Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis ‘has trouble being serious,’ but his breakout season says otherwise

The stories about Seth Jarvis are already out there. He’s one of the funniest players in the NHL. He has boundless energy, which is perpetually evident when he sprints through the hallways on his skates for his ‘Jarvy Jogs’ before games.

There are times when a player doesn’t live up to the hype once you meet him. And then there’s Jarvis, standing at his stall, smirking, chewing on a piece of pizza minutes after the Carolina Hurricanes’ latest victory, waiting on the first question, then quipping, “He kinda sucks, right?” upon learning Carolina Hurricanes teammate Sebastian Aho had 11 points in his previous three games.

Yeah, Jarvis is exactly as advertised. He doubles down on the persona when you ask about this trademark energy and, more specifically, whether it’s a conscious choice or all natural.

“Natural,” Jarvis said. “I got a lot of built up energy. We got a lot of old people on this team, so I feel like they need my help. It’s fun to get everyone going. Everyone depends on me to lighten the mood. I have trouble being serious sometimes, which I think some of the older guys don’t like, but I try my best to bring good energy and positive energy and just help the team win.”

Hold up: which older guys don’t like it?

“Oh my god, I could list almost everybody,” Jarvis said, tongue planted in cheek. “Burnsy [Brent Burns] is one. Staalsy [Jordan Staal] is one. Marty [Jordan Martinook). I mean, I’m on a line with them and they tell me to shut up. So it’s fun. I hope they mean it lovingly.

“But I don’t really care.”

The irony, of course, is that Jarvis does care quite a bit. It’s why, at 21, he is developing into a versatile weapon at right wing and center on a Carolina team desperate for a game breaker. And it’s why, after a positively snakebitten 2022-23 season, he spent the summer determined to fix the problem.

Jarvis was neck and neck with the Los Angeles Kings’ Trevor Moore for the unofficial title of unluckiest NHLer last season. In 82 games, Jarvis scored just 14 goals on 187 shots, converting at a paltry 7.5 percent, the second lowest mark of any forward with at least 150 shots. As Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour suggests, Jarvis wasn’t playing poorly at all. In 5-on-5 play, among forwards with at least 500 minutes played, he graded out in the 90^th percentile in expected goals per 60, sandwiched between Roope Hintz and Connor McDavid. While Jarvis also recognized he wasn’t getting the breaks, he tweaked his game in the 2023 offseason in hopes of making his own luck going forward.

“Last year I got a lot of tough bounces – I wasn’t finishing plays I should’ve,” he said. “This year I’m doing a better job. I worked hard this summer on being more of a goal scorer. Going back to my roots. I came in from junior scoring goals, so it’s something I like to do and something I’m having success with right now.”

How much success is he having by comparison? After his go-ahead goal during Saturday’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jarvis sat at 13 on the year in just 37 games, one off his 82-game total from last season, putting him on pace for a career-best 29. He’s still getting to the net and producing chances like he did last season, sitting once again in the 90^th percentile in 5-on-5 expected goals per 60, but he’s converting on 14.9 percent of his shots this time around, looking more like the kid who had 42 goals in 58 games during his last full season of major junior and scored seven goals in his first nine AHL games the following season.

Now in his third full year as an NHLer, Jarvis is earning the trust of his team, playing a career-high 18:53 per game, up almost three minutes from his career average of 15:54. As Aho points out, “Young guy, but already has taken big steps in his career. Killing on the first PK unit and starting on the first power play unit, not a lot of guys that age can carry that load. So he’s a special player.”

“He’s earned his ice time,” Brind’Amour said. “I’m giving him tons and tons of opportunities, killing penalties for us, he’s on the power play. It’s well earned and he’ll continue to grow as a player.”

The Canes desperately need that growth, especially when it comes to the goal-scoring. They sit ninth in goals per game and, as always, have an elite power play, currently sitting fifth in efficiency at 27.3 percent, but time and again they’ve lacked a go-to gunner to get them a goal in a clutch moment. In the past five seasons they haven’t had a 40-goal scorer, a 90-point scorer or a player in the top 15 in scoring. Aho is the only Cane scoring at even a 30-goal place across Carolina’s 63 playoff games over that span. If Jarvis were to recapture the sniper upside he showed as a junior, it would do wonders for a team that hasn’t been able to outgun other bidders and land the marquee piece at the Trade Deadline.

Jarvis is trending in the right direction. His play looks sustainable. And his energy, which Aho calls “non stop,” certainly is, too. He consistently plays bigger than his 5-foot-10, 187-pound frame.

“Jarvy doesn’t stop and it shows on the ice too,” said Hurricanes left winger Michael Bunting. “He’s just coming into his own here. This is just this third year in the league and he’s shown that he has confidence the more and more he plays. Every game he’s battling out there. It doesn’t matter that he’s maybe a smaller guy, but he ain’t afraid to get in the corners, win battles and get to the net, so he’s been great for us all year.”