Jordan Greenway may not be the headliner in the Chicago Blackhawks’ Bowen Byram trade, but he could end up being a useful piece if he stays on the ice.
Chicago brought in Greenway along with Byram in the deal with the Buffalo Sabres, sending back picks 4 and 45 in the 2026 NHL Draft and defenseman Louis Crevier. Byram is the bigger name in the swap, but Greenway gives the Blackhawks a forward who can fit into the bottom six and potentially settle into a fourth-line role.
That’s the catch, though: health has been the issue for most of Greenway’s career. He appeared in just 40 games for Buffalo last season, and the Blackhawks know they’re not getting a player who is likely to change the complexion of the roster. What they could get is a dependable fourth-liner for stretches of the 2026-27 season, and if he can reach 50 games, that would count as a win.
The fit makes sense on paper. Greenway could rotate through the lineup with other bottom-six options such as Cole Smith, Sacha Boisvert, Ryan Greene, and AJ Spellacy. That group gives Chicago a mix of players who can skate, forecheck, and make life difficult for opponents.
Greenway was taken by the Minnesota Wild with the 50th overall pick in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft, then moved to Buffalo in March of 2023. Injuries have followed him, but he has still shown he can stir things up in an NHL bottom six.
For Chicago, that matters because one of the labels attached to the team in recent seasons has been that it is “soft” or “easy to play against”. Youth has played a part in that, but so has the lack of physical players on the roster. Greenway at least gives the Blackhawks another body who can help change that conversation.
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