Canucks have gradually improved under Green, but will it continue?
Name: Travis Green
Age: 48
Position: Head coach
Career stats: The Canucks’ record in Green’s two years as their head coach is 66-71-22.
Contract status: Heading into the third year of a four-year deal.
How 2018-19 went: Depends on your point of view. Last season the Canucks improved by eight points while scoring seven more goals and allowing 13 fewer. A number of their young players — most notably Bo Horvat, Troy Stecher and Ben Hutton — also showed improvement under Green’s watch.
But — and isn’t there always a but with the Canucks? — Green’s team finished 12th in the West and were out of the playoff conversation by the end of February.
So, how do the Canucks get back into that conversation?
The challenge for Green will be in extracting a similar level of improvement next year as the Canucks experienced this year. That means another standout season from goalie Jacob Markstrom and a contribution from backup Thatcher Demko.
It means an improved performance from the blue-line. It means improving the power play and developing a secondary scoring source from a group that includes Tanner Pearson, Josh Leivo, Sven Baertschi and Jake Virtanen. Thus far, only Pearson has established himself as a 20-goal scorer at the NHL level.
Even their most ardent critic would concede the Canucks started to trend in the right direction last season under Green’s watch. But he’ll be facing a more demanding standard in 2019-20 and this team can’t take a backward step.
How the future looks: See above. The Canucks have identified three foundational pieces in Elias Pettersson, Horvat and Brock Boeser, while Quinn Hughes figures to join that group next season.
Hughes and a healthy Alex Edler should help the power play, which is crucial for the Canucks to have success.
In Green’s first year, and with the Sedins in the lineup, the Canucks had the NHL’s ninth-ranked power play. Last year it plummeted to 17th while scoring 10 fewer goals. Suffice to say, if the Canucks’ power play returns to the top 10, a playoff berth becomes a more realistic goal.
The blue-line remains a massive concern. A healthy Edler and Chris Tanev would go a long way toward fixing that problem but that’s out of Green’s control. He has more to say about Hughes’ development and that will be one of the main storylines to this Canucks season.
As for the rest of the lineup, you can quibble about a Loui Eriksson here or a Nikolay Goldobin there. But their indifferent play is more the responsibility of the player than the coach.
As things stand, the Canucks need upgrades at, minimally, three positions and that will give Green a fighting chance. But if reinforcements don’t arrive, the coach will be left trying to squeeze more out of players who offer less.
Greatest strength: Green succeeded in establishing an identity with the Canucks last season and that was no small thing. While they were lacking in skill and high-end talent, they played hard and stuck to the system most nights.
At the end of the season, Green’s defence included Ashton Sautner, Alex Biega and Luke Schenn, who all spent time in the minors last season and the Canucks were competitive in virtually every game.
The improvement of the young players was also an encouraging sign but the Canucks need Pettersson, Horvat, Boeser, Hughes, Virtanen, Stecher and Adam Gaudette to take another step in their development. That’s a lot to ask but that’s on the coach.
Greatest weakness: The snarky answer is the lineup. It’s difficult to judge Green as a coach because in two years with the Canucks he’s lacked the talent to make a difference. That’s beginning to change.
As mentioned there are a lot of positive signs with Green but we won’t have a clear idea about his abilities until the Canucks’ young building blocks mature.
The big question(s): Can this team compete for a playoff berth next season? Can they make the playoffs in two seasons?