Management Travis Green [Head Coach]

[Cosmix]

Not feeling optimistic about this.

But, it's also one hell of a flawed roster to work with. I have a feeling they're going to bite the bullet and rebuild the rebuild. Then again, could be a good thing with that Gavin McKenna kid on the horizon. Get him as a new cornerstone, and rebuild right starting with a blue chip RD in the draft next month.....

The last place team only has an 18.5% chance of getting the #1 pick. So NOT LIKELY!

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

I miss Neko Sparks.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Welp, there it is.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

I'm hoping this one at least treats his employees with respect, and if cap spending is still there, it's not exactly the same, but certainly disheartening turn of events lately.

 

[NyQuil]

There’s a wide spectrum of reactions here:

1. This is the death knell for the franchise.

2. This is disappointing but I guess we’ll see what happens.

3. Green’s record is unfair because of the lack of talent he had to work with due to his GM.

4. I think his no-nonsense work ethic style is what this team needs.

5. No one knows enough about coaching here to comment.

I’m sitting around #2. I’m not going to pretend that he was who I wanted.

I’ll be happy to be proven wrong but I’m not optimistic.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Friedman being extremely diplomatic about the Senators decision making and Green's losing record.

x.com

x.com

Yeah maybe we did need a "prick" to come in and fix the culture, but if that prick has a losing record, do they really think players will listen?

 

[inthewings]

I don't have an opinion on Travis Green as head coach. But people are acting like Staios forgot to check Green's hockeyDB page before deciding he was the best choice among 10+ candidates they interviewed for the coaching spot. The reality is that we want a front office that doesn't make the obvious choice - that's not afraid to go against the grain and make what they believe to be the best choice. Because that's the path to Ottawa becoming a perennial contender.

This might not work out, but I'm going to wait for evidence that Staios and Andlauer aren't capable of making good decisions before assuming an outside the box decsion is a poor one.

 

[Cosmix]

Like I was saying yesterday, I don't think fans and management are seeing eye to eye about the state of this team.

I still absolutely hate this hire.

Rather than hiring the "best in class", we are hiring the "worst in class"! More BS!

 

[Gil Gunderson]

*bag skates you to a .485 record*

Thanks hockey man!

 

[flyingfingers]

There’s a wide spectrum of reactions here:

1. This is the death knell for the franchise.

2. This is disappointing but I guess we’ll see what happens.

3. Green’s record is unfair because of the lack of talent he had to work with due to his GM.

4. I think his no-nonsense work ethic style is what this team needs.

5. No one knows enough about coaching here to comment.

I’m sitting around #2. I’m not going to pretend that he was who I wanted.

I’ll be happy to be proven wrong but I’m not optimistic.

#2 sounds about right.

The bigger disappointment is that Andlauer had 3 big roles to fill after taking over: POHO, GM and Head Coach.

After what this fanbase has seen, I think everyone would have settled for one of those roles being filled by someone with a winning pedigree at the NHL level. Just one! Any of them! Bring in rookies for the other two, that would've been fine.

And instead, we have Staios, Staios and Green.

 

[Cosmix]

Would rather put JC in net since he's the one that saves

He couldn't save himself!

 

[Relapsing]

I’ll be happy to be proven wrong but I’m not optimistic.

I would love nothing more than to be proven unequivocally wrong.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

There’s a wide spectrum of reactions here:

1. This is the death knell for the franchise.

2. This is disappointing but I guess we’ll see what happens.

3. Green’s record is unfair because of the lack of talent he had to work with due to his GM.

4. I think his no-nonsense work ethic style is what this team needs.

5. No one knows enough about coaching here to comment.

I’m sitting around #2. I’m not going to pretend that he was who I wanted. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.

I'm #2 as well, but the idea that money is already a concern is an additional more concerning factor imo.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

Man, I'm not a fan of this hire. That being said Green's record looks a lot like Tocchet's did before he joined the Canucks. Here's hoping that Green can have the same impact.

I don't see it though.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

I don’t care about Berube, there were coaches just as good as him for probably cheaper.

 

[JimmyApples]

I have no problems giving Green a chance, but if his career path follows along the same way it has (losing, losing and losing!), someone needs to be held accountable. We’ve already wasted quite a few years of this current core, any more and players will start demanding trades and we’ll end up absolutely toxic again (more than we already are).

To see this was a financial decision is definitely disappointing. I understand if Berube is holding out for a ton of money, but there are definitely more attractive options than Travis Green given the state of the team right now. Sounds like he was the cheapest option available.

4 years is also killer for a team who’s keen on hiring the cheapest guy available. Probably won’t wanna pay Green to not coach us. Are we still paying DJ Smith, or did the Kings hiring him stop that?

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Man, I'm not a fan of this hire. That being said Green's record looks a lot like Tocchet's did before he joined the Canucks. Here's hoping that Green can have the same impact.

I don't see it though.

Tocchet at least spent years as in assistant in a winning culture in Pittsburgh. Green has only been in one NHL dressing room with a .500 record.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

#2 sounds about right.

The bigger disappointment is that Andlauer had 3 big roles to fill after taking over: POHO, GM and Head Coach.

After what this fanbase has seen, I think everyone would have settled for one of those roles being filled by someone with a winning pedigree at the NHL level. Just one! Any of them! Bring in rookies for the other two, that would've been fine.

And instead, we have Staios, Staios and Green.

Exactly this. No one who's been brought into the new org inspires much confidence whatsoever.

Feels like we're about to go into another 7 years of futility. Not sure this team can survive that.

 

[Good in Osgoode]

I think that we are all forgetting that Green coached Travis Hamonic & Zack MacEwen in Vancouver.
This might be the basis of this hiring, to motivate our 7th D-man and 13th Forward.

On the flip side, Green did coach Chris Tanev in Vancouver for 3 years and they do both share a love of the mullet hair style (aka the Kentucky Waterfall or the Tennessee Tophat).

Maybe there is a silver lining to this?

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

We got our guy!

I really hope that's not the case.

If money is tight now, what's going to happen over the next few years when the cap goes crazy?

 

[Tundraman]

It's not like they were signing a much sought after coach, for one with a fairly long losing record 4 years is a bit of a surprise. A trial max 2 year deal should have been more than enough otherwise it's just more wasted money if it doesn't pan out.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

On the flip side, Green did coach Chris Tanev in Vancouver for 3 years and they do both share a love of the mullet hair style (aka the Kentucky Waterfall or the Tennessee Tophat).

Maybe there is a silver lining to this?

Tanev’s worst years were under Green.

 

[Relapsing]

I don’t care about Berube, there were coaches just as good as him for probably cheaper.

More to the point, there were coaches with better records than Green available for likely cheaper than Berube.

 

[Cosmix]

Oh well.

Hilarious , looking back, to think McLellan, Berube or anyone who has major pedigree would come to little 'ol Ottawa. Who are we kidding guys. WE are the Ottawa Senators. Small market , arena in the boonies (which i personally like), high taxes, dead dwontwon, doesn't scream a major destination. We aren't getting anything notable, ever. The only reason Tarasenko even came was his agent waited and he got priced out of real hockey markets.

Just be thankful it isn't some rookie coach I guess. I did like what Drance and Lalji have said, which helps somewhat. He is hard on players with details, and the coaching staff and management feel this is what the team needs most. Timmy is getting benched. Finally.

Four years tells the players that if they don't like him, they can leave. That is why they give these types of contracts to coaches. The same reason Martin did not get their full respect (save for the true professionals on this team). Same reason you have to look at Green's record with a grain of salt after Lindy Ruff was fired.

What I don't get is Claude Julien didn't get it...like the guy has won and is from here.

This hiring makes me wonder what the issues were:
1. Was it the budget?
2. Was it that Staios has poor judgement?
3. Was it both?

 

[Relapsing]

I really hope that's not the case.

If money is tight now, what's going to happen over the next few years when the cap goes crazy?

For real.

If the difference between Berube and Green is, say, in the $2-4m range, then where are we at as a franchise when this happens?

 

[Tragedy]

I have no problems giving Green a chance, but if his career path follows along the same way it has (losing, losing and losing!), someone needs to be held accountable. We’ve already wasted quite a few years of this current core, any more and players will start demanding trades and we’ll end up absolutely toxic again (more than we already are).

To see this was a financial decision is definitely disappointing. I understand if Berube is holding out for a ton of money, but there are definitely more attractive options than Travis Green given the state of the team right now. Sounds like he was the cheapest option available.

Here is an interesting quote from a Canucks fan on Reddit who goes against the hivemind - I thought he had some interesting points that go against the already conceived notion

------

For us at least, it's because our reddit fan base is incredibly stupid. See: all the idiotic "get ready for dump and chase" comments*. (Green had extremely shitty rosters filled with past-their-prime grinders and plugs and no defencemen to speak of who, by necessity, dumped it in on the rare occasion they managed to leave their own zone. The few guys with talent, like Pettersson, Horvat, and a few others with speed/skill, had solid zone entry stats throughout his tenure.)

Green tried to play a very fast, skilled game during his time in Vancouver, but it was reliant on having D who could move their feet and the puck well (which he never had) and forwards who had decent speed and hands (of which he had about 3 max at any one time). Quick/skilled exits + passes through the NZ and high pressure counterattacks, along with aggressive 2 man forechecks were common, but rarely executed well due to a lack of quality personnel. It's frequently reported that Green and Tocchet are good friends and share similar ideas and views on coaching, if that gives Sens fans any comfort.

He was really good with the young guys on the roster who managed to develop well despite all the "mentors" Benning continually chased after. He also showed really good scouting and adjustments to the systems during the bubble playoff run, specifically implementing wholesale changes to the forecheck tailored to the Blues and Vegas which were extremely impactful. Unfortunately his last-ditch attempt to create a defense-first structure during his final season were very unsuccessful, but again, that can largely be chocked up to personnel. The defensive stats ended up being worse under Boudreau and did not improve until Benning was canned and Rutherford and Allvin flipped ~80% of the roster, including 4/6 D and pretty much the entire bottom 6.

Seriously, I really cannot harp enough on how shitty the teams he had under Benning were. He had a top pairing of Stecher-Hutton for a large part of one season due to injuries to Tanev and Edler, and the "Sea of Granlunds" became a meme because of the parade of useless, overpaid, past-their-prime forwards that Benning collected like bobbleheads. Here is a selection from a previous comment of mine. Keep in mind that many of those names ended up playing top 6/top 4 minutes out of sheer necessity.

Is Green a world-beater? Probably not. But he's definitely a better coach than he's been able to show so far. Even Scotty Bowman would've struggled under the complete and utter ineptitude that was Benning and Weisbrod.

*The "dump and chase" stupidity actually came from an exceptionally dumb user in a /r/canucks GDT who "counted" the dump-ins for a third period against Montreal (iirc) once, and then presented their "stats" in a standalone post later. Hence the braindead circlejerk was formed.