The Avalanche announced today that the team has signed forward AJ Greer to an entry-level contract. In the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Greer was Colorado’s second-round pick (39th overall). The pick was part of the Ryan O’Reilly trade with the Buffalo Sabres. Greer began his career in the NCAA system with the Boston University Terriers but moved to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League midway through the 2015-16 season. Greer is a big guy, coming in at 6’3″ and 205 pounds with room to grow. He plays a high-energy style, which led to 27 points (16g/11a) in 33 regular-season games for Rouyn and 22 points (12g/10a) in 20 playoff games. Greer, along with other Avalanche prospects Julien Nantel and J.C. Beaudin, helped the Huskies with their first President Cup in team history.
BSN recently discussed Greer’s career path, noting that the fact that Greer was originally an NCAA selection, he can play in San Antonio next season as a 19 year old. It appears this is the route both Greer and the Avalanche feel will be best for him. As AJ Haefele noted last month,
Greer would be facing a dramatic increase in his development curve should he jump to the Rampage, going from lightly-used depth forward at BU to competing for a top six forward spot in the American Hockey League, the world’s top pro development league. At 19, Greer would be one of the younger players in the league and seeing significant minutes could put him on a much faster track to the Avalanche than was expected the day he was drafted, when he was looking like he would likely spend at least three years playing for the Terriers before jumping to the AHL.
Cutting that timeline short would put Greer one step away from the NHL and in position to be an injury call-up when the Avalanche face their annual war of attrition. The prime selling point of Greer in the AHL, though, is it would serve essentially as a “free” year of development in professional hockey. Because he’d be starting the year as a 19 year old, the start of his ELC would slide to 2017-18 and give the Avalanche, in essence, a four-year ELC instead of the standard three. For reference, this is basically what just happened with star prospect Mikko Rantanen last season, except he was 18 instead of 19.
