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Former Devil Andy Greene Opens Up About Opportunity & Sustainability in the NHL

By Kristy Flannery,

2024-06-27

Andy Greene spent 14 seasons patrolling the New Jersey Devils blue line.

Over the years, the Trenton, Michigan native put together an impressive NHL career, transitioning from an undrafted defenseman to being named the 11th captain in Devils history.

In a recent phone interview with The Hockey News , the now 41-year-old explained that it is challenging to sustain an NHL career and made it a point to discuss how everything comes down to that first opportunity.

"You go through the whole process of wanting to become an NHL player. Then, all of a sudden, you get that one opportunity, and you think, 'Oh wow, how do I stay here? I got here. Now, how do I stay and become an everyday player and make a career out of this?'"

Greene admitted that luck is involved in the process in addition to hard work and sacrifice.

"Once you get your opportunity, it is what you do with that," he said. "Sometimes, depending on who you are, you may only get one or two opportunities to make that impression and give yourself another chance."

The mental aspect of the game also comes into play. As Greene said, the question becomes how does a player handle the ups and downs and that adversity, especially in those first couple of seasons when they are trying to make it.

Additionally, a player needs to be able to adapt. It is a characteristic that Brendan Smith spoke about when talking about sustainability in the league, and Greene made a similar point.

"Sometimes you get drafted as a certain player, and then all of a sudden, by the end, you are not even close to being that player," Greene said. "It evolves, and you try to adapt to stay as long as you can and have as long of a career as you can."

It begs the question, how often do players run into a situation where the type of player they want to be conflicts with what the team and coaching staff demand that player to be?

"It can happen," Greene said. "I don't think I ever thought I was a certain player, and the coach thought differently of me. I was always conscious of who I was, and it pretty much always aligned with who the coach thought I was.

"Maybe they might have thought that I could do more in certain areas, but they were not trying to turn me into a totally different player. They might want more out of you, which always happens. The coach always wants to try to get the most out of you, and as a player, you should want to do that too," he continued.

It is easy to look at players like Greene, who played 16 seasons, and think it is easy to carve out a path towards a long career, but as Curtis Lazar told The Hockey News , the average NHL player's career is four years. The ability to be coachable and adapt and evolve is critical for any player looking to be a constant in any NHL lineup.

Former Devil Andy Greene Opens Up About Opportunity & Sustainability in the NHL

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