Ryan: A journeyman across pro hockey, A.J. Greer might have finally found a home back in Boston

The word “home” is often a subjective term when it comes to pro sports.

While the childhood locale that molded an athlete remains stamped on their identity, where said player sets their roots is rarely guaranteed - with short-term contracts, trades and injuries routinely plucking them out of the soil and dispersing them across the continent.

For every Charlie Coyle, Matt Grzelcyk and Chris Wagner, there are thousands of athletes who bounce across different teams and don different sweaters, looking to make their mark in a new market and weave themselves into the fabric of a new community, for however many months or years are afforded to them in that spot.

For A.J. Greer - a product of Joliette, Quebec - Boston doesn’t exactly sound like a sought-after destination.

Specifically, the penalty box within the “friendly” confines of the Bruins’ barn.

But on Tuesday, enclosed within the sin bin at TD Garden, Greer couldn’t help but smile. 

After six seasons spent traversing the expanse of both the NHL and AHL, the 25-year-old winger finally felt at home.

“Every time I hit someone, it was like 'Oh, let's go!'," Greer said with a smile. "Every time I was in the penalty box, you got people hollering at me, 'Nice goal! Nice hit! Keep going!'”

Back at TD Garden for the first time since May, Bruins fans had plenty to cheer about on Tuesday night — most of it Greer’s doing. 

Originally thought of as a free-agent flier on the outside looking in at guaranteed reps in Boston’s lineup, Greer has changed that narrative in a hurry through two preseason games — scoring two goals (including the game-winner in overtime) against the Rangers while landing seven hits in 13:27 of ice time in Boston’s eventual 3-2 victory. 

“What I like is we see a young man that is looking to make the starting lineup, from game one,” Jim Montgomery said of Greer following the win. “He's doing everything he can to impress — he's fighting, he's hitting, he's shooting. He gets energy in the building, gets energy on our bench. So he's doing a lot of good things.”

When it comes to chronicling the steps a player needs to take to ingratiate themselves to Bruins fans, Greer has made quick work of the to-do list.

Get into a fight in your first game? Check.
Play at a Hockey East school? Check.
Get involved in just about every post-whistle scrum? Check.
Hit everything that moves on a shift? Check.
And score a couple of goals? … Icing on the cake.

Despite his upbringing in the land of the Habs, Greer has always felt a connection to the New England area — considering he went to high school at Kimball Union Academy up in New Hampshire before playing at BU from 2014-16. 

But the 6-foot-3 winger also believes that his unique blend of speed and size (coupled with a willingness to engage just about any different-colored sweater in his crosshairs) makes him a natural fit for a team like Boston — with the power forward modeling his game after Milan Lucic. 

"I think I've always kind of seen myself playing the type of hockey that the Bruins play,” Greer said. “So to be here is a dream come true and I'm fortunate every day to be in the position that I’m in.”

At this stage of his career, a landing spot like Boston might seem like a long-awaited oasis for Greer. His unique talents validated his standing as a second-round pick back in 2015, but the road through the pro ranks has been anything but linear for Greer over the years.

In the last six years, Greer has bounced around from Denver, to San Antonio, to Newark, to Bridgeport, to Binghamton, to Utica — with a lack of tangible production (two goals, eight points in 47 NHL games) limiting the number of reps that the winger has been able to earn at hockey’s highest level.

But make no mistake, Greer’s physical traits, skating ability and bull-in-a-china-shop mentality make him a potentially useful cog on a hard-nosed, tenacious checking unit. And even with a logjam of forwards crammed into Boston’s bottom-six corps right now (including some established veterans like Nick Foligno and Tomas Nosek), Greer has put himself in the driver’s seat for guaranteed reps — at least at this stage of training camp.

“It's still early in camp,” Montgomery said. “We got another 10 days until we start. But he's done a great job. If we're starting tomorrow, he's playing. ... "You talk about the impressions you make and the opportunities that are given to you, they aren't always going to be provided again. But you want it to come from within. You can't paint tiger stripes to make a tiger. And right now AJ Greer is a tiger and the stripes are already on him."

That offensive ceiling is perhaps being the ultimate determinant of whether or not Greer can leapfrog some familiar faces in Boston and stick with the big club. He hasn’t produced in the NHL, yes, but his near point-per-game output last year in the AHL (52 points in 53 games with Utica) does offer hope that he has more to give with the Bruins.

It does wonders for Greer’s confidence to see two pucks sail into twine — as evidenced by his emphatic cellys in an otherwise sleepy September exhibition. But beyond the box score, Greer is feel more than just refreshed and re-invigorated with a starting spot within his grasp.

At long last, he feels at home in a black-and-gold sweater. 

"I think everything's kind of coming to a peak here,” Greer noted. “And everything on and off the ice is coming to fruition. And, sometimes it doesn't work out right away. But it's perseverance. And you got to see that goal, and you got to breathe it, you got to live it, and you got to do everything you can to be able to make it.

“So for me, every year is the same intensity, the same focus. But the stars line up sometimes and for me to be given the opportunity here, to be put in a situation where I can show my talents on the ice and play a lot of minutes and do the best I can. And this year, yeah, I feel a lot more confident. Coming into camp, I feel a lot more poised. … This year, they trusted me with the contract that they gave me and I wanted to make sure that they made the right decision. 

“Because I know what I'm capable of. And, like I said, just to be given the opportunity, I cherish that and I'm going to give back and I'm going to give back to the game and give my 100% and do everything that I can to put myself in that position to succeed.”