Vancouver Canucks fire coach Travis Green, GM Jim Benning

The Vancouver Canucks have reportedly fired head coach Travis Green and hired Bruce Boudreau to replace him, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.

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Posted December 5, 2021 5:49 pm.

Last Updated December 6, 2021 6:55 am.

The most disappointing start to a Vancouver Canucks season led to the most sweeping night of change in franchise history as both general manager Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green were fired Sunday by the NHL club.

Bruce Boudreau has been hired to replace Green, while longtime senior adviser Stan Smyl was named the interim GM.

The decisions come after the Canucks lost 10 of the last 13 games, dropping to last in the Pacific Division.

“First, I want to sincerely thank Jim, John, Travis and Nolan for their passion and dedication to the organization and our community,” said Canucks Chairman Francesco Aquilini. “We are grateful for everything they have done for the Canucks during their tenure, and we wish them nothing but success in the future.

The Canucks lost again on Saturday, falling 4-1 to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

It was a particularly ugly night with fans chanting “Fire Benning” and one fan tossing a jersey on the ice near the end of the game, which came on the heels of a modest two-game win streak against two of the weaker teams in the league (Montreal and Ottawa).

Boudreau joins with a career coaching record in the NHL of 567 wins, 302 losses, and 115 OTL. He’s 16 games away from 1,000 NHL games coached and was last with Minnesota Wild.

Boudreau, 66, has coached the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and, most recently, the Minnesota Wild. In 984 games coached, he has 567 wins, 302 losses and 115 overtime losses. In 2007–08, while with the Capitals, Boudreau won the Jack Adams Award as top coach, but his inability to take an Alex Ovechkin-led team deep into the playoffs, combined with an early-season slump, led to his dismissal on Nov. 28, 2011.

He wasn’t out of work for long: Two days later, the Ducks hired him to take over from another former Maple Leaf, Randy Carlyle (Green is also a former Maple Leaf), setting an NHL record for quickest to be rehired after being fired. Boudreau coached the Ducks to four consecutive division titles but not much success in the playoffs, resulting in his firing on April 29, 2016.

It took a bit longer for Boudreau to get his next job. Less than two weeks later, on May 7, 2016, he was hired by the Wild, but had middling success over four seasons. After being fired by the Wild on Feb. 14, 2020, he spent part of this season as an analyst with the NHL Network – which is appropriate for a guy whose nickname is “Gabby.”

Over 14 total seasons behind the bench, Boudreau has never had a losing season. He has, however, never coached a team to the Stanley Cup Final, getting to the conference finals once.

Boudreau was born in Toronto and played for both his hometown Marlies as well as the Maple Leafs. His playing career was spent primarily in the minors, however, over 779 games between 1972 and 1992 in the AHL, CHL and IHL. In 141 NHL games, all but seven with the Leafs (he also played for the Blackhawks), he had 28 goals and 42 assists for 70 points.

Related: WATCH – NHL Highlights: Penguins 4, Canucks 1

The 50-year-old Green, a native of Castlegar, B.C., became the second head coach fired in the NHL this season after Chicago’s Jeremy Colliton (Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville resigned in amid the Blackhawks’ sexual abuse scandal).

Hired to replace Willie Desjardins after the 2017 season, Green missed the playoffs in three of four full seasons with the Canucks.

The lone playoff appearance came in 2019-20 when the Canucks made the deepest run of Canadian team, falling in Game 7 of the second round against Vegas.

But the Canucks followed that up by finishing last in the all-Canadian division last year following a COVID-19 outbreak that created a hectic late schedule.

Green signed a two-year extension with the Canucks in May.

Green was hired by the Canucks after he coached the team’s AHL affiliate in Utica for four years, highlighted by a run to the Calder Cup final in 2015.

Previously, Green guided the Portland Winterhawks to the Memorial Cup final in 2013.

Benning, a former Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman, was hired by the Canucks from the Boston Bruins, where he was assistant general manager. Benning won a Stanley Cup ring in 2011 when the Bruins beat the Canucks in the Final.

Benning had a busy off-season this year, signing core pieces Elias Pettersson (three years, $7.35 million a year) and Quinn Hughes (six, $7.85 million a year) to extensions when the former first-round picks were restricted free agents.

Vancouver also traded for defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and forward Conor Garland, who signed a five-year contract with the Canucks after he was acquired.

Benning has one year remaining on his current contract, while Green agreed to a two-year extension in May.

Fans react to the changes

No surprise, but Canucks fans reacted online just moments after the news was announced.

Many repeating messages that replacing Green was needed in order to ensure the team can move ahead.

 

While others question if the shakeup will be enough to bring any real results for the struggling team.

Others called for even more changes to the lineup, in terms of adding more diversity.

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