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Senators hire Green to 4-year deal as new coach

Senators hire Green to 4-year deal as new coach

The Ottawa Senators hired Travis Green to a four-year contract to serve as head coach through the 2027-28 season, it was announced Tuesday.

He is expected to be formally introduced during a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.

“After speaking to several highly qualified candidates, it became clear that Travis is the right fit to lead our group,” Senators president of hockey operations Steve Staios said in a statement. “As we’ve routinely stated, developing a winning culture is paramount to our aspiration of achieving sustained success. Travis has a burning desire to win, is passionate about teaching and holds his players to a very high standard.”

This will be Green’s second time as a full-time NHL head coach. He goes to Ottawa with 141-159-35 coaching record, with one playoff appearance.

Green, 53, was previously promoted to the Vancouver Canucks‘ role in 2017 — guiding the team to the postseason in 2020 — before being fired in December 2021 after a 8-15-2 start to his fifth season.

Green joined the New Jersey Devils staff as an assistant coach for 2023-24 and was briefly the team’s interim head coach after Lindy Ruff was fired in March. He guided the Devils to an 8-20-1 record as New Jersey failed to qualify for the postseason.

He succeeds interim head coach Jacques Martin, who took over the Senators’ job after DJ Smith was fired in December with Ottawa at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Martin had been hired as a senior adviser just before Smith’s firing, having ties in Ottawa dating to his original head-coaching tenure there from 1995-2004.

The Senators finished the 2023-24 season 37-41-4, seventh in the Atlantic Division.