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The Winnipeg Jets didn’t get a sniff at the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs but the city, the province and the team were well-represented nonetheless when Lord Stanley’s mug was raised Sunday night.
When it came to his turn to skate with it, Nikolaj Ehlers held the NHL championship trophy above his head while his trademark wide grin gleamed nearly as brightly. Then he looped back to his teammates and the former Winnipeg Jet handed the cup to the Winnipeg kid, Seth Jarvis.
Both men played significant roles in helping the Carolina Hurricanes capture their first championship since 2006 by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games, capped by Sunday’s 3-0 shutout.
“This is the greatest moment of my life,” Jarvis, 24, said in an interview with the NHL Network after the game. “If my grandpa was still here — I know he’s looking down — he’d be losing his mind right now.”
Jarvis told other media he was exhausted and afraid he might not be able to even lift the cup but “once you get it up there, it’s the best feeling in the world.”
Jarvis was drafted 13th overall by the ‘Canes in 2020 and made his NHL debut in 2021. Ehlers, 30, was selected ninth overall by the Jets in the 2014 draft and made his debut in 2015.
Jarvis’s overtime goal in Game 2 of the final saved the Hurricanes from falling behind 2-0 in the series, and underscored Carolina’s never-give-up tenacity.
He finished the post-season with four goals and seven assists.
Ehlers tallied 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his playoff run and was the top Carolina player in points in the Vegas series with eight (three goals, five assists), including an empty-net goal Sunday to seal the win.
During an on-ice interview with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shortly after the cup had made its rounds among Carolina’s players and management, Ehlers was asked whether he had a message for the fans in Winnipeg, who have been cheering him on.
After 10 years with the Jets, Ehlers was signed by Carolina as an unrestricted free agent in July 2025. An exuberant and expressive player who lets his emotions pour out on the ice, Ehlers went silent after Friedman’s question.
Then his eyes went red and he let out a big exhale.
“I loved being in Winnipeg. This [Stanley Cup] was the dream there [and] I’m obviously sad I wasn’t able to do that with the guys in Winnipeg and the city of Winnipeg,” he said.
“They hold a special place in my heart. They’re family.”
Ehlers finished second on the Hurricanes in scoring this past season while setting career-highs in goals (26), assists (45) and points (71).
He made his return to Winnipeg as a ‘Cane just over a month into the season, in November. Ehlers on Sunday said that was the first game he’s ever been nervous about.
The sellout crowd gave him a standing ovation and his team skated off with a 4-3 win — with Ehlers getting an assist and Jarvis scoring a goal.
“The welcome that I got back in November was something that I didn’t get to say thank-you for, but I will now. That was something that I’m never going to forget. To be able to be welcomed like that was unbelievable,” Ehlers said on Sunday, adding Winnipeg “still feels like a home.”
Brandon’s Jordan Martinook, 33, joined the ‘Canes in 2018 after four seasons with the Arizona Coyotes, who drafted him in 2012 and for whom he made his debut in 2014.
He landed in Carolina at the tail end of a long stretch of what he called “dark days,” when the team went nine consecutive seasons from 2009 to 2018 without making the playoffs.
“It’s been a long road … a lot of sadness and a lot of heartbreak along the way but … it doesn’t matter, it’s all worth it now,” he said, speaking with Sportsnet’s Friedman and David Amber.
“I’m so happy. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Martinook, who notched two goals and three assists in the playoffs, kept a blog for NHL.com throughout the final against Vegas.
No matter the outcome of the championship, the Stanley Cup would likely have made it’s way to Manitoba. Every player and coach on the winning team gets to take the trophy home for a full day during the summer.
Aside from Carolina’s cadre of players from the province Vegas has captain Mark Stone (Winnipeg), Brett Howden (Oakbank) and Keegan Kolesar (Brandon).
Howden led all players in the post-season in scoring with 14 goals.
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