Jet Greaves Set for Team Canada Role at IIHF World Championships
jet greaves is set to play for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship after never having played for Canada before this spring. The 25-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender arrived here after a season that moved him from NHL depth to a real tournament role, and he could emerge as Canada’s top option in net.
Greaves Finds His Place in Canada’s Net
Greaves reached the roster after Hockey Canada targeted him for the event, then watched him back up that interest with a 24-of-25 effort in a tune-up game against France. Team Canada opened the IIHF World Championships against Sweden in Fribourg, Switzerland, at 10:20 ET, and his position in a long tournament leaves room for him to see more than one start.
“Jet was a main target for us,” Misha Donskov said. He also pointed to the timing, saying Columbus was still in a playoff race when the conversation had to wait, then added that Greaves had “put himself in a really good spot” after the France game.
From Barrie Colts to Bern
The path to this point was not linear. Six years ago, Greaves was struggling with the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League, and the Blue Jackets invited him as their third goaltender for the rookie prospects tournament in Traverse City, Michigan. Now he is in Bern, Switzerland, after spending five days in Paris with Hockey Canada before the team moved on.
That first European trip came only last week. Greaves visited the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, and Roland Garros, then paused long enough to joke about taking too many pictures. “The Eiffel Tower is just looming over everything, right? So cool,” he said. “And I’m a huge tennis guy, so I walked around Roland Garros (home of the French Open), and it was so cool.”
Blue Jackets Form Built the Case
His numbers made the roster case harder to ignore. Greaves went 26-19-9 with a.908 save percentage and a 2.60 goals-against average this season, and among Canadian-born goaltenders only Scott Wedgewood and Logan Thompson won more games. He also took the No. 1 job away from Elvis Merzlikins twice, which put his season on a higher track before the international call came.
Greaves said his attention stayed on Columbus while the Blue Jackets were still alive in the chase. “We were in a playoff race, and that’s where my focus was,” he said. After the elimination came the call from his agent, and he called the opportunity “a dream come true” and said he was “so, so grateful.” With Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, Ryan O’Reilly, John Tavares, and Denton Mateychuk also on the roster, Canada has enough star power to spread the work, but Greaves’ recent form has him lined up for a serious share of the crease.
