As the trade deadline continues to draw near, the Flyers are patiently waiting to sell their players, and it has led to many rumors taking shape; Some positive, some pretty concerning. One of the recurring rumors is their interest in Minnesota Wild forward Jordan Greenway, who is struggling through the 2022-23 campaign.
Greenway just turned 26 years old and weighs in at 231lbs standing 6’6. He was a Boston University standout which earned him a 50th overall draft selection by the Wild back in 2015. Worth noting that was a Chuck Fletcher pick from his days as Wild GM.
He’s got 38 goals and 118 points through 315 games to go along with 227 penalty minutes.
Earlier in his career, Greenway seemed to be the ideal blueprint of a NHL third line power forward, though he has struggled to build off that original hype and it has come crashing down during the 2022-23 campaign when he’s registered just two goals and six points through 43 games along with an atrocious 3.1 shooting percentage.
The big kicker- he’s got two years left on his current contract at a $3 million aav. A pretty nasty overpayment for essentially an enforcer. His career highs are 12 goals (posted in 2018-19) and 32 points in 2020-21. He’s only broke the 30-point plateau once in five seasons, through has 24, 26 and 28 points in three others.
The scouting reports on Greenway are fairly typical for that of a 6’6 player: slow, possess a not great shot, a lack of playmaking and reverts to relying on his size compared to playing the game the right way.
John Tortorella and the Flyers haven’t been afraid to take swings on players that need a change of scenery. Owen Tippett, who was the odd man out in Florida for the last few seasons has become one of the Flyers’ top forwards during the 2022-23 season, despite that being a relatively low bar due to the roster construction. They’ve also managed to boost Rasmus Ristolainen’s play as well over the last two seasons.
Though if they can’t bring the best out of Greenway, it’s not only an expensive blunder, but they’re already got Nic Deslauriers under contract for three more seasons as well as Zack MacEwen who is still a restricted free agent at season’s end. They’re building a team of goons straight out of the 1980s.
Sometimes there are smart, skillful snipes when it comes to snatching players from other teams under the guise of a “rehab” project. Other times there are players who were massively overhyped and possess very little chance to ever reach their lofty potential. Greenway very much feels like the latter. As of this writing, there has been no trade, so it’s hard to assess any potential deal, but if the Wild don’t sweeten the pot tremendously from their end, and it’s just James Van Riemsdyk for Jordan Greenway, it will be yet another major nail in Chuck Fletcher’s coffin as he just can’t let his Minnesota Wild nepotism go.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit:
brotherlypuck.com 