There was some conversation on social media before, during and after the Blackhawks’ ugly loss in Columbus because Ryan Greene was a healthy scratch.
Part of the conversation online about the Greene move was a lot of people (rightfully) believing André Burakovsky has earned a night off. He has indeed been struggling lately, no doubt. And Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill admitted Burakovsky’s last ten games have left a lot to be desired.
Blashill admitted Burakovsky has struggled over the last 10 games but said he was the Blackhawks’ best player during the 10 games before that. “He's got another level that he's gonna get to. He'll get back there.” t.co/lmhX7UFaGg
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 4, 2026But let’s take a step back and, once again, recognize the point of the 2025-26 season for the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s about development. Burakovsky is a veteran who’s here to help the Hawks get to the salary floor. In a perfect world, he plays well enough to have some amount of trade value before the 2027 trade deadline.
Here’s the explanation given by Blashill for the decision to scratch Greene in the last game before the break:
“Greene has played good hockey for us, and he’s going to play good hockey again for us. He’s a good player. There are a couple of things we want him to correct. It gives him a chance to have urgency and make sure he’s making the corrections he needs to. He’ll get back out there when the break is over.”
Greene has emerged as an important piece of the Blackhawks’ immediate future. His versatility has been valuable for the Blackhawks; he’s played the wing on the top line and been an effective shut-down center who wins faceoffs as well. Like Artyom Levshunov, Greene taking a small step back to correct a few things serves the greater good long-term for the organization.
Corinne Votaw-Imagn ImagesGreene’s Impact
Blashill has been very complimentary of Greene’s game throughout this season. If you recall, there was a school of thought that Greene would start this season in Rockford like Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert did after their brief NHL introductions after signing their entry-level deals the year before. But a couple preseason injuries (and illness in between) suffered by Slaggert opened the door, and Greene has refused to give his spot in the lineup back since the start of the regular season.
According to MoneyPuck, the only Blackhawks forwards who have started a higher percentage of their shifts in the defensive zone than Greene (17.5) are Jason Dickinson (24) and Ilya Mikheyev (20.6). Only Dickinson (307) has taken more defensive zone faceoffs this season than Greene (292). And Greene has won 46.2 percent of those faceoffs — a good number for a first-year pro.
Greene has been a huge part of the Blackhawks’ penalty kill this season, which ranks No. 1 in the NHL (85.7 percent). The only Blackhawks forwards who have spent more gross ice time killing penalties than Greene are Mikheyev and Teuvo Teräväinen.
Entering the Olympic break, Greene has taken the same number of short-handed faceoffs (113) as Dickinson; they’re tied for the team lead and no other Blackhawk has taken more than 40 (Nick Foligno) short-handed faceoffs thus far. To that end, Greene has won 45.1 percent of his short-handed draws — better than Dickinson (40.7).
At some point the Blackhawks are going to move on from Dickinson, whose contract is up at the end of this season. Before this season began, we had some honest conversations about the Blackhawks’ organizational center depth and if it made sense to keep Dickinson around maybe for another year or two until guys like Greene, Sacha Boisvert, AJ Spellacy and others might show they’re ready to play down the middle in the NHL.
Now, given the way Greene has played thus far in his first professional season, it certainly appears the Blackhawks have an in-house replacement for Dickinson ready to roll whenever he leaves the organization.
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