Don’t let Jordan Greenway get lost in the shuffle of the Bowen Byram deal.
When Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson swung big on June 23 to land Byram from the Buffalo Sabres, the attention naturally went straight to the defenseman the Hawks hope can grow into their No. 1 blue-liner. Davidson paid a steep price - the fourth-overall pick in this year’s draft, a second-rounder, and Louis Crevier - but there was another piece in that trade that could matter a lot right away.
That piece is Greenway.
The 6-foot-6 forward gives Chicago something it badly needs in the bottom six: size, edge, and a little bit of deterrence. He’s the kind of player who makes life harder for opponents and a little easier for the Blackhawks’ young talent.
Byram put it plainly when asked about his new teammate: “He’s a big, physical forward,” Byram said of Greenway. “He plays the game hard.
He’ll fight. He hits.
He protects the puck really well down low. It’s a good addition.
I feel like the team can use some size and grit, as well as other aspects of the game that Greener brings.”
That physical presence isn’t just about throwing weight around. Greenway also brings value on the penalty kill, which matters for a Blackhawks team that has to rebuild that unit after losing Jason Dickinson, Connor Murphy, and Nick Foligno last March, then watching Ilya Mikheyev leave for the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 1. Chicago’s PK was one of the best in the league last season once Jeff Blashill’s system took hold, but the personnel has changed fast.
Greenway should help stabilize that area. He led all Buffalo forwards in shorthanded time during their postseason run, and Joe Yerdon, who covered Greenway’s 158 games with the Sabres, described him as more than just a body on the kill.
“When it comes to the PK, he was kind of like the on-ice coach for a year or so,” Yerdon said. “When things were really down a couple of years ago, he was the guy who was like ‘Listen, we’ve got to do some things differently here.’ He helped out when things were getting really grim.”
Yerdon also pointed to the kind of presence Greenway brings off the ice. “He’s going to be a really-good-in-room guy,” Yerdon said.
“He keeps everything pretty light. He’s a chirper.
But he loves laying people out. Some of the biggest hits we saw from Buffalo in the playoffs came from Greenway catching somebody napping, coming through the zone, or along the walls.”
Chicago’s other additions should help fill the penalty-kill void too. Free agents Cole Smith and Ian Cole are in the mix, and Byram could see more shorthanded work if he becomes the true No. 1 defenseman Davidson believes he can be. Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, and Ryan Greene are also candidates to earn more PK minutes.
The biggest question with Greenway has never been his willingness. It’s been whether he could stay healthy.
A core muscle/sports hernia issue has bothered him since 2024, and it cost him 88 games over the last two seasons. He had two procedures that didn’t solve the problem, but the third finally did the trick, and he was back to full health by the end of the season.
Right before returning in late March, Greenway said he was finally skating without pain.
“I wish I had the answer on why this worked and other things didn’t,” he said. “I’m just as shocked as maybe everyone else, just because you know there weren’t a lot of answers for a while.”
If he stays on the ice, Chicago gets exactly the sort of depth piece contenders always seem to have: a smart, physical forward who can handle the dirty work, protect teammates, and make the fourth line harder to play against. Yerdon summed up the player the Blackhawks are getting this way: “You’re getting a smart guy and a physical presence,” Yerdon said of Greenway.
“Players love him. He’s a great dude, and he’s a leader.
He didn’t wear an A in Buffalo, but he was one of those guys who didn’t wear a letter but was a leader of this group.”
The headline in this trade may be Bowen Byram, but Greenway gives Chicago something it can use immediately. And in the NHL, those kinds of players tend to matter more than people realize.
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Kyle Davidsons summer roster work was never going to be about headlines, and in that sense the Blackhawks stayed true to form. Chicago added six players in free agency and through trade, with the bulk of the activity aimed at shoring up the blue line and stocking the organization with more defensive depth for both the NHL club and the Rockford IceHogs. Ian Cole, Dylan Anhorn, Connor Mackey, Cole Smith and Connor Mylymok all fit that theme, giving the Blackhawks a deeper pool of options as they try to keep building out the back end.
The move that really changes the temperature, though, is the arrival of Bowen Byram, who came over in a trade and immediately became the most meaningful addition of the group. Even with that kind of upgrade, the broader reaction around the team is easy to understand: Chicago did real work, but it still feels like the sort of summer that leaves fans wondering whether the front office had bigger swings in mind and simply found the market too expensive, too thin or too hard to sell. [Read more 🡒]