Brian Rolston
Seasons With The Wild: 3
Goals: 96
Assists: 106
Points: 202
In July of 2004, Doug Risebrough signed 31 year old Brian Rolston to a 4 year contract, to help boost a stale Wild offense. He was coming off a season in Boston, where he scored just 19 goals and 29 assists, but at that point, he was better than any in house option they had.
Unfortunately for Rolston and the Wild, the 04-05 season was lost to a lockout, as well as a year of that contract he had just signed.
But once the puck dropped again, the Wild had found a second line scorer they sorely needed.
In his 3 seasons in Minnesota, Rolston tallied at least 31 goals, and set a career high in goals, assists, and points in 05-06, when he scored 34-45-79 to lead the Wild in scoring that year.
Rolston was a good skater, but what set him apart from the league, was his slapshot. Rolston would use it in any situation, whether it was a penalty shot, or in a shootout. No goalie in the league stood a chance against Brian Rolston's slapshot.
He was also a team leader, being named the team captain a handful of times during his tenure here (Back then, the captaincy was handed out on a monthly basis under Jacques Lemaire). He was instrumental in leading the team to the playoffs twice, and the team's lone division title in 07-08.
Even though he only played 3 seasons here, Brian Rolston made a tremendous impact to the team on the ice. After his tenure ended in Minnesota, Rolston has played for 3 other teams (Devils, Islanders, and Bruins), and he has yet to show anything close to what he was here in the State of Hockey. So we hope he can say that his best years, were his years with the Wild. Because all of us Wild fans should feel that way...
Check back tomorrow and see who comes in at #4!
#5-Brian Rolston
#6-Pierre-Marc Bouchard
#7-Niklas Backstrom
#8-Brent Burns
#9-Pavol Demitra
#10-Dwayne Roloson/Manny Fernandez
Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell
No comments:
Post a Comment