Ottawa Senators Colin Greening – Staying or Going?
Ever since Colin Greening signed a 3 year $7.95 million dollar contract extension Ottawa Senators fans have always wanted more. In 2011-2012 Greening scored 17 goals, 20 assists for a total of 37 points and played in all 82 games, but he hasn’t been able to reach that caliber of play again. During that season fans grew to love the goal scoring power forward who played most of the year with former Ottawa Senator Jason Spezza, but since then he could never rekindle the magic and has made his way out of the fans good books.
Obviously there was too much stock put into the 2011-2012 season, where Colin Greening found himself playing the majority of the time with one of the best playmaking centres in the NHL. It was also the hope that he could fill the coveted role of the point producing power forward for years to come that blured our vision of what Colin Greening really is.
I want to make it clear that I am not saying Greening can never achieve the success he once had, but I am saying that we shouldn’t expect him to be offensive minded. What we should expect, is a player who is good on forecheck, a player who can kill penalties, and a player who is in the top 20 in hits.
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We saw last year that Greening was pushing for offence, which in turn hurt his defensive game. Greening was a minus 15 in the 2013-2014 season and never was able to hit his stride.
I believe that Colin Greening is a useful power foward that can be great on the bottom two lines, help the penalty kill and chip in some offence here and there. If we lower our expectations of Colin Greening we might be surprised on what he can bring to the table.
When it’s all said and done, it might be too late for Greening as he has been in many trade rumours that have him on his way out of town. His cap hit in relation to his play over the past season does not help either and I would suspect that if there is a deal to be made he would be one of the pieces going back the other way. If it is not a trade to bring a roster player back, then the likes of Mike Hoffman, Curtis Lazar, and Mark Stone are waiting for their shot to be full time National Hockey League players.
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If Colin Greening does stay, I would not be upset at all. Colin Greening adds size, speed and can be a useful third or fourth liner. Greening can also move up and down the line up if there are any injuries. With that being said there is always hope that he could hit his goal scoring stride again, but it is not something we should expect until it is proven on a consistent basis.
As the long summer days pass and the closer we get to training camp it will become more clear which direction the Ottawa Senators will take. Has of right now the likelihood of Greening being moved is up in the air, but is still a definite possibility.