Andy Greene Comes Home | FEATURE

Andy Greene doesn't remember what year would have been his draft year. It doesn't really matter; it didn't really matter to him.
"That wasn't the end game," he said thinking about it, all these years later.
Greene was playing at Miami University and his assistant coach at the time was Jeff Blashill, a current assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who remembers Andy as "maybe the best defenseman in the country in college hockey" at the time. For whatever reasons, Greene was passed over his draft year, and yet, in the end, he would not be denied his opportunity.
His family advisor had put out feelers to NHL teams to see which might be interested in signing Greene as a college free agent. On the list of teams: the New Jersey Devils.
"We just went to his office, and we sat there and hammered out lists," Greene remembers, "He had like four or five teams that he thought were the best options and kind of just went from there. And obviously, New Jersey was the one that we settled on."
All he was looking for was a chance. What he would not be able to have fathomed at that moment was how making his own selection, instead of a team choosing him in the draft, he would be choosing the destination that he would, sixteen years later, still call home.

That one chance with the Devils turned into fourteen years with the franchise, sixteen in the league. It would turn into 1,057 NHL regular season games. He wasn't the flashiest of players and wasn't the fastest skater, but there were few if any who worked harder and cared more than Andy Greene does.
"He's not the type of guy that's going to, on a regular basis, get a ton of recognition from the outside population," former teammate and good friend Zach Parise said, "But I think when you look at everything, his career and everything as a whole, this guy had an awesome career, and he can hopefully sit back and appreciate what he did because he had an impact on the franchise and on a lot of players."
Not one to ever seek out the spotlight, everything Greene did, he did quietly. It would be next to impossible to get him to sing his own praises, so that's where others have to step in for him. For years, he played a steady, reliable game that flew under the radar. Except with his teammates.
"He did a lot of the thankless jobs, especially in hockey," Kyle Palmieri, teammates with Greene in New Jersey and on Long Island, said. "You go back to the way he had to carve his NHL career out, being undrafted and going on to play 1000 games, it's something that is pretty special for any player to do, but to do it the way he did and how he played the game, it wasn't always showing up on the score sheet or anything like that."
"He was a guy that would go down for his teammates to block shots and he was always there," Nico Hischier remembers. "And that's something I think it doesn't get recognized as much as other stuff in hockey, which is fine. But I do respect that a lot out of the player. In the locker room, the players themself, they see."
From a goaltender's perspective, Greene was as close to the perfect defensemen you could ask for in front of you. Cory Schneider and Greene were teammates in both New Jersey and Long Island.
"As a goalie, I could always just count on him," Schneider recounted. "I could set my watch to Andy because I knew he'd be out there blocking shots. I always loved having him on the ice because he was like a security blanket where you knew he was going to do his job and get his guy and make the right play.
"I think if he'd been on a national stage," Schneider continued, "play more in the playoffs and gotten some more notoriety, he would have been considered among the best, I still think he was, among the best (defensemen) in the league for a long time."
Coaches appreciated it too.
"Right up until the very end of his career, he was a really good player," Blashill said, "And he defended really well, he made a bunch of plays under pressure, and he did everything coaches always want their defenseman to do. And he did it consistently."

There are a few running themes when you talk to those who know Andy Greene best. Underrated and loyal come to mind first. His loyalty to his family, his convictions, as well as his to the team. Andy was always Andy.
"It's the right word for Andy," Schneider said, "And you know, and I say this in a great way, but like, almost simple in the fact that you knew what he was about, he knew what he's about, he didn't pretend to be something he wasn't. And he never gave you a false bravado or a false sense of who he was, he was very upfront with, this is who I am, this is how I go about my stuff. And this is what I believe in."
And what he truly believed in was the New Jersey Devils and doing everything he could to be successful. Through every iteration of the team, from the moment he arrived to the moment he left, he cared only about team success. Greene is a player and a person whose impact will stretch far beyond his playing years. "He gave everything he had," Schneider said, "he gave every ounce of his energy and time and commitment to New Jersey."

"He was a role model that I think was invaluable to us," Palmieri said, "We had a young team that went through plenty of ups and downs and some tough years. But every day he would come into work and be our leader, the guy we leaned on in all different situations, whether it was on the ice or off the ice. So, I think it speaks a lot to the human being he is and obviously as a player with the career he had."
Despite how quietly he went about his business, his impact speaks volumes. This next generation of Devils is better served because Greene was their first captain. No one recognizes that more than the player who succeeded as captain.
"Just seeing him, what he did, obviously, you want to be as good as you are former captain," Nico Hischier said. "But also, kind of want to you're doing it in your own way. Yeah so, I always say like, every guy is different. There are lots of character things I'm trying to take from Greeney, how he treated everyone, just how professional he was."
As the captain, Greene set the example, and as the team moves into its next phase, there is no regret about not being out there on the ice anymore with the young players he impacted. He knows he's made the right choice for himself and his family. He's away from the ice, but never away from the game. Greene, like so many before him, who spent years putting his life into the franchise, will get to appreciate the next round of franchise success as a fan, just one that's a little closer to the team than most.
He set the standard. Now it's next man up.
"I want to see them do well," he said, "and I think it's nice that they're all kind of that same age group. And going forward, and now it's on them right now. It's on them to take the next step and put the team on their backs."
One last celebration will be held for Greene when the team will recognize him before the start of the home opener on Saturday night. Signing a one-day contract with the Devils closes this chapter of his life, but it also means he gets to retire as a member of the franchise that he gave everything to.
He is retiring as a New Jersey Devil, as it should be.
"I love that for Greeney," Hischier said, sitting in the locker room directly across from the stall Greene used to occupy, "He knows this is home."