Seth Jarvis secured a late invite to join Team Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Thursday after Brayden Point was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.
Jarvis was part of last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off victory and was one of the final forward cuts when the original 25-man roster was selected in late December. The Carolina Hurricanes forward took the news hard, telling reporters, “Sometimes you gotta eat a s— sandwich and chew on it for a little bit. It doesn’t taste good, but you move on.”
As fate would have it, he booked a ticket to Italy anyway.
Point was among the initial six players selected by Team Canada in June and likely would have had a spot on the team’s top line beside Connor McDavid. However, he suffered an injury on Jan. 12 in Philadelphia when an opponent fell on his leg, and he couldn’t regain the strength needed to play despite working feverishly to get back over the last few weeks.
He joins Tampa Bay Lightning teammate Anthony Cirelli (shoulder) in withdrawing from the Olympics due to injury. Cirelli was replaced by Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett earlier this week.
“Devastating,” said Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois, who is also part of Canada’s management team. “Incredible selflessness on his part (and Cirelli’s). They could’ve pushed to play at less than 100 percent, but showed character of the highest order in giving up their spot to someone healthier and more apt to help Canada win gold.”
Jarvis was the youngest member of Canada’s 4 Nations team and finished that event with one assist in three games. The 24-year-old will likely fill a depth role in Milan that could include penalty-killing assignments. He’s a smart player who makes good reads and has scored three short-handed goals among his 25 goals scored for the Hurricanes this season.
The right-shot winger earned the nod over a list of other potential replacement options that includes Wyatt Johnston, Mark Scheifele, Zach Hyman, Connor Bedard and Morgan Geekie. One of the factors that gave Jarvis an edge was how much the coaches liked and trusted his game at the 4 Nations, according to league sources, plus his high pace of play.
When Jarvis was left off the Olympic roster, he vowed to take a few days to process the disappointment before refocusing on what he had to do for the Hurricanes. He then made good on his word by registering 14 points in 14 games while only being on the ice for three even-strength goals against, helping Carolina amass a 9-1-4 record over that stretch.
Team Canada’s management group was watching closely.