Blue Jackets’ Jet Greaves Talks NHL Journey, New Contract & Being Ready for More

A lot has happened over the course of the last 5-6 years for Columbus Blue Jackets’ goaltender Jet Greaves. He was one of many players who was directly impacted by Covid in his junior career.

Not only that, Greaves was fighting for playing time in his two seasons with the Barrie Colts. In 2018-19, it was a timeshare with Kai Edmonds and Maksim Zhukov. The following year, it was split time with Arturs Silovs.

Greaves went from a timeshare in multiple seasons to losing an OHL season completely. With development as paramount as ever in today’s game, he was severely behind the eight ball wondering what would come next.

Despite the unknown, that didn’t stop Greaves from proving himself to everyone. The Blue Jackets signed Greaves after Covid thanks in part to his performance at the Erie Prospect’s Tournament.

In his first season with the organization, Greaves split time between ECHL Kalamazoo and AHL Cleveland. Over the next three seasons after that, he played 150 games between the Monsters (129) and the Blue Jackets (21). He improved every season.

In 2025-26, Greaves introduced himself on the bigger stage when he played 55 NHL games and wrestled the number-one job away from Elvis Merzlikins. Then as icing on the cake, Greaves went to the World Championships and turned in a 6-2-0 performance with a 1.88 goals-against and a .920 save percentage. Some now wonder if he’s in line for a future role for Team Canada at the Olympics.

What a journey it’s been for Greaves going from his situation in junior to perhaps on the cusp of being the future of Team Canada at major events. That’s what makes him agreeing to a three-year, $15 million extension with the Blue Jackets all the more sweet from his and the team’s perspective.

The team believed in what Greaves could become. He went out and showed everyone the power of what embracing the journey can do.

Greaves Reflects on His Journey

Greaves spoke to the media for around 20 minutes on Tuesday talking about his new contract. Despite how close things got to the arbitration room, he was very happy with how everything worked out in the end. The deal was agreed to in Toronto with all parties present right before going into the hearing.

For Greaves, he talked about everything that was important for him that led to this moment of signing on the dotted line. He will never forget where he came from.

“I think it’s important all throughout the journey to remember where you’ve been,” Greaves said. “I’m just so grateful for the experience I’ve had over the last five years since I’ve turned pro in this organization. It’s been amazing. I think there’s been so many awesome people around me that I feel like have taught me so much. Just building those relationships has been great and I’ve learned so much through these years. So it’s exciting just to keep building and keep taking next steps.”

Players who go through long journeys in their career will sometimes feel validation when they get their desired result. Greaves doesn’t see this contract as validation but more of excitement knowing how much both sides were committed to each other.

“I think just throughout the journey, I think there’s just been so many amazing and positive points,” Greaves said. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily validation. I think it’s an exciting step to be able to commit to the team, the team commit to me. I think that’s something that I’m really excited about and grateful for. This whole journey has been super special and I’ve been very blessed throughout it.”

Yet, the moments that stick out for Greaves the most are the ones that happen on a daily basis in the league.

“It’s really been just the day-to-day has been so fun for me,” Greaves said. “Coming to the rink everyday, spending time with the guys, working, improving as a group, improving individually. I think that’s my favorite part of it. And it will continue to be. That’s really what’s the most validating part of this career for me.”

New Contract Shows Greaves is Ready For More

Greaves by the numbers was in the upper echelon of goaltenders in 2025-26. He spent a lot of time within the top-10 of all goaltenders in goals-saved above expected. It was his performance in part that had the Blue Jackets on the cusp of the playoffs.

But that was last season. It’s a blank slate in 2026-27. Greaves has to go out and prove he can have that kind of performance again. He believes that both he and the team are ready for the challenge.

“Something we’ve learned is that what you did the last year doesn’t necessarily carry over,” Greaves said. It’s everyone starts from zero each season. I think we’re very aware of that. We have a lot of urgency in our group to be at a high level right from the start of the year. We have had a lot of good experiences these last few years. Obviously, we’ve fallen short both years. We’ve missed the playoffs which is our first goal is to make the playoffs. That’s something we’re definitely focused on working towards this year.”

“But I think there has been a lot of positive lessons that we feel excited about putting into practice this year. We’re excited that (Rick Bowness) is back. We’ve got a lot of guys back. Obviously, we lost some guys from our core there which we’re going to miss a lot but we also made some great additions which we’re excited about. I think it’s a positive time for our group.”

With a raise comes higher expectations. While Greaves acknowledged that is a fair assessment, he says his focus will remain the same as it’s always been.

“For me, it’s really about the same things,” Greaves said. “My focus has always been, always has been and always will be hopefully just my process every day. I think that’s what I speak about with the people around me and that’s ultimately what I feel I’m in control of. I trust that being in that process and doing it well each day leads to good results for our group. That’s where my focus is just staying steady in what I can control and hopefully that leads to positive things for our team this year.”

Greaves appears to be ready for more. After coming off a season of 55 games and a World Championships, he said a big offseason focus was his conditioning. He wants to be out there as much as possible although he didn’t have a specific number in mind.

“I think every year, you learn different things that maybe went well, didn’t go well,” Greaves said. “Where was the conditioning? Where was the strength, mobility? Were you hurt? Were you not hurt? I think it’s just continuing to improve in those areas. For me, conditioning is a huge thing. As a goaltender, you want to be able to play hopefully a lot of games in a season and the game if you’re out there the whole time.”

In the end, Greaves got his new contract and a nice raise. He’s ready for more and is excited for what’s to come.

“I feel excited about where our organization is,” Greaves said. “Where our team is, where we’re growing, what we’ve learned the past few years. It’s just for me, it’s an exciting time to be a Blue Jacket. I wouldn’t want to be playing anywhere else.”