While Vancouver Canucks head coach Travis Green won’t talk about a certain superstar defenceman on the trade block, he willingly admits that the blue-liners on his team must contribute more.
Green joined Sportsnet’s Starting Lineup in Vancouver on Thursday morning and when asked about recent rumours that the rebuilding Canucks may be interested in trading for Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson, he declined to comment, only offering: “He’s obviously a great player in the league.”
However, when it comes to the team’s existing defenceman, Green was much more forthcoming.
“When you talk about priorities, we need more out of our defence,” Green told hosts Joey Kenward and Perry Solkowski on Sportsnet 650. “We need to get more offence out of them. We’re going to push them. It’s hard to find offensive defencemen in the league. Teams just don’t give them up.”
Green, entering his second season as head coach, noted that some of his D-men can “bring more to the table” and is hoping Ben Hutton and Derrick Pouliot take a step forward. Hutton, 25, regressed last season, tallying just six assists in 61 games, while the 24-year-old Pouliot scored three goals and 22 points in 71 games. Meanwhile, Michael Del Zotto collected six goals and 22 points and Alexander Edler had six goals and 34 points.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of competition from within,” said Green. “We’ve got to push our D to be more offensive. We talked to each one of them on how they can get better.”
Listen to the full interview in the audio player below.
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