Why Seth Jarvis was the right fit as Brayden Point’s Olympic replacement

Back in June of last year, Canada announced the first six players for its men’s hockey team at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Among them was Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point, coming off a 42-goal, 40-assist season and a championship with Canada at last February’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Though Point seemed assured of a Canadian roster spot last June, the vicissitudes of sports had other ideas, as the two-time Stanley Cup champion suffered a lower-body injury on January 12th that put him on injured reserve and out of the Olympics.

With Point no longer an option, Canada turned to Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis as his replacement. Jarvis was also on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team, registering an assist in three games played. With 43 points through 49 games, Jarvis is having another solid season, in line with his production over the last couple years. In choosing Jarvis, Canada passed over more prolific scorers, such as the Winnipeg Jets‘ Mark Scheifele or the Chicago Blackhawks‘ Connor Bedard.

During Daily Faceoff’s Milan Games Men’s Hockey Roundtable, Jeff Marek and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed why Canada opted for Jarvis as Point’s replacement.

Jeff Marek: Carter, I want to kick it off with a couple of thoughts from you on the on the Canadian side of things. The expectation is always gold or bust. The latest bit of news, of course, was Seth Jarvis getting added to the team. Your thoughts?

Carter Hutton: I think I’m just disappointed for Braden Point. He was part of that first group named to Team Canada and was a big impact player in the 4 Nations Face-Off, who played his way up the lineup, and he was playing beside Connor McDavid in that final game… So, going to Seth Jarvis, there were question marks about who it was going to be. There was talk of Connor Bedard, Zach Hyman, someone who could fit in that offensive role. But for me, this makes sense because of his skating ability… He’s had a great year. He can kind of be a Swiss Army knife anywhere in your lineup. And I think the reason you stay away from trying to add just a straight goal scorer when you think about Hyman, you think about Connor Bedard, is the fact that Macklin Celebrini has emerged as a top six player.

So instead of trying to take somebody outside of their role to play somewhere else, Seth Jarvis seemed like the fit for the squad, and it’s exciting. We’re going to judge this team on how they do. This is maybe the blessing and a curse when you’re Doug Armstrong, trying to figure out who to take because the factor is there are just so many great players that can fill that bottom half of your lineup. Goaltending and defense will be the question mark. I don’t feel like offense is gonna be a problem at all for Team Canada.

You can watch the rest of the episode here…