Sens Writer: Senators Hire Travis Green as Head Coach

I was initially quite underwhelmed about the hiring. I think I still am. After listening to some comments over the past few days, I feel better about it. Many comparisons are out there for other underwhelming hires that turned out to be ok.

I am still perplexed by the timeline and language used (best in class) around the coaching search. I am also perplexed by the generous term of the contract. However, what’s done is done. Green will be a more accountable coach than DJ Smith ever was, which will be a good thing.

While having a coach is nice, the players and their willingness to get better and compete will ultimately be the sole reason if this team is ever to take the next step. There should be a roster move or two to be made this summer.

On the last blog there was lots of discussion about Calgary trading up from #9 to #7.
I found this interesting tool that assigns fair trade value for picks.
The tool suggests fair value for pick 7 would be pick 9 and pick 47.

https://puckpedia.com/pickvalue

On paper, not great. Gauging from Vancouver and NJ anecdotal fan reactions? Not great. But sometimes you need change simply for the sake of change. If we fans give this front office the benefit of the doubt (and we should, given what we've been through), that four year deal communicates they feel very strongly Green is the right candidate for this job, and we should give them the benefit of the doubt until we see the product on ice. The most important thing Green can do for his rep is to buck DJ Smith's brutal trend of sealing the Sens' fate before December every year.

Same as every year....if the Sens start 8-2 and are in the playoff hunt by US Thanksgiving, all is well. If they start .500 or less and are 6 pts out by US Thanksgiving, Ottawa fans will be VERY unhappy. Again.

If this was Dorian, I be screaming non stop, but it’s not. Staios is basically even right now, so I’m willing to see how it pans out.

I don’t like that they’re lowering expectations, but play the hand you’re dealt. That said, if this team starts 5-5 then the fans base will react.

I heard Greens interviewes yesterday and I do like what he’s saying. He talked a lot about no excuse for coming to training camp in anything other than perfect condition. ‘First impressions matter’ sounds like he’s talking directly to the players. Hope they hear and hit the ground running.

So, did the Devils have a heads up that the Leafs were going to fire their coach? Do the Leafs hire a veteran NHL coach?

Was the hire by Ottawa part of a chain of musical chairs? Do a whole bunch of veteran coaches change teams? In the end, maybe we see lots of changes behind the bench but there is no change in the cast of characters.

Same as every year....if the Sens start 8-2 and are in the playoff hunt by US Thanksgiving, all is well. If they start .500 or less and are 6 pts out by US Thanksgiving, Ottawa fans will be VERY unhappy. Again.
- GrimmdaGoalie

Unhappy?

Furious. Outraged. Looking for heads. That's more like it.

How many years can we tolerate this? 0 more is the answer. They need a great start or admit you F**ed up hiring Green

idk anything about greens coaching, so i listen to those who have watched him coach for 82 games in a season, the VAN fans, and the consensus is OTT (frank)ed up on a epic proportion by hiring him. many here are following the stages of grief, your on acceptance, trying to rationalize the hiring of a coach by all accounts is just as bad or worst than DJ. Now he can come in next season and coach OTT to a 50+ win season and makes all doubters eat their words with a toping of poop, but ill bet he will lead OTT top the be a bottom 10 team again.

So, did the Devils have a heads up that the Leafs were going to fire their coach? Do the Leafs hire a veteran NHL coach?

Was the hire by Ottawa part of a chain of musical chairs? Do a whole bunch of veteran coaches change teams? In the end, maybe we see lots of changes behind the bench but there is no change in the cast of characters.
- spatso

There is certainly an “old mans” club when it comes to coaches. It seems like once you are in, you’re in. Fans and organizations are guilty of wanting guys with pedigree. Mix that with the new salary cap era where it is easier to fire the coach then move a bunch of players, you have a small circle of the same coaches just switching teams.

At some point, new guys must get in and it happens every so often. However, seeing the amount of outrage for the Green hiring, it would be wild to see a newbie brought aboard.

Unhappy?

Furious. Outraged. Looking for heads. That's more like it.

How many years can we tolerate this? 0 more is the answer. They need a great start or admit you F**ed up hiring Green
- AlfieisKing

See, I think you may have that backwards. When a group of players under-perform badly for their coach, you change the coach. However, they've now played badly for two coaches - the more recent of whom has >1,000 games of coaching experience. But he was just an interim solution, and so you move on. But if the results don't change under a third coach, I don't think they're going to blame Green... that's when you can expect a core roster shake-up.

That said, it's now up to Staios to ensure that the right changes get made to allow the team to hit the ground running in October, which means addressing multiple roster deficiencies. Green may actually be able to play an interesting role there as well, in terms of having past connections and moderate playoff success with the likes of Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom.

I can't think of anyone the Sens have had that was formerly with the Leafs that have worked out well for Ottawa...Phaneuf, Zaitsev and DJ Smith. Not sure why they want to go to that well again with Green.

We'll see how this goes but i wouldn't hold my breath on this being a win for the Sens.

See, I think you may have that backwards. When a group of players under-perform badly for their coach, you change the coach. However, they've now played badly for two coaches - the more recent of whom has >1,000 games of coaching experience. But he was just an interim solution, and so you move on. But if the results don't change under a third coach, I don't think they're going to blame Green... that's when you can expect a core roster shake-up.

That said, it's now up to Staios to ensure that the right changes get made to allow the team to hit the ground running in October, which means addressing multiple roster deficiencies. Green may actually be able to play an interesting role there as well, in terms of having past connections and moderate playoff success with the likes of Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom.
- khawk

I understand where you are coming from but let's make some key points

(1) Jason York quote "show me a good coach, I'll show you good goaltending". Last 4 winners of Jack Adams (Jim Montgomery, Darryl Sutter, Rod Brind'Amour, Bruce Cassidy) had excellent goaltending -- Linus Ullmark (0.938%) Markstrom (0.922%) Frederik Andersen (0.922%) Tuukka Rask (0.929%)

Ottawa last year? Korpisalo AND Forsberg had exact same SV% - 0.890. Bottom of the league. This is maybe the biggest problem with this franchise and it's a HUGE one

(2) DJ Smith OR Travis Green, imo it doesn't matter. A coach like Jacques Martin, who is 70 years old, is not the answer. They need a coach in their 50s or latest early 60s. Berube, Gallant, Quenneville, McLellan, Woodcroft, Sullivan were all way ahead on my list than an unproven coach in Green or a young team of Vancouver got rid of. This may be the most confident I've been that a coach won't finish his contract with the Sens

(3) Roster construction. Beyond Tkachuk, Stutzle, Sanderson it's a clusterf**k. Norris and Chabot are not worth the cap hits, especially Norris. We need to eliminate giving young players big deals and over hyping them. Just because their good young promising players, doesn't mean they will have amazing careers. I would trade a piece like Pinto if it meant a goaltender like Markstrom and another piece.

I can't think of anyone the Sens have had that was formerly with the Leafs that have worked out well for Ottawa...Phaneuf, Zaitsev and DJ Smith. Not sure why they want to go to that well again with Green.

We'll see how this goes but i wouldn't hold my breath on this being a win for the Sens.
- dcz28

100%

I'm tired of the positive spins on decisions that even FANS wouldn't make. He has 20 games in my books. Then I'll spam the team

I understand where you are coming from but let's make some key points

(1) Jason York quote "show me a good coach, I'll show you good goaltending". Last 4 winners of Jack Adams (Jim Montgomery, Darryl Sutter, Rod Brind'Amour, Bruce Cassidy) had excellent goaltending -- Linus Ullmark (0.938%) Markstrom (0.922%) Frederik Andersen (0.922%) Tuukka Rask (0.929%)

Ottawa last year? Korpisalo AND Forsberg had exact same SV% - 0.890. Bottom of the league. This is maybe the biggest problem with this franchise and it's a HUGE one

(2) DJ Smith OR Travis Green, imo it doesn't matter. A coach like Jacques Martin, who is 70 years old, is not the answer. They need a coach in their 50s or latest early 60s. Berube, Gallant, Quenneville, McLellan, Woodcroft, Sullivan were all way ahead on my list than an unproven coach in Green or a young team of Vancouver got rid of. This may be the most confident I've been that a coach won't finish his contract with the Sens

(3) Roster construction. Beyond Tkachuk, Stutzle, Sanderson it's a clusterf**k. Norris and Chabot are not worth the cap hits, especially Norris. We need to eliminate giving young players big deals and over hyping them. Just because their good young promising players, doesn't mean they will have amazing careers. I would trade a piece like Pinto if it meant a goaltender like Markstrom and another piece.
- AlfieisKing

Show me a good goalie and i'll show you a good defense sounds like a better quote to me. Aside from elite goalies (Roy Hasek, Brodeur types), it's usually the defense in front of them (the defense core and team defense) that can make a goalie look better than he is.

If you don't have the defense, then you better have an elite goalie and solid offense to win a cup. You need at least 2 of the 3 in which ever combo to have a chance at a cup.

We may have to make a whole blog post dedicated to Stephen Halliday and the first few weeks of his AHL career. Coming in straight from the NCAA he scores 5pts in his first 10GP in the AHL, during which the team goes 8-2-0 and jumps right into a playoff spot. Then he hits the playoffs and scores 8pts in his first 6GP, which not only leads the B-Sens in playoff scoring but is currently 2nd in the entire AHL playoffs. He's also now on a 5-game point streak after scoring their first goal in tonight's game just 7 seconds into a PP.

He'll most likely be given another year in the AHL to develop, but this is one of the most impressive early-career performances from an NCAA prospect that we've seen in quite some time. Plus he's already got NHL size at 6'3-215, so if he works on his skating and conditioning in the off-season he may be a darkhorse candidate to make a splash at training camp - especially if he shows anywhere near the level of offensive production he's brought to the B-Sens. If nothing else, he looks like the best middle/late-round pick the Senators have made since Drake Batherson, and may well be the top scoring forward in the prospect system.

Show me a good goalie and i'll show you a good defense sounds like a better quote to me. Aside from elite goalies (Roy Hasek, Brodeur types), it's usually the defense in front of them (the defense core and team defense) that can make a goalie look better than he is.

If you don't have the defense, then you better have an elite goalie and solid offense to win a cup. You need at least 2 of the 3 in which ever combo to have a chance at a cup.
- dcz28

1. I do agree goalies can look better (sometimes much better with good defense - see Pascal Leclaire in 2008-2009 with CBJ before coming to Ottawa). I don't agree that all good goalies have good D-men in front of them. Craig Anderson was a good goalie, playing solid, many years in front of HORRIBLE D-men.

2. I agree good defense is extremely important - probably more so than having a top 4-5 goalie in the league. With that said either Shesterkin or Oettinger will lift the cup this year and they are in the top 4-5

Pierre Dorion is a f***ing idiot for not signing Cam Talbot. Sens should bring him back and get rid of their goalies !

1. I do agree goalies can look better (sometimes much better with good defense - see Pascal Leclaire in 2008-2009 with CBJ before coming to Ottawa). I don't agree that all good goalies have good D-men in front of them. Craig Anderson was a good goalie, playing solid, many years in front of HORRIBLE D-men.

2. I agree good defense is extremely important - probably more so than having a top 4-5 goalie in the league. With that said either Shesterkin or Oettinger will lift the cup this year and they are in the top 4-5
- AlfieisKing

Shesterkin, Oettinger, Vasilevskiy...there aren't that many goalies like them in the league. Teams that have them aren't trading them. So far only one of them has a cup rings and he had a pretty damn good defense in front of him when he did. Look at the last few goalies to win a cup, Hill, Kuemper, Vasi, Binnington and Holtby. Only one of them is elite. Do you think if you put any of these goalies in Toronto (excluding Vasilevskiy) that they win the cup? My answer is no and probably not even with Vasilevskiy either.

I mean even as good as Hasek was, he still had to come to a stacked hall of fame team in Detroit to win a cup.

Shesterkin, Oettinger, Vasilevskiy...there aren't that many goalies like them in the league. Teams that have them aren't trading them. So far only one of them has a cup rings and he had a pretty damn good defense in front of him when he did. Look at the last few goalies to win a cup, Hill, Kuemper, Vasi, Binnington and Holtby. Only one of them is elite. Do you think if you put any of these goalies in Toronto (excluding Vasilevskiy) that they win the cup? My answer is no and probably not even with Vasilevskiy either.

I mean even as good as Hasek was, he still had to come to a stacked hall of fame team in Detroit to win a cup.
- dcz28

Question then - you can draft Andre Vasilevskiy or Victor Hedman who you taking?

I certainly think goaltending has become more fickle than ever. Goalies can win championships one year and then 2 or 3 seasons later, their play can fall off big time. Matt Murray won back to back cups, then was a liability a 4 years later (age not being a factor AT ALL). Jordan Binnington another example. And the names you mentioned. I think Ottawa could be a bubble team with a goalie like Shesterkin - I don't know if that's the case with STRONG defense but the goalies they had. Timely goalies are HUGE for this team. For majority of the year Sens had better goal differential than WASH - who made the playoffs. It's WHEN those goals happened

Wow .... lots of people on this blog must have had someone poop in their cereal.

First of all .... what the hell do we care what fans of Vancouver or New Jersey say about Ottawa hiring Green. Like many Ottawa fans, they know poop about the coach and his style. Secondly, what do you think fans are going to say from those teams? That Green was amazing and they made a mistake firing him? Of course they are going to poop talk him. Plus the fact that many posting will generally be negative on their views because the forum gives them a place to squack and complain. Let's face facts .... all those coaches listed as favourites for the job in Ottawa have been fired at least 2 times from other coaching jobs .... but they are great candidates? Seriously? Quite frankly, I found it a bit of a lackluster group of guys. But then again .... I don't know any of their traits in detail.

Is Green the best hire? I don't know and quite frankly, none of us know. But we'll find out. As for his 4 year term. Who cares what the term was. Firing a coach with term left doesn't affect the cap (half the fired coaches still have term left that they are owed by the team that fired them .... Keefe, Berube, Evason, McLellan. As for the rest of the coaching prospect list is concerned .... did anyone stop to think that guys like Berube maybe really didn't want the job in the first place.

Everyone is concerned that the Sens need to get off to a quick start or its all a failure. Going 8-2 or whatever ..... at this point, this team is not that good. I don't expect a hot start. I want to see improvement, effort, structure, confidence. Wins will come in time, and over time. Just play like it matters, and no sulking like someone just shot their dog. I think if we see a better effort in the first half, then we will know progress is being made. I am actually thinking that we won't be making the playoffs this next season and I'm okay with that as long as everything continues to be put in place for a competitive run.

The real issue now is fix the goaltending and defensive structure. We'll find out if the group of players we have and the addition/trades we make can fix these issues. But it will take time. A year or 2 as we continue to rebuild and restock.

Really looking forward to seeing Halliday, Ostapchuk, Crookshank and Klevin get their shot in training camp. Merilainen played for Belleville tonight vs Cleveland. Not sure why but he looked pretty decent. Not sure why Sogaard wasn't in goal.

Realistic view of the Ottawa Senators

Ranking Top Pieces - as of May 2024

1a. Tim Stutzle
1b. Brady Tkachuk
3. Jake Sanderson
4. 2024 7th Overall Pick
5. Drake Batherson
6. Jakob Chychrun (due to his value around NHL as trade bait)
7. Artem Zub (without him, Sens' right side is @ss)
8. Ridly Grieg
9. Shane Pinto
10. Tyler Kleven
11. 2024 1st (BOS)
12. Thomas Chabot
13. Zack Ostapchuk
14. Erik Brannstrom
15. Mads Sogaard

*Josh Norris (big time loss of value because of contract/health) otherwise he can still go around 10 right now*

Their goalies are some of the worst in the NHL. Their prospect pool currently is one of the worst in the NHL. They Sens are not competing for a cup in 2025. Which means the Sens might be best served to stock pile on picks and prosects and sign a few free agents that can still be impactful for 2025-2028 playoff runs.

1. I do agree goalies can look better (sometimes much better with good defense - see Pascal Leclaire in 2008-2009 with CBJ before coming to Ottawa). I don't agree that all good goalies have good D-men in front of them. Craig Anderson was a good goalie, playing solid, many years in front of HORRIBLE D-men.

2. I agree good defense is extremely important - probably more so than having a top 4-5 goalie in the league. With that said either Shesterkin or Oettinger will lift the cup this year and they are in the top 4-5
- AlfieisKing

Anderson didn't have horrible D-men, but he did have a more traditional NHL blue line in front of him. But make no mistake, as a collective they were far more effective defensively than the current group. This is why Anderson's numbers were not only quite good, but also typically very comparable to his counterparts - including Lehner, Bishop, Hammond, and Condon. That's in large part because the D-men were providing a consistent level of defensive play in front of all of those goaltenders, and they were all able to put up decent numbers as a result.

What really stands out about the D-men from those years upon closer inspection is just how much bigger and more physical they were that the current roster...

2012/13 - Karlsson, Gonchar, Phillips, Methot, Wiercioch, Gryba
2013/14 - Karlsson, Phillips, Methot, Ceci, Wiercioch, Gryba
2014/15 - Karlsson, Methot, Ceci, Wiercioch, Cowen, Borowiecki
2015/16 - Karlsson, Methot, Ceci, Phaneuf, Wiercioch, Borowiecki
2016/17 - Karlsson, Methot, Ceci, Phaneuf, Wideman, Borowiecki
2017/18 - Karlsson, Ceci, Phaneuf, Chabot, Borowiecki, Claesson

They basically surrounded Karlsson with big physical D-men distributed over all three pairings, and for the most part it worked out pretty well. And it wasn't just 3rd pairing guys like Cowen, Borowiecki, and Gryba... Methot played a very physical game, Phaneuf always played the body hard, and even Ceci had >100 hits in multiple years. Claesson only made this list once, and that year he put up over 160 hits - which is more than any Senators D-man last year.

Now was that group as skilled? No they weren't, especially outside of Karlsson. But when you have all of Chabot, Sanderson, Chychrun, and Brannstrom trying to be puck-movers, who is disrupting the OZ entry, playing the body, or clearing the front of the net? 2/3 of the remaining regular D-men are Hamonic/Bernard-Docker, who most people want off the roster entirely. This is why the team falls apart whenever Zub gets injured... he's literally the only D-man on the entire roster who plays NHL-quality defence. He's also the only D-man on the team with >100 hits, which is the fewest of any NHL team. Contrast that to their 2016/17 team that made the Conference Finals, which had 4 D-men with >100 hits, including Borowiecki with a league-high 364.

So you can insult the D-men that played in front of Anderson all you want, but in reality I almost guarantee you that's the direction Staios will be headed over the summer to bring more defensive effectiveness to the blue line.

I feel for all Senators fans, Travis Green is a terrible coach.

I feel for all Senators fans, Travis Green is a terrible coach.
- Reubenkincade