Josh Green (ice hockey)

Playing career

Josh Green, a Canadian center, was born on November 16, 1977, and played professionally, mostly in the NHL. The Los Angeles Kings picked him 30th overall in the second round of the 1996 draft after he stood out in the WHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers, Swift Current Broncos, and Portland Winter Hawks. He left the WHL during the 1997–98 season to turn pro with the AHL’s Fredericton Canadiens, then made his NHL debut with the Kings the next season before finishing that year with their affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.

At the 1999 draft, the Kings sent Green, Olli Jokinen, Mathieu Biron, and a first-round pick to the New York Islanders for Žigmund Pálffy, Bryan Smolinski, Marcel Cousineau, and a fourth-rounder. He started the 1999–2000 season with the Lowell Lock Monsters before getting called up to the Islanders, where he scored 12 goals in 49 games. The Islanders then traded him at the 2000 draft, along with Eric Brewer and a second-round pick, to the Edmonton Oilers for Roman Hamrlík.

A dislocated shoulder in his second game with Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs, wiped out almost all of Green’s 2000–01 season, though he recovered to play three playoff games for the Oilers. He played a career-high 61 games in his first full NHL season in 2001–02. On December 12, 2002, the Oilers traded him to the New York Rangers for a conditional 2004 pick. After just four games with the Rangers, the Washington Capitals claimed him off waivers on January 15, 2003.

Green signed a one-year deal with the Calgary Flames on July 17, 2003, playing 36 games in 2003–04 before the Rangers claimed him off waivers again on March 6, 2004. During the lockout, he played for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, then signed with the Vancouver Canucks on August 23, 2005, serving mainly as an injury reserve forward. He re-signed for another year and played 57 games in 2006–07. After a season in Austria with EC Red Bull Salzburg, he signed with the Anaheim Ducks on July 22, 2008, but spent most of the year with their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Chops, appearing in five playoff games for Anaheim. He then played for MODO Hockey in Sweden and returned to the Ducks organization in 2010. He signed with the Edmonton Oilers in 2011 but was assigned to the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons. He finished his career with four seasons in Finland’s Liiga for Tappara and KooKoo, retiring on May 15, 2017.