Travis Green: Arbour's tough love allowed Green to grow as player, potential NHL coach

[ftmN]

Really interesting article on how Green was coached by Al Arbour, how it changed him as a player and ultimately how this has made him into the coach he is today.

I don't always agree with what Kuzma says, but this was a great article and gives you great insight into Travis and his coaching style.

Link- http://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/kuzma-al-arbours-tough-love-allowed-travis-green-to-grow-as-player-potential-nhl-coach

 

Shorter summary below:

Travis Green not only played six seasons with the Islanders, he finally broke into the National Hockey league in 1992-93 after three seasons in the minors. The hotshot junior centre quickly learned that Arbour would break his bad habits and push him far enough to almost break his spirit. Arbour was as blunt as a stick to the face. He also knew when encouragement was more important than outrage. It’s how the Islanders won four-consecutive Stanley Cup titles from 1980 to 1983.

 

Arbour presented the opportunity and let players decide their roster fates. Sound like Green? The 46-year-old rookie NHL coach you see in Vancouver today is a product of the environment he endured in Uniondale. “Sometimes I laugh to myself when I think of some of the things I talk about,” recalled the Castlegar native. “As a coach, I wouldn’t like the young player I was, but I would like the older player. The older player had a better understanding of how to win and the younger one didn’t.

“But I also understand why. I was nervous as hell for a long time. I was a shy kid. And sometimes, I showed it in cockiness, but deep down I was very insecure. It took me a while."

“I remember my fifth game in the league and we were in the old arena in St. Louis. I was playing OK, but not great. Al kicked me in the ass from behind — like hard. He bent down and whispered: ‘You need to decide if you want to play in the NHL. And you need to decide right now.’

“I wasn’t fooling him with my game. I wasn’t playing well, but he double-shifted me the rest of the game. I never went back (to playing poorly) after that. He forced me out of my comfort zone and made me uncomfortable and said sink or swim.”

 

Now you know why Green dispensed tough love on his coaching ascension from Portland (WHL), to Utica (AHL) and the Canucks. Everybody from Sven Baertschi to Jake Virtanen to Brock Boeser has been given enough rope to hang themselves, because giving it a timely tug is crucial for any coach. So is understanding when to soften the blow. Arbour was a master.

That had such a profound affect on Green that he can remember the exact day of the week that Arbour went from menacing mentor to caring coach.

The Islanders were pushing for a 1993 playoff spot — they snuck in and then dispatched the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins before losing to the Montreal Canadiens in five games of Eastern Conference final — and along the way Green saw a lasting side of Arbour. “It was a Thursday night,” Green vividly recalled of his checking line being outclassed by Adam Oates and Cam Neely of the Boston Bruins. “Our line was minus-3 and I was distraught. “I was in my stall and it wasn’t even 10 minutes after the game and he (Arbour) was standing right in front of me: He said: ‘Listen, those are Hall of Fame players. They’re going to have nights like that. It’s going to happen again. You need to go home and forget about it, learn from it and not stay up all night and worrying about the game. ‘You’ve got Mario Lemieux coming in Saturday and I’m putting you up against him. I need you to be ready.’

“He knew that (minus-3) could really take away a young player’s confidence and I didn’t realize then how important it was. Years later I did. It was very special.”

 

Green was a 51-goal, 102-point sniper with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL and had 25- and 23-goal seasons with the Islanders. More importantly, he had a the guidance and will to reinvent himself and remain relevant. A 23rd overall pick in the 1989 draft by the Islanders, Green would amass 455 points in 970 career regular-season games with five teams before retiring at age 37. That amazed former Islanders teammate Ray Ferraro as much as the cocky kid one day becoming an NHL bench boss. What were the odds?

“Zero,” said Ferraro. “This is the evolution of Travis: Skilled, lazy, challenged, changed, diligent, hard working. “Everything Travis is now is not what he was when he broke into the league as a player. This is why I think he has a chance to be really successful. He understands what a scorer thinks, because he was one. He understands what a guy thinks when he gets kicked in the shins because he got booted.”

In Green’s rookie season, Ferraro suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle and Green played behind Pierre Turgeon. It wasn’t a gift — it was a challenge.

“Al wasn’t into free passes or free rides,” stressed Green. “If he knew the effort was there and you were willing to put the work in, he would give you that opportunity. But he would also give you fair warning if it wasn’t good enough. He had this presence about him that you had a little bit of fear with him. If he barked, you jumped. But he also knew there was a time to bark and a time to let his foot off the gas.”

[TheGuardian_]

Different time different rules.

As a marginal player he reacted better to negative input but with the league lowering the overall skill level and player requirements, like hitting, the player that are superior are much more aware of it.

 

How long do you think he would last if he suddenly started sitting Horvat and Boeser out? Or even some of the high priced help? Just for a bad game or two? How about sitting out the Sedins, even at their age?

 

Agents now can tell their clients to just wait until contract time and now with expansion, probably even RFA's and demand a trade. There is a new thing where many players can feel "entitlted" to a spot, it is not like the AHL or the old NHL where if you make a mistake you may never get another chance. Too many teams would snap up Jake if the Nucks tried to bury him for too long. Gone are the days where a GM can say, "he might as well buy a house there because he is never coming up here" and that was only 20 years ago.

 

With so much money on the line new coaches have to be more buddy, buddy in order to be successful or tto be able to pull the plug every now and t.hen

 

[Canuck Surfer]

3 hours ago, TheGuardian_ said:

Different time different rules.

As a marginal player he reacted better to negative input but with the league lowering the overall skill level and player requirements, like hitting, the player that are superior are much more aware of it.

 

How long do you think he would last if he suddenly started sitting Horvat and Boeser out? Or even some of the high priced help? Just for a bad game or two? How about sitting out the Sedins, even at their age?

 

Agents now can tell their clients to just wait until contract time and now with expansion, probably even RFA's and demand a trade. There is a new thing where many players can feel "entitlted" to a spot, it is not like the AHL or the old NHL where if you make a mistake you may never get another chance. Too many teams would snap up Jake if the Nucks tried to bury him for too long. Gone are the days where a GM can say, "he might as well buy a house there because he is never coming up here" and that was only 20 years ago.

 

With so much money on the line new coaches have to be more buddy, buddy in order to be successful or tto be able to pull the plug every now and t.hen

 

Yeah, maybe?

 

They still control the purse strings. How do you think Jake felt when he got sent back to Uitica by Willie?  

 

The difference, is he got no sympathy from Green when he arrived. Told him to get in shape and play harder. That's not exactly buddy, buddy. But? My understanding is he stayed back and paid attention to Jake. Talked strategy, and things to improve while Jake had to ride the bike after games. Jake worked and he gave him ways to improve. Then deployed him in situations expecting that he heard what he had been told while riding the bike...

 

That's good coaching!

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Wonder what the odds are that in about 25 years, we’ll read an interview with a new NHL coach by the name of Brendan Gaunce where he credits the legendary Travis Green (the one who guided the Canucks through a rebuild that ultimately culminated in the team’s first Stanley Cup win) for “changing him as a player and making him into the coach he is today.”

 

I know that Gaunce is a very different player than the one Travis was. And Green is also a different coach than Arbour. But there are still lots of similarities in their relationships. 

 

I also think Gaunce has the makings of a becoming a very good coach one day, should he decide that’s something he wants when his playing career is over.

[Tre Mac]

11 hours ago, ftmN said:

I remember my fifth game in the league and we were in the old arena in St. Louis. I was playing OK, but not great. Al kicked me in the ass from behind — like hard. He bent down and whispered: ‘You need to decide if you want to play in the NHL. And you need to decide right now.’

“I wasn’t fooling him with my game. I wasn’t playing well, but he double-shifted me the rest of the game. I never went back (to playing poorly) after that. He forced me out of my comfort zone and made me uncomfortable and said sink or swim.”

Did Green do this with Virtanen in the 3rd period against the Islanders?  'Show me what you got kid and show me you belong in this league.'  Unfortunately I don't think JV responded.