Jet Greaves suddenly seems like a prime candidate to ascend to the blue-paint throne for his home nation. And now that he is armed with some financial security and the starting gig in the Columbus net, he’s truly cleared for his NHL takeoff.
When international best-on-best hockey returned at the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Milan Olympics, fans in the Great White North came face-to-face with the stark realization that Hockey Canada didn’t have a superstar netminder who could uphold the elite standards set by past Olympic gold medallists Carey Price, Roberto Luongo or Martin Brodeur.
Could the nation’s hopes for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey and even the 2030 Olympics therefore rest on the shoulders of an undrafted late-bloomer who checks in at just six-
foot and 190 pounds?
Jet Greaves made his full-time NHL debut last season at 24, then made a strong case for himself in his first national-team showing at May’s World Championship in Switzerland. Over eight games, he allowed just 15 goals and recorded a .920 save percentage. “When you’re growing up playing hockey in Canada, one of your biggest dreams is to wear the Maple Leaf on your chest,” he said. “To be able to do that for the first time was super special.”
The World Championship followed Greaves’ stellar campaign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he established himself as his team’s No. 1 with a record of 26-19-9 to go along with a 2.60 goals-against average and .908 save percentage. He also had some of the best advanced stats in the league, including the ninth-best goals saved above expected, per moneypuck.com.
Casual fans may have been shocked to hear that Greaves’ representatives pitched an asking price of $7.5 million a season ahead of arbitration this off-season. After all, just two summers ago, with only 10 NHL games on his resume, Greaves settled for a two-year deal at a cap hit of $812,500 after his arbitration filing.
This time around, in the final minutes before the scheduled start of Greaves’ July 23 hearing, Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell and Greaves’ agent, Pat Brisson of CAA, came to terms on a three-year deal with a cap hit of $5 million per season. “I was in Toronto, ready to go,” Greaves said. “On that morning, there’s so many different ways that day could go. That was, for me, my first time being through it. There’s a lot I didn’t know, but I was fortunate to have some really good people around me who helped me keep my focus in the right place and stay grounded.”
On top of a sizable raise, the three-year term on the new deal goes one season longer than the maximum available through an arbitration award. “I’m grateful to the organization for believing in me with this opportunity,” Greaves said. “The security is great, financially, and also just hopefully being in the same place for a few years. I’m excited about building with this group.”
The arbitration process sometimes fractures relationships between players and teams, even when settlements are reached before hearings, but that hasn’t been the case for Greaves and the Blue Jackets. “Everything was respectful,” he said. “Everything was amicable throughout the negotiations. Our relationship is just as good, if not better, now than it was before.”
Before the 2025-26 campaign, Greaves largely flew under the radar of scouts and pundits alike. A rookie with the Barrie Colts during his 2019 NHL draft year, he was ranked 28th out of the 31 North American goalies by NHL Central Scouting and ultimately went unchosen by any franchise. In his second year of eligibility, he was left off the Central Scouting list entirely, facing a steep uphill battle to reach the professional ranks.
The global pandemic then cost Greaves his final year of junior hockey as the Ontario Hockey League shut down for the entire 2020-21 season. That summer, the native of Cambridge, Ontario, embarked on his pro path by signing a minor-league deal with the Blue Jackets’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters.
Over the next five seasons, he steadily worked his way up—going from splitting time between the AHL and the ECHL to becoming a trusted NHL starter. It is a phenomenal success story for the Blue Jackets’ player-development staff and speaks volumes about Greaves’ determination, elite athleticism, and proven ability to deliver the goods under intense pressure.
The first major tease of his true potential came at the end of the 2024-25 season. When Elvis Merzlikins sustained a concussion during the Blue Jackets’ late push for their first playoff berth since the 2020 bubble, Greaves stepped in and was spectacular after getting called up from AHL Cleveland. He gave up just four goals in five games—winning all five contests—and recorded two shutouts. It wasn’t quite enough, however, as Columbus ultimately fell two points short of a postseason spot.
That strong finish earned him the opening assignment in the Blue Jackets’ 2025-26 season-opener. After he and Merzlikins split duties through the first month of the schedule, Greaves earned a run of five straight starts in mid-November and went on to play about two-thirds of the team’s games for the remainder of the year. His workload remained consistent even after Rick Bowness took over behind the bench from Dean Evason on January 12.
A stellar 19-3-4 run through Bowness’s first 26 games put the playoffs squarely within reach, but the Blue Jackets faltered down the stretch in their final 11 games, posting a 2-8-1 record, and were officially eliminated in the final week of the regular season.
Now, with Zach Werenski at the peak of his powers as the reigning Norris Trophy holder—yet sitting at a career crossroads where he is looking to win now with two years remaining on his current contract—Greaves gives fans immense confidence in net. He forms a key pillar of a young core, alongside dynamic talents like Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson, that is poised to take the next competitive step. “Talking with the guys throughout the summer,” Greaves said, “I think we’re all on the same page with what we’re hoping to accomplish this year, and we’re excited about that opportunity.”
With his player-first approach, Bowness seeks to push Columbus past its previous franchise-best playoff performance, when the club reached the second round in 2019 after stunningly sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning. “The way he is day-to-day, he really cares about each guy in our locker room, which we appreciate a lot,” Greaves said of his coach. “The details he taught our group were great. We know there’s a lot of growth we still have to do, but we’re excited about that. It should be a fun process.”
Last season, Greaves ranked seventh in the entire NHL in both minutes played and total saves. In the two previous years, he also played more than 50 games combined between Columbus and Cleveland, meaning he already understands what it takes to prepare his body for a grueling, substantial workload at the game’s highest level. “For me, conditioning is a huge thing,” he said. “As a goaltender, you want to be able to play, hopefully, a lot of games in a season, and you’re out there the whole time. The conditioning is important as far as it helps your recovery from game to game and also throughout those games.”
While Greaves has successfully handled the pressure to prove himself at every single level on his arduous path to becoming an established NHL starter, his new $5-million-per-year contract will naturally bring increased scrutiny from media, fans, and management alike.
“I’m not naive,” he said, addressing the shifting expectations. “I understand that people are going to have different expectations, which is totally fair. For me, my focus always has been on my process every day. That’s ultimately what I feel like I’m in control of. Hopefully, that leads to positive things for our team this year.”