Will It Be a “Green” Winter For The Ottawa Senators?

While the Ottawa Senators have not officially confirmed it, all signs point to Travis Green becoming the team’s next head coach.

Social media was abuzz Monday when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Freidman stated on his podcast with Jeff Marek, “I’m hearing all eyes on Travis Green here. I want to be careful about this. Nothing is done until it’s done. But I’m hearing all eyes on Travis Green, and I want to see what the next few days brings.”

TSN’s Darren Dreger doubled down, all but confirming Green’s hire, before Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch went one step further, posting that an announcement may be made as early as Wednesday.

If all comes to fruition, the 53-year-old will land in Ottawa as the Senator’s 14th head coach in modern-day franchise history.

Green was one of several candidates interviewed by Ottawa Senators’ general manager Steve Staios, who reportedly interviewed Craig Berube, Dean Evason, Todd McLellan, and possibly others.

This marks Green’s third stint as head coach in the NHL.

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After serving as the Western League’s Portland Winterhawks in a dual role of assistant GM and coach, Green replaced the then-suspended head coach Mike Johnson for the final 47 games of the 2012-13 campaign, leading his club to a 37-8-2 record and a WHL championship.

Continuing his itch to coach, Green spent four seasons at the helm of the Vancouver Canucks American League affiliate Utica Comets, guiding the team to the Calder Cup Final in 2014-15 before being named Canucks’ head coach in April 2017.

Green entered the fray in Vancouver during a soft rebuild. Daniel and Henrik Sedin‘s final season was his first.

The Canucks achieved success under the 14-year veteran NHL centre in only one of his four-plus seasons behind the bench; that was in the 2019-20 Covid-shortened campaign.

Vancouver finished third in the Pacific Division, winning a playoff play-in round over the Minnesota Wild in the Edmonton Bubble and then defeating St. Louis four games to two in the opening round before losing in seven games to Vegas in the Western Conference Semi-Final.

As a player, the New York Islanders selected him 23rd overall in 1989 in the Entry Draft. This selection was as pesky as they come, a trait Green wants to instill in his players.

After his 25-game stint as New Jersey Devils‘ interim head coach replacing Lindy Ruff in March, Green said during his season-ending media availability, “I like teams that are hard to play against. That’s something I’d like to improve on, and I’m not talking about the fighting, the running over people. That’s all part of hockey, but really the mindset of your group in what it takes to win – being tenacious on the puck, being committed to certain structures in the game that go into winning. When you watch championship teams, they don’t just score goals, they defend as well. Commit to the hard areas of the rink. They get to puck battles quickly. They defend their net hard. These are all things that I’ve tried in a short period of time without a lot of pratice time to install.”

Known for his tough training camps, Green isn’t shy about holding players accountable. He’s also experienced in dealing with young stars, having coached Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and netminder Thatcher Demko as rookies.

According to one former NHL executive, “Green has a great hockey mind.” And one “mind” he may bring along with him to the Senators is current AHL Manitoba Moose assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner.

The former NHL defenseman served as Green’s assistant during his tenure with the Canucks, in addition to his four prior seasons with the AHL Comets.