Jay Rosehill

Name: Jay Rosehill
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Height: 6.03
Weight: 210 lbs
Born: 7/16/85
Acquired: 2003 Entry Draft, 7th Round, 227 Overall

Junior Career
Jay Rosehill's junior career began in the AJHL with the Olds Grizzlys where he played two seasons from 2002-2003 to 2003-2004 notching 8 goals and 21 points in 91 games to go along with 376 penalty minutes. Going into the 2003 NHL Entry Draft Rosehill was ranked the 139th best North American skater by the NHL Central Scouting Service before the Lightning selected him in the 7th round, 227th overall. In 2003-2004, after making a prior verbal commitment to North Dakota, Rosehill officially committed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth and was named the Grizzlys Most Improved Defenseman. In Rosehill's freshman season with UMD he had 0 goals and 5 assists in 34 games to go along with 103 penalty minutes. At year's end he was given a share of the team's Most Improved Player award by Head Coach Scott Sandelin.

Professional Career
In the summer of 2005, after just one year of college, Jay Rosehill signed his first professional contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In the Fall he attended the Traverse City Prospect Tournament notching 2 assists to go with 10 penalty minutes for the Lightning in the tournament. Afterward, the young defenseman played the lion's share of his first professional season in a sparing third pairing role with the Springfield Falcons for whom he played 45 games compiling 1 goal, 2 points and 68 penalty minutes after being recalled from Johnstown of the ECHL just two games into the season. Rosehill had a handful of short stints in Johnstown totaling 5 games in Johnstown before being sent to the Chiefs for the playoffs late in the season. In 2006-2007 Rosehill spent all but one game with Springfield of the AHL posting 6 assists and 85 penalty minutes in 64 contests.

Talent Analysis
Pros:
Rosehill has good size, shows decent understanding of the positional game and a willingness to take the body whenever the opportunity arises to punish an opponent physically.

Cons:
Rosehill's skating is still a little stiff and his agility could improve as could his very limited set of offensive skills.

Future
The Lightning have managed to successfully wean the inexperienced Rosehill onto the pro game in his first two seasons of pro hockey with a steady stream of third pairing minutes at the AHL level. As a consequence, Rosehill's poise as a pro has steadily grown but now, given the influx of even more young defensemen into the system, Rosehill's role needs to expand as well. Rosehill could be a third pairing defenseman in the poor man's Jassen Cullimore role, but the time for him to step up and command more minutes at the AHL level is now.

Statistics Coutesy hockeydb.com

Profile Created 5/17/06 by Pete Choquette