Tom Roulston

Tom Roulston was an accomplished if streaky goal scorer at every level he played.

In junior hockey he scored 56 goals and 109 points in 1976-77, good enough to get him drafted by the St. Louis Blues 45th overall in the 1977 NHL Draft.

Roulston would never get to play with the Blues. He bounced around the minor leagues, dominating in the Central Hockey League. Especially in the playoffs, when he scored 40 goals and 68 points in 49 playoff games spread over four campaigns. One year he scored 63 goals in 69 regular season games. He had nine hat tricks that season!

The Edmonton Oilers took notice and gave Roulston his best NHL shot. He would play parts of four seasons with the Oilers. His best season came in 1982-83 when he scored 19 times and had 40 points. He also played in 16 playoff games as the Oilers made their first appearance in the Stanley Cup final, losing to the New York Islanders.

The Oilers would go on to win five Stanley Cups over the next seven years, but Roulston would not be a part of it. Part way through the 1983-84 season the Oilers traded Roulston to Pittsburgh in exchange for Kevin McClelland.

Roulston finished the season in Pittsburgh with 16 goals, but he was all but done at the NHL level after that. He went on to play in Germany, Italy and Switzerland for a few years.

Roulston retired in 1989 and eventually settled in Wichita where his best minor league years were played. He became a successful investment adviser. He even came out of retirement to play in the CHL in 1994-95 after five years off the ice, and was still able to score 11 times in 23 regular season games and then 13 times in 11 playoff games.

Once a goal scorer, always a goal scorer.