In May 2024, the Ottawa Senators hired Travis Green to be the team's next head coach. Some people may have seen the hire of Green as a surprise, but he delivered in his first season behind the bench.
Green guided the Senators to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Green's Senators had rough stretches over the course of last season, but showed resilience and played their best hockey when they needed to in order to make the 2025 playoffs. In the end, Green finished sixth in Jack Adams voting in 2025.
As the 2025-26 season is under one month away from starting, excitement is buzzing throughout the city of Ottawa with the Senators eager to be a consistent playoff team. The Senators have a strong roster built for years to compete. However, Green could have something replicate in Ottawa that he once did when he had his first head coaching position in the NHL.
Green missed playoffs in Vancouver after making it in 2020
Green's first NHL head coaching job was with the Vancouver Canucks. In his third year as head coach in 2020, the Canucks made the playoffs with Green as head coach for the first time. The Canucks fell in seven games in the second round of the 2020 playoffs to the Vegas Golden Knights.
After the playoff series loss to the Golden Knights, some people were very optimistic that the Canucks would do more with Green in the future. However, it didn't work out that way.
In the 2020-21 season, the Canucks missed the playoffs after a 23-29-4 record. Then, Green's time in Vancouver ended when he was fired in the middle of the 2021-22 season. The Canucks had an 8-15-2 record at the time. Despite a late season push under interim head coach Bruce Boudreau, the Canucks failed to make the playoffs with a 42-30-12 overall record in 2021-22.
Now in Ottawa four seasons after being fired in Vancouver, Green is eager to get the Senators back to the playoffs. However, Green's past of making the playoffs then struggling is one the Senators could rightfully worry about, but the roster might be better built than Green had in Vancouver.
Tim Stutzle has emerged as a superstar in Ottawa with his 326 career points being the most among the entire 2020 draft class. Goaltenders Linus Ullmark and Leevi Merilainen have formed one of the best goaltending duos ahead of the new season.
Captain Brady Tkachuk is always going to have a fire under him to play. Jake Sanderson has higher expectations this season after a breakout 2024-25 season. The Senators have solid depth with Drake Batherson, Claude Giroux, Thomas Chabot, Shane Pinto, Dylan Cozens, David Perron, Fabian Zetterlund, Ridly Greig, Artem Zub, Jordan Spence and more on the roster.
While the Senators are eager to be a consistent playoff team in the future as Stutzle has mentioned, knowing how Green fared as a head coach after making the playoffs is something to know about. However, Green's Senators showed last season the team is built to win for years to come. Green and the Senators' first game of the 2025-26 season is scheduled for Oct. 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.