The Vancouver Canucks are reaching for some stability with head coach Travis Green re-signed by Canucks management.
Travis Green extension with the Canucks has been agreed to and is expected to be finalized this morning.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 21, 2021
Travis Green Staying with Vancouver Canucks
This is the final year of Green’s original contract, signed in April of 2017. His record with the rebuilding team hasn’t been much to write about, sitting at 125-132-32 so far. It’s been a hard year, especially after last season’s playoff success. In what was far and away the best of his four seasons with the team, the Canucks won a play-in round and the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They also forced the Vegas Golden Knights to a game seven before their run ended.
He had been left hanging for the entire season, repeatedly asked about his contract status after games. Just as frequently he would refuse to discuss it, even as the team stumbled to a 23-29-4 record for 2020-21. It was only after the season’s end that had Green re-signed by Canucks general manager Jim Benning. The embattled Benning has been the focus of fan anger to a much higher degree than players or coaches. But with reassurance he would be in town at least to start the next season, the Green deal was finished.
Why Now?
It undoubtedly wasn’t a coincidence that at the media availability on May 20th player after player voiced their approval of the job he and the rest of the coaching staff have done. It still leaves a bad taste in the mouth to watch as he was left to face the media as a so-called “lame duck” coach. Without the players speaking publicly – something perhaps learned from J.T. Miller – would a deal have been reached? Signings like this are normally the job of the general manager, and Benning has often said he wanted a deal to get done. And, this being the Vancouver Canucks, the longer a deal wasn’t reached, the louder controversy and speculation got.
Without any assurances that he would continue past this year, Green was vulnerable to second-guessing about his every move. Why were some players on the ice and others on the taxi squad? Is he coaching for today or for the future? Are prospects getting a fair chance? All those questions can finally be put to rest for now. With Green re-signed by Canucks management, that’s at least one part of this erratic season to achieve stability. Until the Seattle Kraken expansion draft, of course. And the 2021 entry draft. And the start of training camp…
But those are for later. For now both Green and the Canucks will be happy to put this to bed.
