[Article] Ex-Canucks coach Travis Green making early impact with Devils

[RWJC]

Ex-Canucks coach Travis Green making early impact with Devils

 

 

Travis Green’s time with the Vancouver Canucks unceremoniously came to an end – alongside GM Jim Benning – on Dec. 5, 2021. After a year and a half out of hockey, the New Jersey Devils tapped Green to replace departed associate coach Andrew Brunette late in June.

 

The Devils, unlike the Canucks, are a perfect 6-0 in the preseason as they approach their final exhibition game, and Green’s new-look power play has had a lot to do with that. New Jersey lit up the New York Rangers 5-2 on Wednesday night, with Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, and Jack Hughes all tallying with the man advantage. Ondrej Palat also had three power play assists, and in just that game alone, the Devils converted three times in five attempts.

 

In total, the former Canucks head coach has the Devils’ power play singing to a tune of 44 percent (8-18), and a lot of it is due to Green’s move to split the team’s personnel. Most notably, Hughes and Bratt were moved to the second unit, while the first unit is composed of Mercer, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton, and Alexander Holtz.

 

When the Canucks last made the playoffs in the 2019-20 season, Green’s power play scored at a 24 percent clip – four percent above the league average of 20.03. The Devils’ power play was 13th in the league last season at 21.9 percent, and yet they might even improve on that with the guidance of their new coach.

 

Did Vancouver have the personnel New Jersey has when Green was coach? No. And, they still don’t. Still, it’s been interesting to see the Canucks cycle through coaches the way they have over the last few seasons with little or no change or end result.
 

Either way, the Canucks are rapidly approaching the official start of the 2023-24 season, and Rick Tocchet’s first full season with the team is on the horizon. Hopefully Vancouver can emulate some of the special teams success New Jersey has had so far.

 

 

Published on 10/05/2023 at 6:00 AM PDT

Last updated on 10/05/2023 at 9:47 PM PDT

 

Jonathan Bailey

 

https://thecanuckway.com/2023/10/05/canucks-travis-green-impact-devils/

[Provost]

Green was a good coach and wasn't the problem, glad to see how get another chance.

You can only do so much with the horses you have in the barn.  It is interesting to listen to Tocchet candidly speak about how close he and Green are and how they see the game the same way and call each other about hockey regularly.

The team just hasn't had the right players to put into the right spots.  It leaves coaches with few options and putting guys in positions they are likely to fail in.  OEL and Myers are not a shut down, minute munching pairing... they were just the best (of a bunch of bad) options to do it.  Same with Tocchet coming in saying he didn't like to see his star players on the ice so many minutes... a few games in after seeing the train wreck the rest of the roster was, he started playing the wheels off them just like Boudreau did before.

If Tocchet has more success than Green, it is because the brass are actually listening to him and trying to get players that fill holes in the roster rather than whatever random shiny object strikes their fancy at a given moment and ignoring actual team composition.

 

[-AJ-]

Eh, it's pre-season. We'll see how things go in the regular season.

 

All that said, I don't have the hatred for Green many others seem to have. I liked him as a coach all the way up until the 2020-21 season, when it became clear that he needed to go. Gave us a heck of a 2019-20 season.

[Down By the River]

Honestly just seems like an article trying to antagonize Canucks fans. No quotes from Green, didn't talk to NJD players on the PP. Just another poorly written article by Vancouver Sports Media. 

[Nucker67]

pfft, Green

 

a monkey could coach the Devils. They got good players. 

[DeNiro]

Come on look at the Devils team. Doesn’t take a genius to have success with that powerplay.

 

A nothing story meant to be a dig at the Canucks organization.

[Nucker67]

1 minute ago, DeNiro said:

Come on look at the Devils team. Doesn’t take a genius to have success with that powerplay.

 

A nothing story meant to be a dig at the Canucks organization.

 

Lots of that lately. The documentary on the SC riot, some local media going on and on about Zach Benson and that Bedard kid. They really seem to like rubbing it in Canucks fans' faces.

 

 

[King Heffy]

It's going to be real interesting to see how much damage that unqualified idiot does to their franchise.

[PhillipBlunt]

Green was alright. 

[Jeremy Hronek]

45 minutes ago, Provost said:

Green was a good coach and wasn't the problem, glad to see how get another chance.

You can only do so much with the horses you have in the barn.  It is interesting to listen to Tocchet candidly speak about how close he and Green are and how they see the game the same way and call each other about hockey regularly.

The team just hasn't had the right players to put into the right spots.  It leaves coaches with few options and putting guys in positions they are likely to fail in.  OEL and Myers are not a shut down, minute munching pairing... they were just the best (of a bunch of bad) options to do it.  Same with Tocchet coming in saying he didn't like to see his star players on the ice so many minutes... a few games in after seeing the train wreck the rest of the roster was, he started playing the wheels off them just like Boudreau did before.

If Tocchet has more success than Green, it is because the brass are actually listening to him and trying to get players that fill holes in the roster rather than whatever random shiny object strikes their fancy at a given moment and ignoring actual team composition.

 

 

I just hope the Canucks get off to a good start this season so that you don't start making posts about how the Canucks have a 12.2% chance of making the playoffs 7 games into the season.  

[canuck73_3]

27 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

Come on look at the Devils team. Doesn’t take a genius to have success with that powerplay.

 

A nothing story meant to be a dig at the Canucks organization.

 

Or wild thought, he was way too overly criticized here by fans and media. 

[canuck73_3]

20 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

It's going to be real interesting to see how much damage that unqualified idiot does to their franchise.

 

Nah he's qualified and if getting the Power Play to 44% is damaging the team, please Tocchet wreck our team 

[Provost]

9 minutes ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

 

I just hope the Canucks get off to a good start this season so that you don't start making posts about how the Canucks have a 12.2% chance of making the playoffs 7 games into the season.  

Normally it takes 20+ games to have a statistically valid sample.  If we are 7 games into the season and it is already mathematically impossible to hit .500 hockey at the 20 game mark… we are most definitely in trouble.

 

Honestly, if by American Thanksgiving our chances playoff chances are slim again… we absolutely need a thread about it.

 

The roster we have now is largely the roster we will have going forward.  We are capped out and owe raises on our few efficient contracts that eat up expected future cap increases.  We don’t have a blue chip prospect pipeline to rescue us over the next few years cap-wise or as trade chips to make the roster better.

 

If THIS years roster and edition of the team is terrible, we had better be blowing it all up by Christmas and start auctioning off anyone over 21 years old for boatloads of futures.

 

Heck, the danger of doing that is that we might accidentally make the team better just with the overpaid veterans on short term contracts we have to take back to make the money work…. And that would hurt our draft position.

 

That is what those threads are about, trying to look forward on how to make the team a winner rather than wallowing in and chasing Hail Mary attempts to squeak into the playoffs.  It isn’t about being negative.

 

I REALLY hope that the fixes on defence and PK turn the corner.  I don’t think JR has done a great job, but I agree with his assessment that the team is likely a playoff team IF everything goes well.  We have had guys give us career years recently and the team is still miles away from a playoff spot.

[Ballisticsports]

1 hour ago, Provost said:

Green was a good coach and wasn't the problem, glad to see how get another chance.

You can only do so much with the horses you have in the barn.  It is interesting to listen to Tocchet candidly speak about how close he and Green are and how they see the game the same way and call each other about hockey regularly.

The team just hasn't had the right players to put into the right spots.  It leaves coaches with few options and putting guys in positions they are likely to fail in.  OEL and Myers are not a shut down, minute munching pairing... they were just the best (of a bunch of bad) options to do it.  Same with Tocchet coming in saying he didn't like to see his star players on the ice so many minutes... a few games in after seeing the train wreck the rest of the roster was, he started playing the wheels off them just like Boudreau did before.

If Tocchet has more success than Green, it is because the brass are actually listening to him and trying to get players that fill holes in the roster rather than whatever random shiny object strikes their fancy at a given moment and ignoring actual team composition.

 

So relieved the Charley Harper of hockey was fired and we can hopefully build a team

VGK style not TML (team players, over pt. gatherers)

[DrJockitch]

He was a good coach with a terrible GM and a difficult fan base. 

[DeNiro]

59 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said:

 

Or wild thought, he was way too overly criticized here by fans and media. 

[King Heffy]

1 hour ago, canuck73_3 said:

 

Nah he's qualified and if getting the Power Play to 44% is damaging the team, please Tocchet wreck our team 

At what level has he shown that he's intelligent enough to coach professionals?  He's failed at the AHL, NHL, and international levels.  The Devils made a huge mistake bringing him into their room.

[Drakrami]

Well people over the summer said Devils will fall off a cliff. And I said they got better. We'll see how that turns out. 

Edited October 6, 2023 by Drakrami

[Pears]

Lol. Let's check in a month from now and see if that powerplay is still clicking at that high of a level. 

[Elias Pettersson]

I stopped reading after they said one of Green's smart moves was to take Hughes and Bratt off PP1.  

 

I didn't realize taking a 100 point player off the PP was a smart move.  What a stupid article written by a parasite...

[Diamonds]

3 hours ago, Provost said:

Green was a good coach and wasn't the problem, glad to see how get another chance.

You can only do so much with the horses you have in the barn.  It is interesting to listen to Tocchet candidly speak about how close he and Green are and how they see the game the same way and call each other about hockey regularly.

The team just hasn't had the right players to put into the right spots.  It leaves coaches with few options and putting guys in positions they are likely to fail in.  OEL and Myers are not a shut down, minute munching pairing... they were just the best (of a bunch of bad) options to do it.  Same with Tocchet coming in saying he didn't like to see his star players on the ice so many minutes... a few games in after seeing the train wreck the rest of the roster was, he started playing the wheels off them just like Boudreau did before.

If Tocchet has more success than Green, it is because the brass are actually listening to him and trying to get players that fill holes in the roster rather than whatever random shiny object strikes their fancy at a given moment and ignoring actual team composition.

 

I don't know if I'd go as far as saying Green was a good coach, but I do think he got more hate than deserved. He kind of reminds me of a poor man's Vigneault. Green was a decent systems guy but terrible at adjusting on the fly and also not good at fixing his systems after they got stale.

[canuck73_3]

4 hours ago, King Heffy said:

At what level has he shown that he's intelligent enough to coach professionals?  He's failed at the AHL, NHL, and international levels.  The Devils made a huge mistake bringing him into their room.

Evidently not so far and PP numbers completely destroy that narrative. 

[canuck73_3]

4 hours ago, DeNiro said:

I got the hate for WD he was beyond mediocre but the biggest issue with Green was he was kept a year and half too long and the message got stale with only one good season to show for it. 

[Joe King]

He insisted on being head coach here,he wouldn't take an assistance job.

I think it was just to much to take on. Also he had subpar assistant coaches 

helping him. Now he is just an assistant with a more talented line up. Not knocking his achievements. He might have done better here if he didn't want 

to start at the top.

[Wing]

I don't see the point of this article. It's basically boasting an ex-coach to criticize the Canucks? I agree Green probably didn't deserve all the hate, but to compare his situation then with his current role with the Devils is unfair. They should just compare Canucks's direction of retooling with a team that had patience to do a proper rebuild and is starting to pay off - if they haven't already done that.