Seth Jarvis's episode of Faceoff: Inside the NHL gave fans plenty of bang for their buck

After much anticipation, the second season of Amazon's Faceoff: Inside the NHL was released on Friday. Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis played a starring role in the season's fifth episode, showing his journey through the 2024-25 season, from the 4 Nations tournament to the Mikko Rantanen saga to the team's playoff run.

The title of the episode felt very appropriate. Titled "Good Enough," the narrative has long been that the Carolina Hurricanes are a great team for 82 games, but they can't get over the hump in the postseason. While they've made it to the playoffs during all seven seasons under Rod Brind'Amour, they've stalled out in the conference finals three times, winning one total game in the 3rd round.

Talking about appropriate, the episode starts in a way that perfectly captures how we perceive Seth Jarvis off the ice. The first images are of candy and toys in his Raleigh apartment before he talks about the food in his cabinet and fridge and makes "almost cooked" chicken in his air fryer. It was about as great a start as you could've asked for.

While Jarvis is known for his cheerful demeanor, the episode does a great job of diving into the serious side of the star, especially on issues of mental health. Jarvis admits that he's very self-deprecating, as evidenced by the numerous comments he makes about himself when he's on the ice during practices and games.

From World Juniors disappointment to 4 Nations greatness

One of the biggest arcs of the episode followed Seth Jarvis rebounding from being cut from the 2020 Canadian World Juniors team and becoming a member of the Canadian 4 Nations team this past February. Jarvis expressed his disappointment with how things played out after a rough tryout, getting cut very early one morning in the hotel.

Five years later, after missing out on his opportunity to represent Canada as a junior, he was selected as one of Canada's best forwards for the best-on-best tournament in Montreal and Boston. Better yet, he sat in the stall right next to his childhood idol, Sidney Crosby, who he still has a life-size poster of in his childhood home in Winnipeg.

As the youngest member of the team, Jarvis talked about soaking up every second of the experience, sharing a locker room with some of the league's best. He got to play, too. Jarvis recorded a secondary assist on Brad Marchand's goal in Canada's opener against Sweden. It was his only point as the Canadians won the tournament over the Americans.

The episode provides brief insight into the Mikko Rantanen trade saga

While Seth Jarvis was the focus, the episode briefly explores the ramifications of the Mikko Rantanen trades, both his acquisition and subsequent departure. It's clear there was meant to be more involving Rantanen, but it must've been left on the cutting room floor because it felt half-baked in the episode's narrative.

What little we got shed some light on Rantanen's mindset following the trade. Obviously, he didn't want to be traded by the Avalanche at all, but the difference in style with the Canes, in his words, was the biggest decision for him. It's very possible that he's trying to save face, though I don't really know what else he would say in this situation.

To tie back into the episode, we saw Jarvis and Jesperi Kotkaniemi's reactions to the news while on the golf course. Kotkaniemi jokingly asking "Is this our fault?" was the episode's best moment, with Jarvis then "shouldering" the blame for not finishing a chance in the previous night's win against the Bruins, a game in which he scored the game-winner after Nikita Zadorov broke his stick.

Seth Jarvis wants to bring a Stanley Cup to Raleigh

At the end of the day, there was one thing that was made crystal clear: Seth Jarvis wants to win the Stanley Cup. This feels like a "no, duh!" statement that every hockey player makes, but he reiterated this point several times throughout his appearance.

"As much as I mess around, I will drive to the ends of the Earth to get this city a Stanley Cup"

Seth Jarvis, on winning the Stanley Cup

For a Winnipeg kid whose hard work helped make his dream a reality, I doubt being a savior of Raleigh, North Carolina, was on his bucket list. 31 other teams in the league would love to have him, especially the one that traded their pick to dump a contract. We're spoiled to have a player of his caliber on our roster, and knowing how committed he is to the organization and the fans is wonderful.