Ryan Greene celebrates 100 NHL game milestone, a Blackhawks’ success story

The Chicago Blackhawks are certainly struggling out of the gate, with a 4-11-1 record through their first 16 games. But one thing to bear in mind is that they’re a very young team. As a matter of fact, there are six players who could reach their 100 NHL games milestone this season; the first of which was defenseman Artyom Levshunov on Oct. 31 versus the Boston Bruins.

This Thursday (Nov. 5) against the Tampa Bay Lightning, forward Ryan Greene will also suit up for his 100th NHL game. Here’s more on how the 23-year-old got to this point.

Greene’s path to 100

As a rookie in the 2025-26 season, literally everyone (Greene included) thought he would start the season with the Rockford IceHogs. As a matter of fact, he was assigned to the IceHogs out of training camp. But that changed a couple of hours later when it was determined Landon Slaggert was injured and wouldn’t be able to go right away. Greene was “recalled” and made the team to start the season. He ran with this opportunity and never looked back.

Selected in the second round (57th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft, Greene unsurprisingly started the season deployed on the fourth line. But his strong two-way play and ability to win faceoffs impressed head coach Jeff Blashill. Not only that; he built some chemistry with Connor Bedard, who was often double-shifted on Greene’s line.

Before you knew it, Greene was playing on the top line with Bedard and Andre Burakovsky. He even centered the top line when Bedard was out with a shoulder injury. From a training camp cut to top line center. I’d say that’s a success story right there.

Greene remained on the top line through most of the season, and amassed 12 goals and 29 points in 81 games. It was a heck of a start to a successful NHL career.

Tasked with a different role

This season, skill players such as Roman Kantserov and Anton Frondell have essentially bumped Greene down in the depth chart. Mostly, he’s been asked to center the fourth line between veterans Cole Smith and Jordan Greenway. It’s this line’s job to be hard to play against and tilt the ice in the right direction for the more offensive lines. “I told him as we start the year it's a different role,” sais Coach Blashill. “But I think for the longevity of his career this is going to be an important role for him that he's able to play this kind of role and be good at it.”

The trio has been good at it, being one of the most consistent lines so far this season. According to Natural Stat Trick, this trio has only allowed two goals against in 104:55 minutes of ice time together. Greene himself has registered two goals and four points. Not mind-blowing by any means, but again, that’s not his role anymore.

I asked Greene earlier this week how it felt to be reaching his 100 NHL game milestone. “Yeah, it's crazy. Like honestly, it's hard to believe. I still remember leaving college and there being just like a lot of unknown, and obviously I'm happy that I've been able to kind of cement myself here.”

Reflecting on his progression

Greene brings up a good point. Before starting with the Blackhawks, he spent three seasons at the collegiate level with Boston University. I wondered aloud if this might have prepared him a little better for the rigors of the NHL. Said Greene, “I would say so. Yeah, I think I chose to go to college kind of to give myself a little more time to grow into my body, grow into the player that I wanted to be. I think going that college route does give you those extra few years to kind of figure that stuff out. Versus the USHL (where Greene played for three years previously), I feel like it's a little more, things happen a little more fast I guess you could say. So I think it definitely helped me. So yeah, I'm happy I decided to go that way.”

Coach Blashill is happy with Greene’s progression, but he stressed there’s still plenty of room for growth and improvement. In other words, he most certainly hasn’t reached his ceiling.

"When you're in that range (of 100 NHL games), you're still kind of figuring out what you are as a player at this level. Meaning, how am I going to make myself special at this level? How am I going to find my niche? … I think he's made progress. He's a better player today than he was when he started last year, and I think there's still a continued maturation process to figure out how he can be special in the league. Is it being elite defensively? Is it being a guy who is a complementary player on a line? Is it being a great penalty killer? Is it being whatever that is? I think he's still trying to both figure it out and make a statement.”

Greene is well on his way to figuring out what makes him special, but for now he can enjoy this milestone. “It's crazy that I almost played 100 games already. So just try to soak it in, enjoy this one a little extra.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow