In May 2024, the Ottawa Senators caught the eyes of many by surprise when they hired Travis Green to be their next head coach. Green's first two head coaching jobs were rough but learning curves in his coaching career.
Green finsished 133-147-34 (300 points) in five seasons before he was fired by the Vancouver Canucks in the middle of the 2021-22 season. Green only made the playoffs once as Vancouver's bench boss in 2020. Then, after the New Jersey Devils fired then head coach Lindy Ruff in the middle of the 2023-24 season, Green's Devils went 8-12-1 (17 points) with him as interim head coach.
In his first season in Ottawa, Green had something to prove. Green delivered with guiding the Senators to the 2025 playoffs at 54 years old. The Senators finished 45-30-7 (97 points) in the 2024-25 season. However, the disrespect for Green remains with the season over.
Green doesn't crack top five for Jack Adams
Today, The Athletic's Chris Johnston tweeted the final voting results for the 2025 Jack Adams Award. The award is given to the best coach in the NHL for the season. With the success Green had in Ottawa, he wouldn't make the top five and finished sixth in the voting.
Green didn't receive one first place vote, but had two second place votes and 20 third place votes. Green finsiehd with 26 points. Green finsished behind Spencer Carbery (Washington Capitals), Scott Arniel (Winnipeg Jets), Martin St. Louis (Montreal Canadiens), Jim Montgomery (St. Louis Blues) and Dean Evason (Columbus Blue Jackets).
Both St. Louis' Canadiens and Evason's Blue Jackets finished below the Senators in the Eastern Conference standings, but still finished ahead of Green for the award.
Montgomery can have a case to be ahead of Green as he turned the Blues' season around and got them back to the playoffs after missing the past two seasons.
However, Green not finishing in the top five ahead of St. Louis and Evason is where the voters may have gotten it wrong. Green's Senators finished six points ahead of the Canadiens and eight points ahead of the Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference standings.
Ending an eight-year playoff drought can be a difficult thing for a head coach to do in his first season as a head coach, but Green did it in Ottawa. For that, Green's coaching needs more credit.
Despite losing in the first round of the 2025 playoffs to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Green's Senators are on the rise and the future does look bright. If Green has more success in Ottawa next season, it could be possible Green can crack the top five, but even higher and come close to taking home a Jack Adams.