnipeg’s lineup, but there were vital cogs that have had less than stellar runs of form lately that haven’t been flogged in a public forum.
Then again, the leash for guys who found their consistency long ago, as Scheifele and Wheeler have, is longer than it is for a player like Roslovic, who has only begun to grow into form.
A rough patch from Scheifele and Wheeler is far less concerning to a coach than a player who hasn’t learned how to be consistent, game in and game out.
Maurice also wouldn’t have said what he did to the media in San Jose, had Roslovic not had his hand in the game-winner.
“Because he has nothing positive to fall back on at that point,” Maurice said. “The truth was, I didn’t love his game at all. But he did the one thing that you can do in these situations — just stay in the fight long enough.”
Roslovic has morphed into a relied-upon player, Maurice said. And with it, he’s gained the responsibility that comes with that designation.
“I’m really happy with where Jack is at, really happy,” Maurice said. “The piece to all of these kids’ games that you don’t know is will they get to consistent? Any of us can look at them and say, ‘Hey, that guy’s fast. Wow, he’s got great hands. Boy, he’s got a great shot’
“If they’re not consistent, you can’t get them into the top six, really. You’re going to be fighting with them in the three-hole. And they’ll never be happy, either, because they say, ‘Geez, like three games ago I went through five guys, look at all my skill.’ I’ll say ‘fine, but the trade-off for me is that the four times you got beat to the net and they didn’t get the puck out and all the other pieces to your game.’
“What Jack is showing over the last week and a half to two weeks is some real consistency to his game.”