Minnesota Wild’s ‘hard-nosed’ Jordan Greenway gets his reward

Minnesota Wild forward Jordan Greenway agreed to terms on a new three-year, $9 million contract extension on Monday that will pay him an average of $3 million per season. The extension will go into effect next season and keep him in the State of Hockey through 2024-25.

An eight-team,  no-trade list also goes into effect on the final year of his contract, allowing him to pick where he cannot be traded to.

Last season saw Greenway lead the Wild in assists with 26 and become a fixture on one of the league’s best shutdown lines, the “GREEF” line. Along with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno, Greenway was able to carve out an identity as a gritty, hard-nosed power forward that made life miserable on opposing players.

This season, Greenway started out on different lines as the Wild experimented with  options in their lineup. However, about 20 games into the season, Greenway was moved back onto the “GREEF” line with Eriksson Ek and Foligno and has since taken off.

While there is still much to be desired in the goal-scoring department, Greenway has proven that he can be relied upon in all situations, including the penalty kill, and play a key role on a dominant shutdown line.

For Wild general manager Bill Guerin, intangibles played a big factor in re-signing the “Big Rig:”

"In a strong culture you have to have character people, but you also have to have characters."

When it comes to intangibles, no one knows better than Guerin how important they are to sustained success. He has built the Wild’s roster with people that have these intangibles and it has shown up for them in the win column repeatedly.

Guerin also pointed to his improved level of professionalism:

"We’ve seen a chance in his focus. A change in his approach to the game. A more professional Jordan Greenway than we’ve seen in past years… If it’s going to keep going in this direction, we’re in a really good spot."

So while the Wild are happy to keep Greenway around for what he brings to the table currently, any further improvements would just be icing on the cake. With him still yet to turn 25-years-old, those further improvements could be on the way.

The biggest question this offseason will be how Guerin manages to fill out the rest of the roster with another young player locked up for the foreseeable future.