Ryan Greene fits the Blackhawks’ long-term plans. The unknown is exactly where

Posted November 25, 2025 3:04 pm

By Scott Powers

A day later, Ryan Greene was understandably still frustrated with himself.

Greene could have lifted the Blackhawks past the Colorado Avalanche single-handedly Sunday just based on the chances he had in the opening period. He had four scoring chances, three of them high-end looks. The fact he missed on all those opportunities would have bothered him anyway. But that coupled with the Avalanche winning the game 1-0 made it even worse.

“Just trying to get in spots to get the puck in good areas, and I feel like I’ve been doing that as of lately,” the 22-year-old said after practice Monday. “Obviously need to bury a few more than I have, but (expletive) happens, and you got to move on to the next game.”

As painful as it might be, Greene did plan to watch those chances again.

“You watch video, it’s easy to analyze it when you watch it back on video,” he said. “Obviously it happens a lot faster in the game. But I think just watching video back and kind of analyzing what I can do a little differently in a situation like that next time where I get it, how to make a different move, maybe get a different type of shot off, just to try to beat him.”

That’s partly how Greene has gotten to where he is. His mind is one of his greatest tools. He’s able to watch video, listen to coaches, absorb information and then adapt his game. When Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill told him flat out earlier in the season he needed to be more physical and not just use his stick to win puck battles, Greene went to work and figured it out. He welcomes that kind of feedback.

“He doesn’t sugarcoat anything,” Greene said of Blashill. “He’s very vocal about what he wants from you and what he expects, and it’s been like that from day one. So yeah, I think it’s really helpful for me just getting constant feedback, and when he critiques me on little things that he thinks I can be better at, I just take that and try to improve on it.”

The story of Greene’s season is adaptability. He was headed to the Rockford IceHogs to begin the season, but he quickly returned to the Blackhawks because of an injury. From there, Greene hasn’t given the Blackhawks a reason to send him back to the American Hockey League. He’s continued to not only prove he can play in the NHL, but he’s also earned more and more ice time and opportunities, including on the power play and penalty kill. He’s also proven useful up and down the lineup at center and wing.

When Blashill was searching for a combination to work with Connor Bedard and André Burakovsky on the top line, he thought it was worth giving Greene a look, even if it was somewhat out of the box. From being drafted in the second round in 2022 to three years at Boston University, his potential has always been viewed as a reliable, two-way center who would probably eventually fill a third-line shutdown role à la Jason Dickinson. For him to be moved to wing, a position he says he hasn’t played in four to five years, and put alongside two of the Blackhawks’ most skilled players was unexpected.

“Ultimately, we just take information from a lot of different people,” Blashill said. “We just had discussions where, let’s give him a chance to see. Early on it was like, it might be too much, and then as we kind of moved through the year, just trying to find the right fit and just gave him the opportunity. That his skill set, his ability to make plays (with) those guys could allow them to be a little more (of a) tape-to-tape line. He’s accountable defensively. It gives us two guys who can take faceoffs. You kind of double your odds that if somebody gets kicked out, the other guy goes in and wins it.

“In my mind, it’s been a really good fit.”

With Burakovsky, Bedard and Greene on the ice in 89:39 of five-on-five ice time, the Blackhawks have a 98-90 advantage in shot attempts, 49-44 in shots on goal and 7-3 in goals, per Natural Stat Trick. Greene has also spent time with Bedard while Burakovsky is out with an injury. In 147:34 of ice time together, the Blackhawks have outscored opponents 11-5 and earned 49.45% of expected goals.

On Sunday, Blashill matched up Tyler Bertuzzi, Bedard and Greene often against the Avalanche’s top line of Artturi Lehkonen, Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Nečas, and the line held more than its own. In the 11:03 of five-on-five ice that Greene shared with MacKinnon, shot attempts, shots on goal, scoring chances and high-danger chances were nearly even across the board. Neither team scored in those situations, either.

Greene didn’t downplay what that matchup meant to him.

“It was unreal,” Greene said. “Going into that game, I was excited to play against MacKinnon and (Cale) Makar, amongst the best players in the world, so you want to challenge yourself against them. We played pretty much every shift against them, and I thought we did well against them. For most of it, we took it to them. But obviously they’re dangerous when they get their chances, so we just got to try to limit them as much as possible. But hell of a line and team.”

Whether Greene can solidify himself as a long-term linemate for Bedard will likely depend on whether he can do enough all around, including production. He has two goals and four assists in 22 games this season. But Greene does do a lot of things well. Based on Corey Sznajder’s tracking data, Greene is the team’s second-best forward at setting up scoring chances and leads the Blackhawks in forecheck pressures. He’s also solid in carrying the puck.

Blashill said Monday he wasn’t sure where Greene would ultimately fit in the lineup, but he isn’t about to put a ceiling on him.

“He’s a player who has a lot of skill for a guy who maybe hasn’t produced at high, high numbers on the way up,” Blashill said. “His skill set, his ability to pass, his ability to shoot, just his pure skill set is very good. Can he do it on a top line and produce the way those guys have to produce? I don’t know that. I honestly don’t. Until he kind of does it, I don’t know.

“I know he’s going to be a good player in the league. I know that for sure. And I know he can fill different roles. Whether he remains a top-line player throughout his career, I guess we’ll see. But I think he’s done a good job on that line. He’s smart enough to play with Connor and play off him and Burakovsky. He’s got enough skill to make a pass to Connor at the right time, or have the opportunity to finish. Does he do it at the rate you need to to be a top-couple-line player on a championship-level team? That’s the question that we’ll know in hopefully a number of years.”