The NHL’s new weapon: 6 regular guys from Winnipeg and a smartphone

In the high-stakes, "always-on" ecosystem of professional hockey, one of the assets a star athlete can possess may not be a faster, harder slap shot. It may be a group of friends who can handle the digital limelight for them — and a group of ordinary guys from Winnipeg may be the prototype of what's known as influencer by proxy.

Seth Jarvis is one of the most electric players in the NHL— a puck-possession wizard for the Carolina Hurricanes and a late-addition spark plug for Team Canada’s 2026 Olympic roster. 

He's gone viral off the ice, partly because of his blooper reel-worthy interviews, partly because he's truly himself and not afraid to speak his mind – something rare in the NHL.

But while Jarvis was "locked in" during the Milano-Cortina Olympics, his childhood best friends from Winnipeg — Bryan Hanna, Sloan Tremblay, Lucas Humble, Lucas Fry, Matt McLeod and Noah Wagner — may have pioneered a new blueprint for the modern Gen Z superstar.

The strategy allows Jarvis to reap the rewards of an engaging digital footprint without the mental burnout of being a content creator – outsourcing the influencer part of his job to the people he trusts most.

The guys from Winnipeg first captured attention on both sides of the border after driving 30 hours to watch Jarvis play in the 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston. 

They caught the eye of Dulcedo, a talent management agency which represents Jarvis. Seeing an opportunity, the agency worked with the NHL and Carolina Hurricanes to get them out to a 2025 playoff game. 

When Jarvis was chosen at the last minute to attend the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics, the guys scrambled to get there too, with help from Dulcedo, Air Canada, Skip the Dishes and other sponsors.

"When we first started