That’s the recent assessment of Stan (The Maven) Fischler of MSG Network:
Jussi Markkanen starred for Edmonton in the 2006 Finals, not Dwayne (The Media Must Love Me) Roloson. Yet, Rollie is steering the Oilers to oblivion while cruising on a three-year, $11 million deal. We dare him to complain about the new CBA! …
There’s no question the Oilers have struggled this season, and have been in a tailspin since management dealt away heart-and-souler Ryan Smyth at the trade deadline.
Much of the Oilers problems this season are attributed to a weak blueline corps, which never recovered from the off-season loss of Chris Pronger and Jaroslav Spacek.
But is Roloson “steering the Oilers to oblivion” as Fischler claims?
In 63 games played this season, Roloson has a 25-31-6 record, a 2.71 GAA and a .909 SP, with 4 shutouts.
Good, but not great figures at first glance, until one remembers the state of the Oilers defensive game this season, and the club’s overall collapse since the trade deadline.
It should also be remembered that, when Roloson notched his 25th win back on February 23rd, his loss record was at 23 and OT loss at 5.
During Roloson’s last 8 games since the Smyth trade, he’s gone 0-7-1, yet his save percentage was under .900 in only three of those 8 games, and in his last four outings, never dropped below .920.
Also, of all goaltenders this season Roloson has thus far faced the sixth-most shots. Only Luongo, Brodeur, Kiprusoff, Lehtonen and Thomas have faced more.
That’s clearly indicative that the team in front of “Rollie” is the problem, as he’s been earning his salary this season.
As for Markkanen, his stats have been less stellar. In 17 games, he’s gone 5-5-1, with a 3.05 GAA and an .885 SP. In short, he’s been decent, but hasn’t played well enough to dethrone Roloson as the Oilers clear starter.
The stats simply don’t back up Fischler’s assertion that Roloson is “steering the Oilers to oblivion”. Perhaps there's something else – as evidenced by the remarks about Roloson’s salary, relationship with the media, and the CBA – behind “the Maven’s” critique.
Oh, and lest I forget, the reason Markkanen starred in last spring's finals was because Roloson, who was arguably the main reason the Oilers made it to the Finals in the first place, was injured in Game One of the Finals.
Fischler almost makes it sound as though the reason Markkanen played in the Finals was that Roloson wasn't good enough, which obviously wasn't the case.
Oilers fans, please feel free to offer up your thoughts and comments on this.
That is an idiotic statement. Markannen "starred:" in the finals? As I remember, he was nothing compared to Roloson. In my opinion, if it wasn;t for the Roloson injury, the Oil would have been the champs. With a defense like they have this year, it's a wonder that Roloson isn't running for the hills like Esche or Niitymaki.
I am a Vancouver fan rather than an Edmonton fan and Fischler's demonstrate a certain amount of ignorance. Roloson has had the odd bad game but has generally been very good. Markannen has been fearfully inconsistent in his performances.
I have to say that Roloson really suprised me since the trade. I thought that once he was taken out of Minnesota's airtight defensive system his fraility would show. I mean he had been around the league for a long time without ever becoming a true number one. He has shown instead that he deserves it. And Fischler has shown that he may have watched Markannen in the finals but probably went to bed before the oilers played the rest of their playoff games out west.
Spector, do you have any data on his average goals scored for? If he's not getting any support, it's tough for a goalie to win games. Not sure where Fischler is coming from here in blaming Roloson, unless he's making excuses for Oiler fans or has a beef with Rollie the Goalie.
How odd is it that Luongo, who used to average almost 40 shots againts/game when playing for awful Panthers team finally goes to a good team, and is still seeing endless rubber coming his way?
As a longtime oiler fan that watches a large majority of the games in a season, I can confirm that Roloson has essentially kept us in all of the games we've won. Even in the games where we've lost, Roloson has always been one of the best players on the ice.
I hate to thump a dead horse, but I think the true cause of the oilers woes this season has been the injuries, specifically to Ethan Moreau and Jarret Stoll. They are pretty much the leaders on the second and third line, lines that for whatever reason, have just not produced. Raffi Torres, Pisani, Lupul, Sycora and the rest of the Oiler forwards have definitely been hurt by his absence. The lack or Stoll's play making ability on the second line, his hard shot on the power play, and Moreau's overall toughness and leadership I think is the direct source of Edmonton's currently terrible season.
Then of course there is the trade to Ryan Smyth. Before the trade, the oilers were not doing horrible, but were not winning every game either. After the trade, the Oilers seemed to collapse into themselves like a house of so many cards.
Of course it doesn't help that you have called up so many players due to injuries that you literally have to sign a defencemen to call up another.
In short, there are many, many things that our woes can be blamed on, but Roloson is the one constant, the one thing you really CAN'T blame.
on Luongo ... he isn't actually seeing endless rubber. He has stopped a lot of shots because of his high workload. He is actually facing less than 30 per game on average. About middle of the pack.
As of early last week Rollie has had 31 three+ goal games of which 15 were four or more. Goal support of not, you can't have that many goals going in.
Lanstar
A goalie making 4mil will always be blamed. I can't believe guys still bring up Pronger, at least we got something for him, what if he had a career ending injury and we didn't have anything for him.
Last edited by Ryan7878 on March 20th at 11:47 AM.
Of the five keepers you mentioned with comparable shots on, the only relation to Rolosson is Tim Thomas in Boston. Brodeur faces a lot of shots, but look at the team. I bet he faces more blueline wristers and outside shots than both Rolosson and Thomas combined. Ditto Kiprusoff. Both the Devils and the Flames play great defense. Is the picture becoming clearer? But wait, there's more. Lehtonen and Luongo are certainly good goaltenders, on playoff-bound teams. In fact, the only one at the moment not heading for the post-season is Thomas.
I don't have the numbers, but I'm willing to bet Thomas and Rolosson are neck-and-neck. If Edmonton's defense is as atrocious as Boston's this season, then it's no surprise these two goaltenders are on the road to miss the playoffs.
Yeah, Boston has Zdeno Chara, but quite frankly he hasn't impressed me. He's big. He's got a hard shot. Great, but can he break up a play? Repeatedly? Not from what I've seen. Boston's strength is it's backcheck. Remember what happened in the Rangers/Bruins game over the weekend? There you go.
Comparable to big-name goaltending? Sure, when he's got a team in front of him. Mike Richter was a great goalie even on a mediocre Rangers team. How many seasons did they miss the playoffs?
Roloson is hardly steering us to oblivion but he is definetely not earning his salary. I've forgotten the last time he's actually "stolen" a game. He's also been a big no show in big games so far. I've watched the Oil this season and I'm a believer that Markannen could easily be a starter over Roloson. When he's got the rust off (and even when he doesn't) he plays an agressive style that could win with experienced D. Many of the goals against him are total defensive lapses, I don't care if your Luongo- you can't stop an NHL player wide open in the crease 5 times a game.
Furthermore i'm tired of hearing knocks on our defence. Sure we have problems getting it out of our zone from time to time but our defenceman are just as effecitive in our zone as the others. Sometimes yes we are prone to some pretty brutal mistakes (missed clears, missed coverage) but on the whole we play decently. The biggest culprits for goals against is some of our forwards complete lack of defensive awareness (Horcoff is by far the worse, really he doesn't do anything right.) If your trying to blame Rolis stats on our defence actually watch an Oilers game and see him play. He has little rebound control which forces our D to collapse to the net and leave a lot of ice for our forwards to cover. It's not that our defencemen are bad, trust me.
Why does anyone listen to Fischler? Its not the first and won't be the last time he makes comments that make no sense. Yet somehow he is an authority in the US?
I'm not a huge fan of Roloson, but, i still give him alot of credit. Fishler is only team/player bashing, i think. Like Strachan does with anyone not Toronto. If it wasn't for Roloson, no, Edmonton wouldn't have made the finals, it's just a good thing the Oilers had Markannen in the finals, just look at the oops Conklin made, it woulda been a 4 game sweep then. There's some things that Roloson has done/said that really didn't impress me any, but, what player hasn't from time to time?
Next year depends on our ability to lure FAs here but I'm not holding my breathe. Too many teams are willing to outbid us (Lowe refuses to give top dollar to any player with actual skill.) If we bomb I wouldn't be too unhappy. Hopefully we'll get to see more of Nilsson and maybe even pick up a skill player in the draft.
The Oilers have a wealth of young prospects coming up and with 4 picks in the top 40 of this years draft they could add to their stash quite well. I'm gonna bet that it won't be long before they bounce back. I'm happy that their young guys will be playing in my backyard next year. I can't wait for that! As far as Rollie, I think if the D was a bit tighter he would have a better record and I'm willing to give him an off year. It happens. Now, if they shore up the blueline next year and he fails to pick up his play to match, then that's a different story. Fischler just wants to sell his story to anyone left listening.
Ryan, the reason I mentioned Pronger is because the Oilers are a completely different team with him there, both on and off the ice.
On the ice, he's arguably the best two-way defenseman in the game. Suffice to say that Roloson's GAA would be down by about .25-.50 with Pronger playing outstanding defense for 30-minutes per night. And not just Rollie, the sputtering offense would look much nicer as well with Pronger's lead passing and powerplay skills.
Off the ice, he changes the way present and potential Oilers regard the team. You think Spacek might not have stayed in town if he didn't see Pronger ready to bail? You think maybe Smyth might have been more willing to accept less money if he knew the Oilers could be a serious contender?
Even if it's not the most hospitable place to live and work, the hockey tradition and fan enthusiasm there are undisputed. Players like Gretzky, Messier, Anderson, Kurri, Fuhr and Coffey didn't seem to mind sticking it out in the bitter cold to be part of a serious winner.
Pronger's trade demand was simply the first in a line of falling dominos.
Last edited by Lanstar91 on March 21st at 12:20 PM.
That is absolutely rediculous to claim that Roloson is just strolling along enjoying his big contract. For the record Jussi Markanen did not star for the Oilers in the play-offs; Rollie did. Jussi did a great job filling in for an injured Roloson in the Stanley Cup finals. Secondly, being from Edmonton, I watch the Oilers regularly and Rollie has been standing on his head consistantly. He is earning every cent he is being paid right now. Get the facts straight next time PLEASE!!!
Roloson is one of the few players who were not a dissapointment this season. Lupul, Hemsky, Sykora in the 2nd half and Horcoff in the first half were brutal.
Roloson is in the situation Luongo lived in before he came to Vancouver. Injuries and inconsistancy on the part of the forwards and a weak defense have made it hard for him, but he's still put up pretty good numbers.
I'd even take him over Cujo when Cujo was in Edmonton. Cujo was great sometimes, but some nights Cujo would show up and he'd stink.
I don't see how someone can bash him. He's put up pretty good stats.
Stats don't seem to tell the whole story for Roloson. He has yet to flat out steal a game for us in the past few months. People underrate our defence, they do a very good job down low. Roloson seems very tired in the last half but I can't blame him, you guys know his story. Roloson has just had a very mediocre year. Thadd, Horcoff has never been good and proably never will be. He does nothing right in either end.
I didn't understand why they resigned him for so much. He's making what, 2.5 mill this season? Too much if you ask me. He had a really good playoffs last year and I guess that bought him a big raise.
The problem with the Oilers last year (prior to the trade deadline) was we had a pretty good set of forwards, a solid defense but the goaltending was awful, letting in bad goals at the worst time.
The moves Kevin Lowe made near the trade deadline -- Spacek, Tarnstrom, Roloson, Samsonov -- tightened up the defense even more, gave the Oilers three solid scoring lines and got rid of that killer one bad goal per game. The result: the little team that could got hot and went on a nice run.
Now the current season: 10 players from that Cup Final team departed at the end of the season. Some we weren't going to miss all that much like Samsonov and Peca (despite a great playoff), while others like Pronger and Spacek left huge holes that never got filled.
The weak defense with so many kids killed us this year as there was no team transition game. The Oilers breakout was more breakdown on most nights, and as a result, Roloson has seen a lot more quality rubber from a lot better scoring positions. Just about anybody would be hard pressed to do as well in the Oilers net this year.
There is a lot of blame to be passed around for the Oilers' poor performance this year, but it shouldn't be directed toward the netminders. I can recall perhaps only one night when Roloson has cost the Oilers the game with a poor performance. Most nights, he's been steady or the difference maker.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on March 22nd at 12:25 PM.
I'd just like to add a couple of quick comments about the Oilers defense: I like the young kids that we've got, and I think we're going to grow a solid blueline in a couple of seasons. Matt Greene and Ladislav Smid in particular are great young kids and show tremendous promise to become solid NHLers.
But with the departures from our blueline last year, and particularly in light of the rash of injuries that have hit the team of late, we're playing guys much further up the depth chart than they should be at this point in their career and it shows on the scoreboard. But this NHL game experience, even in a losing effort, is money in the bank for next year.
The Oilers training camp this fall is going to be very interesting to watch. Can the Oilers sign or trade for a puck-moving defenseman? Will Tarnqvist or Hejda be back? Does Tom Gilbert recover with no ill-effects from his concussion? Is Taylor Chorney going to skip college and sign with the team? And does Denis Grebeshkov show us a reason why he belongs in the NHL?
I just hope we get a win between now and April 8 so we're not working on this losing streak next year!
Dwayne signed a three year, $11 million contract: $4.5 million in 2006-07, $3.5 million in 2007-08 and $3.0 million in 2008-09. Obstensibly that first year contains a bonus for making it to the Stanley Cup Final. And don't forget -- in the wake of the Pronger trade and everything else that happened last summer, there was a lot of pressure on Kevin Lowe to re-sign Roloson.
With an average of $3.667 million over the term, that's not all that excessive for an NHL starting goaltender. Compare his deal with Roberto Luongo who is averaging $6.75 million over the term of his deal with Vancouver, or Manny Fernandez who is averaging $4.333 million in Minnesota.
J.S. Giguere and Kiprusoff currently make about the same as Roloson, but are coming to the end of those deals and those two guys are likely to sign for well north of $5 million each.
Roloson's contract is a lot of money, but when the Oilers assemble a team in front of him again, you just might consider him a bargain.
Rollie's Been Fine. He really kept us in it for the first half of the year. Yes he might have tired a little, but the team in front of him is a far cry from what it was in the playoffs last year. I hope to god we can turn it around next season
So much for a Kings team 30 years with no whiff of a Cup. They are forever rebuilding and trade away their captain and half their defence for almost nothing. They wouldn't part with a second round draft choice for Biron but want to get stuck with a proven failure for years from the Canucks. They trade away their good coach who promptly led the blues to respectability.
Roloson was not the problem. The only thing the Oils have is adequate goaltending. The problem was they let key guys on their cup final team went for no return. No puck mover minus Pronger and Spacek. Lost the shut down centre in Peca. Horcoff is nothing more than a good second line centre. Too many injuries playing 5 rookies on defence
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
