As the Blue Jackets continue to search for winning formulas in the NHL, their goaltending is constantly being picked apart. The tandem of Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov has proven to be streaky at best. While a lot of the prospect pool is still a ways off, it's time to see what Jet Greaves can do in the NHL.
Signed by the Blue Jackets as an undrafted free agent in February of 2022, Greaves has slowly worked his way into a potential part of the solution to their goaltending question. If nothing else, his development has been surprising. In a good way.
With a junior career broken up by the COVID pandemic, Greaves flew well under the radar in the prospect world. With just two seasons in the OHL (combining for only 60 games), Jet looked like nothing more than your typical 19/20 year old tandem goaltender in that league. An undersized one, at that.
Give major credit to the Blue Jackets scouting staff here. They clearly saw something in his game that looked translatable and took a shot on him, in spite of his career .899% save percentage in that league. Since being given a chance in the organization, Jet has proven to be one of the hardest workers in the entire system.
As such, his game has developed enough that he's gone from a guy we may have written off as an AHL/depth signing; to a guy we're penciling into the NHL lineup as an important part of the future. As a kid, I was often told that hard work is a skill. In the case of Jet Greaves, that certainly seems to be true.
Not much left to prove in the AHL...
Now in his fourth AHL season, Jet is a veteran of 135 games in that league. He has 70 wins in that time, posting a .905% save percentage, 2.98 goals against average and 5 shutouts. He's been even better in the playoffs, with a sparkling .926%, 2.17GAA stat line - and 8 wins in 13 games. Short of winning the Calder Trophy, he's done as much as he can in that league.
At this point, it's time to test his NHL mettle. I'll go as far as saying that Daniil Tarasov has been unplayable in Columbus this season. He looks completely off, and if the rumors of him declining an AHL conditioning stint are true; maybe it's time to move on.
After seeing Cayden Primeau go unclaimed through waivers last week, the Jackets could very well see the same thing happen with Tarasov. If he did get claimed, I'm not sure that's a huge loss at this point. He'll be 26 later this month, and still hasn't established himself as an NHL player. He's not pushing Elvis for ice time, and that's an issue for both of them. When called upon, Greaves has looked pretty sharp and given the team a lot to think about.
Jet is also in his final year of waiver exemption. The Jackets would be wise to bring him up to the NHL for a longer stretch of time, give him some more starts, and see whether or not his game is sustainable in this league. Next year, they won't have the ability to send him down to Cleveland without someone being able to claim him via waivers.
I would hate to see that happen. His work ethic and compete level clearly give his team a spark, whether it's in Cleveland or Columbus. I think he's part of the solution in goal for the Jackets. We just need to see more of him to be sure.