The Columbus Blue Jackets’ regular season has been over now coming up on a couple of weeks now. But meaningful hockey within their organization is about to ramp back up.
The Cleveland Monsters are still waiting to find out who their opponent will be in the second round of the AHL Playoffs. As of this writing, the Belleville Senators and Toronto Marlies are tied 1-1 in their best-of-three series. The winner of Game 3 will advance to take on the Monsters.
How were the Monsters able to win their division despite so many things happening to their roster throughout the season? A big reason for that is the performance of goaltender Jet Greaves. Don’t look now, but he might be making his way into the Blue Jackets’ plans sooner rather than later.
Greaves Carried the Monsters
To give some perspective on the season Greaves has put together, it wouldn’t be stretch to say he’s the best goaltender the Monsters have had in their team history. A look at some of the numbers back that up.
Greaves finished the regular season with a record of 30-12-4. Those 30 wins marked a franchise record for wins in a season for a Monsters’ goaltender. He accounted for 30 of the team’s 40 wins on the season.
Greaves earned his 61st win in his AHL career which is the Monsters’ all-time record for goaltending victories. He got to that level by winning the team’s final three games in a span of three days.
The Monsters won the North Division thanks to a 36-35 edge in regulation and overtime wins over the Rochester Americans. That meant Greaves needed to win all three games to make that happen. His three wins helped earn him AHL Player of the Week honors.
Greaves Earned NHL Time
Once the Blue Jackets put Spencer Martin on waivers, that left both Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov as the goalies for the rest of the 2023-24 season. But with injury and illness came opportunity. For Greaves, that meant getting his shot in the NHL.
Greaves earned three NHL wins on the season. In those wins, his save percentage was not below .927. Because of the Blue Jackets’ defense, he generally saw a lot of shots which inflated his goals-against totals. He still managed to finish with a .908 save percentage in the NHL this past season.
But the thing that made Greaves stand apart was not only the way he hung in games when there were a ton of shots, but it was the attitude he carried with him. No matter what was going on around him, he could usually be found with a smile on his face and was always looking to keep things positive.
That part is not lost on the Blue Jackets. It was Greaves who recorded the win in the season finale against the Carolina Hurricanes. He now gets the chance to continue to make an impression this season as the AHL Playoffs start kicking into high gear.
Greaves Playing Into Future Plans
Merzlikins will play at the World Championships for Team Latvia. Tarasov’s season is over. But it is Greaves who is getting meaningful postseason experience. He gets the opportunity to continue to show the Blue Jackets that he could be ready for more.
Greaves’ consistency all season, his ability to win three games in three nights to clinch a division title and his overall professionalism is going to give the new GM of the Blue Jackets something hard to think about. If there’s any goalie in the organization that had a tremendous year and made a positive impact, it was Greaves.
Could this mean a potential move for Merzlikins? The word buyout has been floated around in rumors given his lack of production in comparison to his current contract. While it’s entirely possible the new GM starts with the status quo for evaluation purposes, they could come in and start fresh too. If that happens, Greaves could be in line for a backup role with the Blue Jackets.
This postseason opportunity could really tell the story of how the Blue Jackets’ crease looks both short term and longer term. If Greaves goes out and helps the Monsters get far in these playoffs, then some serious conversations will need to take place.
Greaves Needs Contract
Greaves will be an RFA with arbitration rights after the season. His record-breaking performance in the AHL will certainly merit a raise. But there doesn’t seem to be much question that he’ll get a new contract. The question to be answered is what the contract will look like.
Greaves’ next contract could come in around the same as what Tarasov’s deal looks like now. Tarasov signed a three-year deal at $1.05 million per season. That factored in what his role could look like.
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Greaves will remain waivers exempt for up to one more season after this one with waivers expected to start in the 2025-26 season. That would allow him one more season to be the Monsters’ number-one goalie and can go to the Blue Jackets and back without waivers.
If anything was learned about the the Blue Jackets’ goaltending in 2023-24, it’s that Greaves has played himself into their future plans. Tarasov showed improvement as the season wore on. And while Merzlikins was better, he still didn’t play up to his contract.
Greaves will be ready to help take the Monsters on what they hope is a long run in the Calder Cup playoffs. A historic AHL season coupled with making an NHL impression has him in position to be a name we’ll hear from in seasons to come.