The Ottawa Senators named Travis Green their new head coach on Tuesday morning.
The 53-year-old Green will officially be introduced at a press conference at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday. Before joining the Senators, Green spent parts of six seasons as an NHL head coach with the Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils, compiling a 141-159-35 record in 335 games (.473 points percentage).
“After speaking to several highly qualified candidates, it became clear that Travis is the right fit to lead our group,” Senators general manager Steve Staios said in a statement released by the team. “As we’ve routinely stated, developing a winning culture is paramount to our aspiration of achieving sustained success. Travis has a burning desire to win, is passionate about teaching and holds his players to a very high standard. We’re excited to welcome he and his family to the Ottawa-Gatineau community.”
OFFICIAL: Travis Green has been named the new head coach of the #Sens
📰 More details: https://t.co/DLHQhQb6i9 pic.twitter.com/Qxm3byKSpP
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 7, 2024
Green enjoyed his most successful season in the NHL during the COVID-19-shortened 2019-20 season. After finishing the regular season with a 36-27-6 record in 69 regular-season games, Green guided the Canucks to a pair of playoff wins in the COVID bubble in the summer of 2020. The Canucks dispatched the Minnesota Wild in the qualifying round before eliminating the St. Louis Blues in six games. Green’s Vancouver team then bowed out in a hard-fought, seven-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The decision to hire Green — which was first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger on Monday — is being met with a significant amount of pushback and skepticism within the Ottawa fan base. The Senators have missed the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons, creating a sense of urgency in the market. His stint as an interim head coach with the Devils this past season did not inspire a lot of confidence for Ottawa fans, who watched Green finish the campaign with an 8-12-1 record in 21 games with New Jersey.
Green and Senators general manager Steve Staios will likely face some tough and pointed questions during Wednesday’s press conference considering Green’s track record as an NHL head coach hasn’t yielded spectacular results.
But as The Athletic‘s Harman Dayal pointed out in 2020, Green is a progressive coach who decided to embrace analytics early in his coaching career.
“Man, it feels like I’ve been using analytics in some way, shape or form forever,” Green told The Athletic.
And when The Athletic’s Thomas Drance connected with Green in 2023 to discuss his coaching career in Vancouver, he was reflective and optimistic about improving when his next NHL opportunity arose.
“You go through a little adversity and you work on things to get better, and I think I’ll be better in all areas of coaching right now, just because of natural progression, but also having the time to evaluate and look back,” Green said. “It’s taking stock of the things you’re good at and working on the things you’re not as good at — because everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.
“I’m a guy that loves challenges, I love coaching, that’s the competitive part of us. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting another opportunity.”
Green also suited up for 970 NHL games in a career that spanned 14 seasons. He scored 20 goals on three occasions, and his best offensive season was a 25-goal, 70-point campaign in 1995-96 with the New York Islanders.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
