New Jersey Devils: Dissecting Andy Greene’s Legacy

The New Jersey Devils are looking at the twilight of their captain’s career. Looking back, what will we think of Andy Greene’s career as a whole?

Andy Greene is an interesting player when it comes to his view in the eyes of the New Jersey Devils fans. Some fans cannot wait for him to be off the roster, and they’re counting down the days to the end of the season because his contract finally ends. Then, there’s the fans who appreciate Greene for what he is. He’s obviously not a number-one defender anymore, but he’s extremely useful.

Last year, Greene led the league in blocked shots, was an incredible penalty killer and would be fine at 5v5 if it was in a limited role. The problem is the Devils keep ending up in situations where Greene has to play top-line minutes.

The last time that Andy Greene didn’t hit 20+ minutes per game was back in the 2011-12 season, when the Devils had a pretty stacked defensive lineup. Since then, he’s been the Devils workhorse, even at a time he should be winding down. Greene should be playing around 17-18 minutes per game. It’s the best way to utilize him.

Let’s not look at what Greene is doing next season, let’s take a long look at his career.

Greene’s legacy with the Devils is a complicated one. There were times he was the top dog on the Devils, and he even became one of the most underrated defensemen in the league. When he was first given the captaincy back in 2015, he could lead this defense. Now, the window for him to do that was VERY short.

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He finally hit his prime when he was in his mid-30s. He’s one of the best success stories in the league, going from undrafted free agent to 14-year NHL defenseman. Greene will go down as one of the best Lou Lamoriello pickups of his career. Then again, he has a complicated legacy because he spend more than a decade with the Devils, but missed all those great teams.

In 14 seasons, Greene’s only made a playoff appearance in five of them. That’s a really bad ratio, especially for a Devils team that was once considered a perennial contender. Basically half of his playoff games came during the 2012 Stanley Cup run, where he was decent but Bryce Salvador and Marek Zidlicky made more of an impact.

Greene’s legacy will likely look similar to Cory Schneider‘s when it’s all said and done. They were great Devils who did everything we asked of them, but it’s also a little sad. Both Greene and Schneider spent their best years with teams that had no chance to do anything.

Greene’s legacy will go down as a favorable one, similar to how we look back at Salvador’s time with the Devils. In ten years, we won’t talk about the times John Hynes forced him on the top line and he didn’t deliver like we hoped. We’ll talk about him leading the league in blocked shots at 36 years old. We will talk about Greene’s willingness to step in front of the camera in good times and bad. There’s so much to love about what we see from Greene that we should feel lucky the Devils fell into his services.

One day, if the Devils ever do decide to celebrate the legacy of those players who didn’t quite live up to getting their jersey retired, Greene can find himself there. He will never see his name spoken about like the players that led this team to a Stanley Cup, but he never waivered about sticking with New Jersey for good. That kind of commitment is what fans long for. It’s why fans still look back at Sergei Brylin‘s career fondly. Greene will one day get that same respect, even if that day isn’t today with some fans.