Not to pile on #14 any more than necessary, but looking at some of Colin Greening's year-to-year data is a bit startling.
I think most people have come to terms with Colin Greening riding Jason Spezza in 2011-2012 to a 3Y, $2.65MM AAV contract. Save for a few spurts of brilliance, he's mostly been a non-factor for the team, and I'm not sure how many forwards there are on the roster he's really out-performed over the duration of his previous deal.
Greening -- who went from 17-goal and 37-point guy alongside Spezza, to checking-line forward getting his clock cleaned in the defensive zone -- is obviously getting dinged in the quality of teammate department. That's an easy point to concede. On the other hand, I think just about everyone is suspicious of how he earned his multi-year extension.
For years, the coaching staff has tried to tease obvious physical skills out of Greening. It's never really materialized. And, as he heads into the first of his three-year extension, his counting numbers are in steep decline.
These are his per-game shots and points over the last four seasons:
The scoring decline is what it is. It's the shot volume that's concerning. That is quite the dip.
I think Greening's been relegated into this checking line role with Zack Smith and Chris Neil because he can be a physical player that, when he's on his game, can be rather difficult to play against. Problem is, that line was a tire fire all season long, and I'm not sure that Greening doesn't have some level of contribution to the trio's woes.
Then again, I don't exactly know what you do if you are Paul MacLean. There's not a lot of evidence suggesting he is a top-six forward, so it's either give him his minutes on a bad line, or relegate him to fourth-line duty.
The good news is that Greening's contract really isn't burdensome under the current NHL salary cap. The bad news is that Ottawa, who doesn't play anywhere near the cap, can't afford to make mistakes -- even small-scale ones like this, perhaps.
I ask: What do you do with CG14 next year? Do you free him from the 15/25 shackles and hope he turns it around with another group, or do you keep him on that line and give the minutes to other impact forwards with potential?
-- 
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»