Minnesota Wild’s Jordan Greenway an intriguing Trade Deadline reclamation project

Credit: © Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

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It’s the Final Countdown. We’re now under a week away from the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered at Daily Faceoff with at least one trade-focused story each day leading up to the deadline.

Today, we’re going to drill down on Minnesota Wild winger Jordan Greenway, who finds himself on the trade block amid a disappointing season.

2023 Trade Deadline Countdown: 6 Days

JORDAN GREENWAY
Left Wing, Minnesota Wild
Shoots: Left
Age: 26
Height: 6’6″ | Weight: 231 lbs
Cap Hit: $3 million
Term: 2 more seasons
Trade Clauses: No restrictions
Stats: 42 GP, 2 goals, 4 assists, 6 points, 13:24 avg TOI
Career: 6th season (all with Minnesota), 314 GP, 38 goals, 118 points, 14:14 avg TOI

Archetype and Ideal Role

Power Forward. Third line.

Ideally, Greenway is a power forward who brings physicality to the lineup and chips in around the net, but he is really struggling this season to produce much of anything.

Scouting Report

When he’s on and engaged, Greenway brings size, weight and grit to a lineup with a secondary scoring finishing touch around the net. He is a big body who, when he gets in on the forecheck on-time, can inflict pain on defensemen by finishing checks hard, separating a man from puck and then getting the puck to the net. His combination of size and strength mean he can easily absorb contact and continue to push through defenders toward the net. That ability also allows him to effectively make small area plays or play in-tight around the net.

Greenway is having a down season with only two goals, but he is shooting an abysmal 3.1 percent. That is hard to do, especially for a player who normally get his looks in close. His career average is more than twice that at 8.3 percent. There has to be some regression to the mean.

Greenway also brings an edge. He is an imposing player and won’t back down in any situation, so he adds additional elements to your lineup when he is motivated to do so.

Buyer Beware

Greenway is in the midst of an identity crisis. At times, he appears to think he is a scoring power forward, but he lacks the hockey sense to arrive in the right place at the right time to be effective. Other times, he plays like he is an imposing enforcer who needs to play a hugely physical brand, but is late getting to spots to be effective in that role because of his timing and feet. He reacts, normally late, to everything going on around him and struggles to complement his linemates.

He has played the bulk of the season with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno, two of Minnesota’s more effective players, and has struggled to get much done with them. The question is why?

Part of the answer is Greenway’s feet are not great. At 6-foot-6, that is understandable. But he lacks the acceleration to escape in-tight and reverts to using his size to shield the puck when he has it. Without the puck, he lacks the ability to get to scoring areas for quick strikes or second chances. That lack of separation speed means he is not an effective transporter of the puck, reducing him sometimes to a net-front presence that is missing a finishing touch.

Greenway’s shot is below average. It lacks accuracy and his release is slow, meaning he needs the time he struggles to create to get off better looks, which makes him easy to defend – particularly for defensemen with good sticks and lateral mobility. He is not a playmaker. He can make small area plays when the option presents itself, but he doesn’t manipulate defenders to create time and space to distribute from down low or on the half-wall to attacking teammates.

At this point, Greenway is a reclamation project. If he gets dealt, he is best served going to a team that is patient, direct with expectations, and then continues to enforce those standards on him as he rebuilds his confidence.

Potential Fits

Arizona Coyotes: The Yotes have had a ton of success turning big men with question marks into bonafide NHL players. Lawson Crouse is a great example. Nick Bjugstad has played well this season. Away from the pressure of having to perform, Crouse is approaching 30 goals for the first time in his career. Greenway is a similar player and maybe the Coyotes, who will need to get to the cap floor, take on Greenway and see if they can do the same thing.
Buffalo Sabres: Buffalo is battling for a playoff spot, so that may complicate it. But the Sabres are another team with a really solid group of big players. They’ve also had success unlocking the potential of power forwards. See: Tage Thompson. With Kyle Okposo coming off the books this year, and Greenway playing a somewhat similar style of game at this stage of Okposo’s career, it would make some sense for Buffalo to add him. Doing so might make the Sabres one of the bigger teams in league history.
Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks should absolutely be willing to take a gamble on some reclamation projects. Greenway would add size, bite and strength to a Ducks roster that lacks edge. If he connects, Anaheim can double dip and trade Greenway again for additional assets later on as they progress through what is likely to be a five-plus year rebuild.
Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks have said for a while now they’re looking for younger, NHL-ready players. Greenway is on the edge of that at age 26. On the one hand, Greenway is a lot of what the Canucks don’t have in their lineup. On the other hand, the last thing Vancouver needs is allocating more mid-range salary to their wing position with term.

Comparable Trade Returns

In all likelihood, Greenway feels like a summer transaction. Playoff teams don’t have the cap space or risk profile to take a chance on him now. And there is little incentive for non-playoff teams to take a swing now, unless they’re really big believers in the package Greenway provides.

The return will really be interesting. Any team holding a winger with a grand total of six points this year and two more seasons remaining at $3 million would have to pay dearly to move off of this contract if he was 5-foot-11. But since Greenway is 6-foot-6 and many teams still (over?)value size, a smattering of GMs polled believe Minnesota could still get something for him. Right now, it probably wouldn’t be much.

March 21, 2022
To N.Y. Rangers: Tyler Motte
To Vancouver: 2023 4th Round Pick

The question for the Wild if they hang onto him is how much they value the opportunity of his cap space flexibility this summer as opposed to the player. It’s possible that given the term on Greenway’s contract, that if his numbers don’t round up in the latter portion of the season, they could be forced to cut their losses.

July 13, 2022
To Carolina: Max Pacioretty, Dylan Coghlan
To Vegas: Future considerations

Summary

It feels like Greenway is in need of a change of scenery to unlock more of his potential. Given their projected salary cap space and the number of roster spots to fill, it might make sense for Minnesota to explore any possibility of moving on from Greenway now to get ahead of this summer.

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