Ottawa Senators’ Travis Green Promises To Be a Firm, Detailed, Demanding Coach

When Travis Green stepped foot inside the Canadian Tire Centre Thursday, two of the first people he met were former Ottawa Senators’ rivals Chris Neil and Chris Phillips. It immediately took the new Senators’ head coach back to the time he was a Toronto Maple Leaf, embroiled in a 2002 tough playoff battle.

And after standing on the bench of his new digs, Green noted it really “resonated” with him, wanting to build a winner in Ottawa.

“They want a winner, and I’m the exact same way,” said Green in his first media availability since agreeing to a four-year contract to be the Senators 14th bench boss in modern-day franchise history.

A pesky, tough-as-nails player during his 14-year NHL career, Green brings an attitude that the Senators desperately require, starting with bringing accountability to his group.

“I wholeheartedly believe it in whatever you’re doing, knowing what your role is having accountability within your job. And I think they go hand in hand. Players want to know where they stand. They want to know what’s expected of them. And that starts really by communicating, have open honest discussions with players or building relationships. If you want to have accountability, you’ve got to be able to express to your players what’s expected. And that process takes a little time, but any winning team has accountability within their group,” the 53-year-old told the assembled media.

“That doesn’t happen overnight. I’m a firm coach, detailed coach. I can be demanding. But I’m also very approachable, and the players will always know that I care and make the best out of them. And when you have that with building relationships and communicating with players, then you can have accountability within your group. And the players will accept it, appreciate it and eventually want it amongst themselves as well.  I will define roles, and we’ll set expectations high, not just for the players but for my staff.”

One of the most notable items Green discussed was certain aspects of the game that are “non-negotiable” and that a complete buy-in is required from all players.

“In certain areas, there are things that are within the game. I think the winning teams have their non-negotiables and you have to have buy in from everyone, and your top players need to lead the way with the non negotiables for the team to win. How I coach players is not the same from player to player. I’m going to try to get the best out of each player individually and push them in the way that I see fit. But there are going to be certain attributes in our game certain details  that aren’t going to be negotiable, and that they’re going to know what they are. And we’re gonna have open discussion about it. And again, I’m a coach that has an open door policy and if you don’t like something, don’t agree with something, come in, let’s talk.”

While Green conveyed what Senators’ fans wanted to hear, after interviewing six coaching prospects, general manager Steve Staios believes he’s selected the right man to lead his club to success in the foreseeable future.

This is Staios’ first major hire, and it’s the most important one.

Staios explained, “Today’s a proud day for our Ottawa Senators. We engaged in a real deep dive and detailed process to identify our next head coach with the Ottawa Senators. All impressive people that we had met with, and as we continued to dig in, I think what became very clear about midway through is Travis Green’s fit with our group. His ability to lead our team became very clear. So as we continued on, I think, with things that we value from Travis is his leadership, his passion, his experience, his ability to develop players, get the most out of players and also have a firm and fair approach, which I believe are two that’ll help the next step. I think when you engage in a process like this, with it with the available candidates that are out there. I’m extremely proud and feel lucky that Travis was available to us.”

Despite not having NHL success behind the bench to date, save for a playoff run in 2020, posting a 133-147-34 mark in four-plus campaigns with the Vancouver Canucks and an 8-12-1 record as an interim head coach replacing Lindy Ruff this season in New Jersey, Staios intimated Green is ready to guide his team, record notwithstanding.

Several coaches who presently reap success such as Bruce Cassidy, Peter DeBoer, Bruce Cassidy all had non-descript starts in the early years of their career.

“I think when you look at coaching records as we went through this (process) was you got to look at what the team was, what the team was at the time, all the circumstances behind it, the age of the group, the talent of the group. So, I know coaches get judged on their coaching records, but there’s also a lot more to it. And I think as we watch the Stanley Cup playoffs right now, you can look at a few or a handful of coaches that are contending for Stanley Cups now are in the exact same position as he is (Green) is right now after their first coaching stint. So it’s a lot deeper than just looking at win-loss records,” the Senators’ GM added.

For the native of Castlegar, BC, this current roster of the Senators draws comparables to Canucks’ rosters of the past. Sprinkled with a few veteran players, Green coached Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and goalie Thatcher Demko as rookies.

When it comes to filling out the Senators’ coaching staff, Green and Staios were mum on the subject. Externally, former NHL defenseman Nolan Baumgartner spent a total of eight-plus seasons alongside Green as an assistant in the AHL with Utica, in addition to his entire term in Vancouver.

Current Ontario League Brantford Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee remains a possibility. McKee won a championship with Senators’ owner Michael Andlauer’s junior club in 2022 and is a veteran of 802 NHL games performing as a stay-at-home dependable defenseman.

Internally, Ben Sexton and Jesse Winchester remain on the radar to remain with the team in some capacity. Winchester spent time as an “eye-in-the-sky” at times for the Senators this past season.

Associate coach Jack Capuano is on an expiring contract and may still be under consideration to return. And then there’s Daniel Alfredsson.

“Alfie” ended the season as interim head coach Jacques Martin’s right hand. Alfredsson still has the coaching itch and has exchanged texts with Green already.

“If he wants to be a coach full-time, I’m open to everything that he wants to do, and really look forward to sitting down and talking about the topic of coaching,” said Green.

While Travis Green wasn’t the so-called “sexy name” head coach on the NHL coaching market, time will tell if he’s the right fit for the Ottawa Senators.