Following months of evaluations on potential head coach replacements for DJ Smith, the Ottawa Senators made the hiring of Travis Green official on Tuesday.
“After speaking to several highly qualified candidates, it became clear that Travis is the right fit to lead our group,” president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios said. “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.”
In a press release titled “Got Our Guy”, the club extolled the virtues of the former Vancouver Canucks bench boss, and scheduled an introductory press conference for Wednesday morning.
Former Sens head coach DJ Smith was let go by the team after a 317 games run with the club and replaced by Jacques Martin with the expectation that a new coach would be named prior to the 2024-25 campaign.
With a multitude of coaches reportedly linked to the vacancy including Craig Berube, Claude Julien, Dean Evason, John Gruden, and Todd McLellan, Ottawa opted for a dark horse candidate for the position, leaving many amongst the Sens faithful with mixed emotions.
The reported 4 year deal also comes on the heels of rumours that Ottawa’s preferred candidate, 2018-19 Stanley Cup winning coach Craig Berube, walked after salary negotiations soured. While these rumblings have made for good talk radio over the last 24hrs, whether they prove to be true or not will do little to reassure a fanbase who was promised a “best in class” experience after the previous ownership group became synonymous for making hockey decisions on a budget.
For his part, Green sports a 141-159-35 record as an NHL head coach, splitting time between Vancouver and New Jersey. During the 2012-13 season, the 53 year old helped guide the Portland Winterhawks to a WHL championship.
Former players and contemporaries describe Green as a no-nonsense coach, whose training camps are notorious for challenging players mentally and physically. Bag skates and vomiting on the ice have been in the mix in previous iterations of his pre-season preparations, which to a segment of Sens fans could be welcome news after the club once again failed to live up to expectations in 2023-24.
While few will label the hire as a “home run” amongst the Sens fanbase, the team can at least now turn its attention to the NHL Draft Lottery which takes place in New Jersey later this evening.
Photo: The AHL. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.