Jet Greaves lands $5 million deal and joins NHL starter tier

Jet Greaves secured a three-year $5 million contract after his arbitration filing sought $7.5 million against the Blue Jackets’ $2.8 million offer.

From arbitration gap to middle ground

The Columbus Blue Jackets and Jet Greaves settled on the three-year $5 million deal on Thursday morning before any arbitration hearing convened. The $5 million average annual value sits between the two original filings and more than doubles his prior $812,500 salary. Greaves had appeared in no more than 11 NHL games in any season before 2025-26, yet the new cap hit immediately places him with Joey Daccord, Darcy Kuemper, Spencer Knight and Logan Thompson.

The Blue Jackets valued the 25-year-old at $2.8 million while Greaves’ side filed at $7.5 million, creating a $4.7 million spread. The agreed figure represents a compromise that still signals front-office confidence in his recent breakout. Greaves earned the raise by posting a 26-19-9 record, two shutouts, a .908 save percentage and 2.60 goals-against average across 55 appearances.

Those numbers arrived after limited prior NHL exposure and established Greaves as a full-time starter capable of carrying games. The contract length covers the 2026-27 through 2028-29 seasons and positions him for another substantial raise if he maintains or improves those rates.

International step and peer comparison

Greaves earned his first senior call-up for Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Championship and delivered a .920 save percentage with a 1.88 goals-against average in eight games. He recorded a 34-save shutout against the United States in the quarterfinals, helping Canada advance. That performance aligned him with Kuemper and Thompson, both of whom have received Vezina consideration in recent seasons.

Kuemper reached the Vezina finalist stage in 2024-25 while Thompson finished fourth in 2025-26 voting. Knight posted a .919 save percentage through his first 19 games of the same campaign. At the new $5 million cap hit Greaves must now match or exceed those benchmarks rather than simply exceed replacement level.

The Cambridge, Ontario native’s prior two-year deal at $812,500 per season had produced modest NHL minutes. The jump to starter money therefore removes any buffer and demands the consistency that separates good netminders from Vezina candidates.

Path to sustained elite play

Greaves enters 2026-27 with a clear statistical target: repeat or improve upon the 55-game workload, 26 wins and sub-2.70 goals-against average while pushing the save percentage above .910. Two of the comparable goaltenders at similar money have already been selected for best-on-best events, raising the likelihood that Greaves will be in Olympic consideration by 2030.

The Blue Jackets gain cost-controlled stability in net through 2029 while shifting expectations from prospect development to proven starter production. Any regression below the .908 save percentage posted last season would immediately pressure the organization’s goaltending depth chart.

Consistency metrics such as starts per season above 50 and goals-against average under 2.50 now become the baseline for contract justification rather than upside potential.