Seth Jarvis turned heads throughout his episode of Faceoff: Contained in the NHL as a result of his humility, self depreciation, and openness about struggling along with his psychological well being. Now he’s making waves as soon as extra — by doing one thing no person has ever seen within the NHL earlier than.
Jarvis scored his sixth aim of the season on Saturday evening in additional time, giving the Hurricanes a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Not solely did it maintain Carolina’s good file intact, however Jarvis turned the primary participant in NHL historical past to attain 4 game-winning targets (GWG) within the first 5 video games of the season. It’s established not solely a brand new degree of clutch play in 2025-26, however makes Jarvis a must-watch participant this season to see if he can set the all-time file for game-winning targets.
On the floor you would possibly suppose that netting the game-winner is a reasonably commonplace occasion. Naturally there’s going to be a GWG in each recreation that doesn’t go to a penalty shootout. Nonetheless, the unpredictability of scoring within the NHL hardly ever signifies that a single participant is routinely the ultimate distinction maker on the scoreboard. Two of hockey’s biggest ever scorers haven’t actually managed to stack up big GWG numbers.: Wayne Gretzky’s greatest season noticed him rating 12 GWGs, Alexander Ovechkin’s career-high for a season is 11.
The present NHL file is tied between Phil Esposito (twice) and Michel Goulet with 16 GWGs in a single season. Whereas it’s dumb to extrapolate out a season primarily based on 5 video games, it’s additionally enjoyable to notice that Jarvis on tempo for 66 game-winning targets. It’s simple to chalk this as much as luck, however we’ve seen that Jarvis has rapidly turn out to be the go-to participant for the Hurricanes within the clutch. He’s possibility 1A for a Carolina workforce that has struggled to have that go-to celebrity, and prime of this workforce’s wishlist in 2025-26 was to see Jarvis get away, and assert himself as a prime participant within the NHL. That’s taking place.
It’s tough to discover a participant who’s a greater extension of their coach than Seth Jarvis. The similarities in his motor, forechecking, and relentless work in opposition to the boards is eerily just like how Rod Brind’Amour performed the sport, and it’s for that reason Jarvis has additionally turn out to be Rod’s go-to man. Jarvis is tailor made to excel in Brind’Amour’s system, which rewards two-way forwards, insists on gamers attacking the puck, and preaches workforce success over particular person glory. Whereas this technique has faltered within the playoffs the place groups tend to depend on stars to hold them via, it has turned the Hurricanes into one of the constant common season groups within the NHL.
What makes Jarvis so distinctive amongst his friends is that he’s a 23-year-old participant who doesn’t need particular person consideration of glory. There’s a pure predilection from Jarvis to hate the highlight — as a substitute being at his happiest when he’s revered by his friends, and the workforce is successful. Younger athletes are conditioned to wanting their names on SportsCenter and trending on social media, however Jarvis would sooner drift into the background, put his head down, and work.
It’s going to be unimaginable for Jarvis to attain this if he retains up this tear. We’re witnessing the rise of among the finest two-way forwards within the NHL, wherein Jarvis is marrying his Selke-level protection with changing into one of the prolific scorers thus far this season. Whereas it’s near-impossible Jarvis will sustain his 100 aim tempo, there’s a really actual probability he might be a 90+ level participant this season, whereas enjoying protection at a degree of Aleksander Barkov or Sam Reinhart, who completed 1st and 2nd in Selke voting a 12 months in the past.
The arrival of Seth Jarvis is right here. Now we wait to see how far he can take the Canes.
