The Ottawa Senators announced today that head coach Travis Green and his staff of Nolan Baumgartner, Ben Sexton, Mike Yeo, and Justin Peters have been given contract extensions. The extension takes Green through the 2030-31 season. The Senators have started the season very well, going 6-3-0 and sitting 3rd in the Atlantic Division.
Green deserves his extension
The contract extension is definitely well deserved for Green, as his record over the course of his tenure has been 95-60-18, with a .601 points percentage. Joining the Senators for the 2024-25 NHL season, Green was able to get the Senators to their first postseason since 2016-17. It’s been a stark shift for Senators fans to watch the team go from middling and almost systemless to the defensive shutdown style the team plays currently. It’s also very clear that Green has developed a strong relationship with a lot of the players, and they’ve got a lot of respect for their head coach.
Not known as a development coach, Green was able to imprint his style of coaching on some of his best players, like Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot. A player like Stützle, for example, always had question marks about his commitment to defensive play, but with Green, there is no question: Stützle has stepped up to the plate. He’s also helped Sanderson become one of the premier defenders in the league, committing just as much of his game to offence as he does to defence.
Green has also seen multiple iterations of the Senators so far, with major changes like the trade that sent Josh Norris to the Buffalo Sabres for Dylan Cozens, or, most recently, watching his captain have a change of heart about his dedication to the team and be shipped off to the Florida Panthers. Green has been able to work with and adapt to the lineups that he’s been given so far by general manager Steve Staios. He’s also had to deal with major injuries or key players missing time, like Chabot, Sanderson, or Linus Ullmark, and yet the team is still able to produce.
This season may be Green’s toughest test yet. In seasons prior to 2024-25, the Senators had been trending towards a playoff spot, and he needed to get them over the hump, but this season, the team needs to do something in the playoffs. The good start to the season has only been the beginning, but the Senators need to play to their potential to be able to take that next step as a team. The team’s defensive metrics have been some of the best in the league under Green, and the offence hasn’t suffered drastically because of it either.
Overall, the Senators are in very capable hands with Green and many of his staff. I’m sure the Senators and their fans would like to see better power-play results and improved goaltending (outside of Ullmark), though. Green will continue to be the bench boss for years to come, and let’s hope that the team is able to continue on the positive trajectory it has been on since he took the helm.
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