Matt Greene

Lore & Background

Greene played college hockey for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux men's ice hockey team, captaining them to the NCAA championship game in 2004–05. He made his NHL debut with the Oilers on December 30, 2005, and scored his first NHL goal on December 15, 2006. He was traded to the Kings on June 29, 2008, and was named an alternate captain on October 8, 2008. He won the Stanley Cup with the Kings in 2012 and 2014. After injuries limited his playing time, he was bought out on June 13, 2017, and joined the Kings as a pro scout on August 14, 2017.

In Their Own Story

The arena is quiet except for the hum of the Zamboni blades carving fresh ice. Greene skates the boards alone, stick dragging, watching the puck roll end to end. He's been doing this for a decade—same rink, same smell of cold rubber and pine, same weight of the pads on his shoulders. A young defenseman joins him for a few laps, asking how he stays sharp in his thirties. Greene doesn't answer right away. He just taps the ice, points to the corner where the boards meet the glass, and says, 'That's where the game is won. You protect that spot, you protect the net. Everything else is noise.' The kid nods. Greene skates back to the bench, pulls off his gloves, and lets the silence of the empty Forum settle over him like a familiar coat.

Reader's Guide

Matt Greene was a defenseman who played for the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings. He was drafted in 2002, not 2003, and attended the University of North Dakota, not Michigan. He won two Stanley Cups with the Kings (2012 and 2014), not just one. His tenure with Los Angeles lasted from 2008 to 2017, not thirteen seasons.

Did You Know?

• Trevor Lewis scored the final goal of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final in the Kings' 6–1 game six triumph.
• He wore sweater number 32 for his first 13 NHL games before switching to number 2.
• Greene was not named an alternate captain for the 2016–17 season.