OTTAWA – Travis Green needed a coffee.
The new NHL season was underway, but his Ottawa Senators would be the last team to play its first game. He was up late last Tuesday and watched part of all the games on the opening-night slate. It was also just over 24 hours after a local radio station’s morning show host called the way he was describing injuries as “Pinocchio stuff,” forcing the coach to say, “I’m not lying to the media” in a pointed soliloquy. Green’s had a near-daily podium address about lines and starters, both the current ones and the dreamers.
So, as the last of the Nespresso foam popped in a small white Styrofoam cup, Green was happy to talk about how he got into hockey in the first place.
Born in Creston, B.C. (best known for being the home of Kokanee beer) Green moved to “the city” as a youngster. Castlegar, B.C. wasn’t much bigger – it was technically a village until it officially became a town when Green was four years old – but as far back as he remembers, he said, the dream of being in hockey was the only one he chased.
Green made it to the show and at 30 he said he began to wonder how many years he had left. He was a journeyman, but year after year, there he still was. Green played nearly 1,000 games in the NHL.
“I just loved the game, and I couldn’t imagine not being involved,” Green told Sportsnet.ca, “so that led me to wonder what I was going to do for the rest of my life.”
From his days behind the bench in the WHL with Portland, to four years with AHL Utica, then a half-decade coaching the Vancouver Canucks and a barely-counts stint with New Jersey, Green is now in his third season with Ottawa and in all likelihood will coach his 200th game for the team later this season. The Senators' first game of the season was also Green's 500th as an NHL head coach. He received four first-place votes for the Jack Adams Award last season as the Senators navigated, well, a lot. He said what he’s most proud of from last year is simple.
“Just keeping things on the rails,” Green said with a little grin. “We really had a stretch where we were playing some good hockey, and we weren’t getting the results. Everyone wants answers. Why are you not winning? Sometimes you have to find the answers as a coach and sometimes the answer is don’t change anything.
“There’s always pressure to win. The pressure to win can’t take away from having an honest assessment with your group, because that’ll take away from the message you send your team.”
Ottawa made it to the playoffs for the second straight season on the back of a tidy 20-6-4 run after Green’s now iconic ‘white noise’ speech after a 7-1 drubbing of the Vegas Golden Knights at home.
“Don’t listen to the (expletive) white noise. Don’t listen to people outside this (expletive) rink. Zero negativity,” said Green. “Let’s go on a (expletive) run.”
That wasn’t his only special night on the mic.
“It’s not (expletive) complicated,” Green said on April 5 after the Senators defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 6-3. “Skate. Want the puck. Work your balls off. Play harder than the other team. We can (expletive) beat anyone when we play that way.”
Alas, the playoff run was cut short in the after an opening-round sweep by the Hurricanes – the eventual Stanley Cup champions. The Senators’ core was ready to take the next step, together, until instead a piece broke off.
This summer, captain Brady Tkachuk asked out and got traded to Florida.
“Any time a player asks to be traded or moved it doesn’t matter who it is, as a coach you get disappointed. And when it’s the captain and someone you’ve built a relationship with that’s the first thing that comes to mind,” Green said earlier in September. “He’s a good player and you don’t want to see that, but that happened and here we are today.”
There are, of course, still plenty of questions around these Senators. The captain query was answered last week, when a very deserving Thomas Chabot was given the ‘C’ stitched on the front of his No. 72. Jake Sanderson, the team’s most notable star-in-waiting, played in Saturday’s opener, but a nagging ailment through training camp was still present and he only logged 4:29 of ice time.
He’s been sent home from the road trip and won’t play the next two games – starting with Monday's contest in Boston (Sportsnet+, 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT) – as he undergoes further testing. Tim Stutzle is the team’s best scorer and is set to pad those stats alongside Drake Batherson, who signed the richest contract in team history last month. William Eklund, acquired from San Jose with the No. 9 pick the Senators got as part of the Tkachuk package, was the key addition to the top-six.
Who will take the leap? What will Year 3 of the Green system look like with this particular squad?
Saturday’s 3-2 win over rival Toronto was a good start, fighting back from a one-goal deficit and finishing with a strong third period against their rivals.
“There is something to be said for learning and learning to coach,” Green said. “You do make mistakes. Any coach who says they don’t is a liar. I do know that the mistakes you make become a lot less the more you (coach).”
Steve Staois, the club’s GM, was also a former player and Green said “nine times out of 10” the duo agrees when they talk about where the team is at and how they’re playing. Green said he’s “never enjoyed coaching a team more” than he has with this particular group and all things being equal, they played awfully well last year. The Senators sat second in shot suppression and offensive-zone time percentage, and first in faceoff percentage, to cherry pick some solid team statistics.
They were also 12-5-5 when Tkachuk was not in the lineup.
The Atlantic Division will once again be a tough group to compete in. There may also be some growing pains as the Senators install some new skaters into their established system.
Injuries. Goaltending. Scoring. The variables are hearty. No wonder Green found himself reaching for another hit of caffeine.
But there is excitement too. Starting at the top.
“It’s awesome to have the juice,” Green said. “You hope your team has learned lessons from the past. You can have all that excitement, but you have to go out and bring it.
“If you don’t bring it,” he added, “then you’re just not going to win.”
