Travis Green Is Already One Of The NHL's Longer-Tenured Coaches. Seriously.

Is there a more disposable job in pro sports than NHL head coach?

Senators coach Travis Green is a pretty good example of just how quickly the NHL coaching carousel spins. The Senators just hired Green two summers ago, and somehow, he’s already the 12th-longest-serving active NHL coach with his current team.

In a 32-team league, that’s pretty crazy.

Steve Warne and Gregg Kennedy discuss Travis Green’s comments about Brady Tkachuk’s exit.

Green has done an excellent job since arriving in Ottawa. The Senators have made the playoffs in each of his first two years, ending a seven-year postseason drought in his first year and then navigating a much more difficult 2025-26 season to get back there again.

Green’s work this past season earned him significant recognition around the league. He finished sixth in Jack Adams Trophy voting and received four first-place votes.

That’s pretty good company, but a two-season run feels like a cup of coffee, like you’ve barely had enough time to really put your stamp on the club. It shouldn’t place you near the top third of the NHL.

NHL head coaches continue to get hired, fired and recycled at an unreasonably high rate in the NHL.

A couple of disappointing months can suddenly put an established coach on the hot seat. A bad playoff series can change everything. Sometimes, even winning doesn’t buy much security.

Just look at Vegas, everyone’s favourite team.

The Golden Knights were in a playoff spot in late March, but they felt like their dressing room was flat, so they fired their 2023 Cup champion, Bruce Cassidy, and brought in John Tortorella. Then, despite getting them to the Cup Final this year, they parted ways with Tortorella right after that run, then hired rookie coach Ryan Craig.

The Knights didn’t give a reason for Tortorella’s exit, but maybe he’ll be back again to jolt them next spring like a walking-talking defibrillator.

The volatile state of coaching makes Jon Cooper an absolute unicorn.

Cooper took over the Tampa Bay Lightning in March 2013 and is now entering his 14th season behind their bench. He’s won two Stanley Cups, reached four Stanley Cup Finals and taken Tampa Bay to the playoffs in 12 of his 13 full seasons.

And somehow, after all of that, he had never won the Jack Adams Trophy until this year. Cooper has been an outlier for a long time, and it’s been suggested that the so-called Jack Adams curse may finally be his undoing.

But what coach isn’t feeling cursed, hearing the footsteps of his replacement? No matter how well things are going, recent history will tell you that unemployment isn’t far off.

Montreal’s Marty St. Louis has been on the job for four years, and he’s already the fourth-longest-tenured head coach in the entire league?

Maybe it’s the short attention span of today’s young players, who are easily bored (and sometimes entitled) as they tune out coaches faster than ever.

Maybe with social media now so prevalent, general managers hear the barking from fans and media sooner and louder. A quick coaching change can be like throwing a hunk of meat to the wolves. It gives them something else to chew on as the GM slowly backs into the hedges like Homer Simpson.

Whatever it is, Cooper’s longevity is a million times more impressive than the silly notion of a trophy curse.

As for Green, who’s done a tremendous job so far, Senators fans should probably enjoy the coaching stability while they have it because it can obviously be fleeting.

It’s truly hard to believe that a two-year run qualifies as veteran status now.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News

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