Seth Jarvis left off Canadian Olympic Roster

The Butterfly Effect Continues.

While not cited as the reason, the 4-3 shootout loss to Florida on December 19th claimed another victim in the Olympic hopes of Seth Jarvis.

You’ll recall that after giving up a 3-0 lead to the Panthers, the Carolina winger was heading down on a breakaway in the 3-on-3 overtime set before being taken out by Evan Rodrigues in a play that wasn’t called as a penalty. Jarvis smashed hard into the post, and has been out since in a “week to week” injury.

Carolina has had a hard time recovering from that. They went on to lose the shootout in that game, their first of three losses in a row. They recovered enough to beat Detroit and the Rangers, but looked listless in a 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh last night.

Now the injury has seemingly been a deciding factor in the Team Canada roster for the 2026 Winter Games. Despite playing for the 4 Nations last year and breaking out with his charm and marking efforts during the game and during the Amazon Prime series this summer, and then leading the Hurricanes in goals with 19 this season, when the roster was announced on Thursday Seth Jarvis wasn’t on it.

Jarvis wasn’t the only controversial name left off. Perhaps the biggest name that Canadians were expecting was Connor Bedard, the electric youngster who also has 19 goals for the Chicago Blackhawks in his third season, well above the pace he set in his first two. The steadying hand of Sam Bennett was also left off, though many feel Tom Wilson is his replacement.

Instead Canada went with Macklin Celebrini, the second year player for the Sharks who already has 21 goals and is a big reason why San Jose has been in contention this season despite many thinking it was another rebuilding year.

The argument for Jarvis’ inclusion was strong. Team Canada trusted him last season and though he was an extra for one game, he was playing when Canada won the 4 Nations last year, being name checked by none other than Brad Marchand. Jarvis responded this season playing on the top line scoring 19 goals, and having arguably his best season to date before the injury. Once the news broke, the great PR man for the Canes Mike Sundheim summed up the reason Jarvis should have expected to be on the roster:

Yet he sits.

That said, it’s possible Jarvis will still head to the Olympics. He’ll need to get back on the ice in the next couple of weeks to show he’s in good shape to play, but between now and the Olympics next month if a winger named to Team Canada suffers an injury, chances are he’ll be high on the list of those to be called up. He should find out soon enough as someone on the reserve list is subject to the same Drug Testing requirements of the IOC.

The worst case scenario though may be the best case for Canes fans. Having a guy bordering on superstar level like Jarvis getting three weeks off and being able to play the back half of the season rested and refreshed can only help Carolina in their quest for the Stanley Cup. It’s of small comfort to Jarvis who actually talked about his exclusion from Team Canada in the Prime series.

We should find out other Olympians by the end of the week, including whether the US plans to go ahead and name Jaccob Slavin despite his injuries.