With Seth Jarvis’ late addition to Team Canada, Hurricanes have five Olympians
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Seth Jarvis joins Team Canada late, replacing injured Brayden Point for Milan 2026.
- Five Canes head to Milan: Jarvis, Slavin, Aho, Ehlers, Andersen.
- Coach Brind’Amour expects players to return healthy with lasting Olympic memories.
Seth Jarvis is going to the Olympics after all.
The call from Team Canada came late for Jarvis, but the Carolina Hurricanes forward learned Thursday he is going to Milan, Italy, for the Winter Games, replacing the injured Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Jarvis’ late addition has turned the Canes’ Olympic foursome into a fivesome. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin will compete for Team USA, center Sebastian Aho for Finland and forward Nikolaj Ehlers and goalie Frederik Andersen for Denmark.
“I’m happy for him,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday after a 2-0 win over the New York Rangers. “It’s the toughest team to make in the world, that and the U.S. team. I’m happy he’s getting that opportunity.”
Jarvis said the last few hours leading up to the game were a “whirlwind” of activity. Phone calls. Questions to be answered. Flights to make.
And a vacation to cancel. Jarvis said he initially had plans to go to Cabo during the Olympic break, but must quickly change gears for his first trip to Italy.
“I love warm weather, but this is a pretty good reason not to go,” he joked. “It’s incredible.”
Aho after kind of gold
It has been 10 years since Aho won a gold medal for Finland, creating a nation-wide frenzy.
That was in the 2016 World Junior Championship, when Aho was 18 years old. Aho and his teammates were treated and feted like young rock stars after winning in Helsinki, beating Russia in the gold-medal game as Aho had a goal and assist.
And if Finland was to win an Olympic gold medal?
“I think people would go nuts,” Aho said.
“Obviously, we were kids (in 2016) and it was a home tournament in Helsinki. So everything lined up perfectly, and it was unbelievable, one of my favorite hockey memories in my whole life.
“I’m just so excited to go out and compete in the Olympics and try to win gold. But just to put that jersey on … it’s unreal to even think about.”
Jarvis feels the same way. And Slavin. And Ehlers and Andersen.
The NHL did not have its players in the Olympics in 2022 or 2018. Slavin, Aho and Jarvis participated in last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston, Team Canada winning that international event.
Jarvis was on that team, coming back to Raleigh with a gold, while Team USA and Slavin had to settle for silver medals.
Jarvis was hopeful of being selected to Team Canada for the Olympics but was bypassed during the roster selection — a downer for the Winnipeg native. He was placed on Canada’s reserve list but as late as Tuesday said he had heard nothing from Team Canada officials.
It can be ‘weird’ playing against teammates
“The hockey in the 4 Nations was unbelievable,” Slavin said this week. “International play is super fun and competitive and all that.
“But this is the Olympics. I think it should be that much better. It will be a little different with international rules rather than NHL rules out there and obviously no fighting. But the intensity will still be up and it will be such a blast.”
In the 4 Nations event, with Team USA facing Finland, Slavin once stood up Aho at the blue line with a solid hit. Aho took a double-take at Slavin. Then they played on.
“That’s always weird,” Slavin said of facing teammates. “Last year was kind of the first taste of it and it’s always weird.
“But I think we all agree once the puck drops you’re playing the game of hockey and it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. You’re going to do what you’ve got to do to win the game, so you play hard and you play within your game.”
Ehlers and Andersen are longtime friends, one of the factors in Ehlers signing as a free agent with the Hurricanes after last season, after 10 years with the Winnipeg Jets.
“Denmark is a small, proud country and it seems like everybody knows each other somehow from growing up, or playing against each other on teams growing up or with each other on national teams through the years,” Andersen said.
Denmark is a long shot to medal in Milan. But it did beat Canada in the quarterfinals of the 2025 World Championship, hosted by Sweden and Denmark, and the Canadian team included Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon. Ehlers was a member of the Danish team, which finished fourth as Team USA took the gold.
“A lot of great players went before us to get us to where it is right now,” Andersen said. “We’ve come a long way over the last three decades of being in the ‘C’ group and then the ‘B’ group and now hosted two World Championships and been in the ‘A’ group for almost 25 years.”
Brind’Amour, who has his team in first place in the Metro Division at the Olympic break, is hopeful that his guys return healthy and with memories to last a lifetime. He was on Team Canada in the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, the first year active NHL players were permitted to compete in the Olympics.
“For me, it was being around other athletes,” he said. “I roomed with Wayne Gretzky. That would never have happened, but now I know Wayne Gretzky, you know, and I’m able to have a relationship there.
“The whole experience is that these guys are going to remember.”
Canada did not medal in 1998 as the Czech Republic (now Czechia) took the gold behind the sizzling play of goalie Domink Hasek, a future Hall of Famer.
Watching in Denmark was an 8-year-old hockey fan who said the ‘98 Games and Hasek in net provided his first Olympic memories.
“It was special seeing one of the greats of all time,” Andersen said.
The Hurricanes (36-15-6-) are scheduled to resume practice Feb. 17 and have their first game back Feb. 26 against Tampa Bay at the Lenovo Center. Then it’s a race to the finish line of the regular season.
“We’ve pushed pretty hard and they need this little break,” Brind’Amour said Thursday. “Hopefully it will give us a little juice for that last push.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
