Jet Greaves and the Columbus Blue Jackets have settled on an extension, first reported by Elliotte Friedman.
The Jackets will pay $15MM over the next three seasons at a $5MM cap hit per season to the goaltender. The contract will last through the 2028-29 season, and will take Greaves into an unrestricted free agent status in his prime of age 28. The contract has a five-team No-Trade list in the third season of the contract, per PuckPedia.
In the previous arbitration filings, Greaves valued himself at a $7.5MM cap hit, and the Blue Jackets had him at a $2.8MM cap hit. This was a $4.7MM gap between the sides. The hearing was set for this Thursday, and both sides were able to continue to negotiate before this July 23rd hearing, but if no deal was made, a third-party arbitrator would have to settle the salary for the player.
It was previously reported by Aaron Portzline of The Athletic that Columbus wants a multi-year extension done with Greaves. Now, with the numbers presented, it appeared that the Jackets didn’t value his lone season as a starter enough to compensate at that cap hit. Comparatively, Greaves set the bar high, and for how he performed this season, it doesn’t come without the numbers he tallied to back this up.
AFP Analytics had two projected deals for Greaves: a one-year deal around $4MM and a four-year contract at $6MM AAV. This AAV meets perfectly in the middle from that projection and is an ideal window for the goaltender to show that he can build off what he was able to do this past year.
The 25-year-old finished his 2025-26 season with a .908 save percentage and a 2.8 goals against average in 55 games played. He had yet to play above 20 games before this year. Greaves had 16.5 Goals Saved Above Expected, ranking ninth this season among all goalies.
Those were better numbers than Spencer Knight, Stuart Skinner, Filip Gustavsson, to name a few, and Arturs Silovs, who will make the same AAV as how Columbus valued him at.
On the other hand, Greaves values himself as a top-10 goaltender in the NHL, and despite his stellar numbers from last season, they’re the only major numbers he’s been able to demonstrate at the NHL level. In 2024-25, he played just 11 NHL games, racking up 14.5 GSAx on a 1.91 goals against average and .938 save percentage with Columbus. His AHL numbers, racking up an 82-51-22 record in four seasons with the Cleveland Monsters, the Jackets affiliate, precede him towards his elevation to the NHL.
Nonetheless, this contract appears to be a perfect meet in the middle between both sides. Greaves is now signed to the longest contract in the Jackets’ goalie room. He’ll make $400K under Elvis Merzlikins, whose deal will expire at season’s end.
As Columbus continues to build up towards a playoff contention, they find some stability in the pipes as they’ll now look towards the situations of 23-year-old forward Cole Sillinger, due for a new contract, and former 2023 No. 3 overall pick Adam Fantilli, in need of what Columbus hopes are both long-term contracts for both players.
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