Colin Peter Greening (born March 9, 1986) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He played for the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was originally drafted by the Senators in the seventh round, 204th overall, in the 2005 NHL entry draft.
Playing career While playing for Upper Canada College in Toronto, Ontario, Greening was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the seventh round, 204th overall, of the 2005 NHL entry draft. Greening played four full seasons of NCAA collegiate hockey at Cornell University without missing a single game, serving as captain in his junior and senior year and being selected for membership in the Quill and Dagger society.Cornell Chronicle: Greening wins Lowe's Senior CLASS Award At Cornell, Greening played on a line with another future NHLer, Riley Nash.
After graduating from Cornell in 2010, Greening joined the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL), the top minor league affiliate of the Ottawa Senators. He made his NHL debut on February 1, 2011, in a game in Newark against the New Jersey Devils. On March 3, 2011, Greening scored his first career NHL goal against the Atlanta Thrashers in a 3–1 Ottawa victory. On May 19, 2011, Greening was signed to a three-year, one-way contract by the Senators that will pay him $700,000 in 2011–12, $800,000 in 2012–13, and $950,000 in 2013–14.
On January 12, 2012, Greening was selected to participate in the NHL YoungStars Game, which coincided with the 2012 All-Star Game held in Ottawa. He finished his rookie season with 17 goals and 37 points while playing in all 82 of Ottawa's games, largely playing on the first line with Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza.
During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Greening spent time with the Aalborg Pirates of Denmark's AL-Bank Ligaen.
On September 9, 2013, Greening signed a three-year, $7.95 million contract extension that pays him $2 million in 2014–15, $2.75 million in 2015–16 and $3.2 million in 2016–17. Since 2015, his playing time has been split between Ottawa and Binghamton.
On February 9, 2016, Greening was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a nine-player deal which saw Dion Phaneuf going to the Ottawa Senators. Greening would make his Toronto debut two days later against the Edmonton Oilers.
On July 1, 2017, Greening as a free agent opted to remain with the Maple Leafs, re-signing to a one-year, two-way deal. After the conclusion of the 2017–18 season, where the Marlies won their first Calder Cup, Greening signed a one-year AHL contract with the Marlies.
Following the 2018–19 AHL season, Greening retired from professional hockey in order to further his education, enrolling at Harvard Business School to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2002–03St. John’s Maple Leafs AAANLMHL6024345848————— 2003–04Upper Canada CollegeCISAA5330437340————— 2004–05Upper Canada CollegeCISAA3524224624————— 2005–06Nanaimo ClippersBCHL562735624653032 2006–07Cornell UniversityECAC311181926————— 2007–08Cornell UniversityECAC3614193341————— 2008–09Cornell UniversityECAC3615163128————— 2009–10Cornell UniversityECAC3415203531————— 2010–11Binghamton SenatorsAHL59152540412314513 2010–11Ottawa SenatorsNHL24671310————— 2011–12Ottawa SenatorsNHL821720374670110 2012–13Aalborg PiratesDNK1713122512————— 2012–13Ottawa SenatorsNHL478111911103142 2013–14Ottawa SenatorsNHL 766111741 — — — — — 2014–15 Ottawa Senators NHL 26 1 0 1 29 — — — — — 2014–15 Binghamton Senators AHL 12 5 2 7 13 — — — — — 2015–16 Binghamton Senators AHL 41 7 6 13 52 — — — — — 2015–16 Ottawa Senators NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2015–16 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 30 7 8 15 13 — — — — — 2016–17 Toronto Marlies AHL 69 10 14 24 49 11 2 2 4 0 2017–18 Toronto Marlies AHL 73 16 13 29 35 20 4 5 9 10 2018–19 Toronto Marlies AHL 61 4 10 14 8 13 1 0 1 0 NHL totals 286 45 57 102 150 17 3 2 5 2
Awards and honors Award Year College All-ECAC Hockey Second team 2007–08 All-ECAC Hockey Second team 2008–09 All-ECAC Hockey Second team 2009–10 ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team 2010 ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year 2009–10Lowe's Senior CLASS Award (ice hockey)2010Cornell University - Greening Wins 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS AwardAll-Ivy League First Team All-Star2010Cornell University - Gallagher, Greening and Scrivens Headline First-Team All-IvyESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team2010Cornell University - Greening Named First-Team Academic All-American AHL 2x Calder Cup Champion (Binghamton Senators; Toronto Marlies) 2011, 2018 NHL YoungStars Game 2012
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