After a disastrous playoff exit, one NHL coach is suddenly in danger
Nobody is officially saying Travis Green is gone. Let's be clear about that right now.
But Saturday's sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes has left a locker room that looked visibly frustrated, a fanbase that is furious, and a front office that has some very uncomfortable questions to answer this summer.
Four games. Five total goals scored. A sweep.
This is not what the Ottawa Senators had in mind when they earned 99 points and walked into the playoffs with genuine belief.
The numbers from this series are brutal in the most straightforward way possible.
Tim Stutzle, 24 years old, carrying an $8.35 million cap hit, held scoreless through three games before tonight. Zero goals, zero assists, minus-2 through the first three games of the series.
He did not look like a guy who accepted that quietly.
Brady Tkachuk finished the entire series without a single point. Zero in four games. Minus-3 on the ice. The captain was invisible when Ottawa needed him the most.
Green's roster got outcoached and outhustled in the moments that mattered most
To be fair to Green, he did not step on the ice himself. Players perform, or they don't.
But a head coach's job is to find a way to get production out of his best players in the biggest games of the year. That did not happen here. Not even close.
Thomas Chabot finished minus-5 across the series. He's on an $8 million deal on the back end.
Shane Pinto went minus-3 with no points. Jake Sanderson was one of the few bright spots, adding 2 assists, but even he couldn't change the tide.
The Senators scored 5 goals in 4 games. That is not a goaltending problem. Linus Ullmark posted a .931 save percentage in his 3 starts this series.
He kept this team alive. His teammates did not return the favor.
Now here is the part where context matters. Ottawa went 1-2 against Carolina in the regular season, losing in Raleigh twice and beating them 6-3 at home on April 5. The talent gap is real. Carolina finished with 113 points and the second-best record in the league.
Getting swept by this team is not a firing offense on its own.
Getting swept while your two franchise cornerstones go a combined zero points and your team scores 5 goals in 4 games, that is a harder conversation.
GM Steve Staios hired Green in May 2024. This was supposed to be a building year. Fine. But Stutzle is 24 and Tkachuk is 26. These are not kids anymore. These are players who should be driving a playoff series, not disappearing in one.
Is Green directly responsible for Stutzle's fury after the final buzzer? No.
Is it a coach's job to have his best player ready and motivated to perform in a playoff series? Absolutely.
The honest question this summer is not whether Green is a bad coach. The question is whether this specific group needs a different voice in the room, a different system, a different push to get past the first round.
Nobody in the Ottawa organization will say that publicly this week.
But somebody is thinking it.
| POLL | ||
2 HOURS AGO | 70 ANSWERS After a disastrous playoff exit, one NHL coach is suddenly in danger Should the Senators give Travis Green another season, or is it time for a change behind the bench? | ||
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APRIL 25, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Sebastian Aho | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Drake Batherson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brock Faber | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matt Duchene | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Kirill Kaprizov | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mikko Rantanen | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Carter Yakemchuk | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Denver Barkey | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matthew Boldy | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Cozens | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sidney Crosby | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marcus Foligno | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Miro Heiskanen | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rickard Rakell | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Robertson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan Hartman | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||
| 2025-2026 NHL STANDINGS | ||||||
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Sabres | 82 | 50 | 23 | 9 | 109 | |
| Lightning | 82 | 50 | 26 | 6 | 106 | |
| Canadiens | 82 | 48 | 24 | 10 | 106 | |
| Bruins | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 100 | |
| Senators | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 99 | |
| Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 92 | |
| Panthers | 82 | 40 | 38 | 4 | 84 | |
| Maple Leafs | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 78 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Hurricanes | 82 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 113 | |
| Penguins | 82 | 41 | 25 | 16 | 98 | |
| Flyers | 82 | 43 | 27 | 12 | 98 | |
| Capitals | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 95 | |
| Blue Jackets | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 92 | |
| Islanders | 82 | 43 | 34 | 5 | 91 | |
| Devils | 82 | 42 | 37 | 3 | 87 | |
| Rangers | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Avalanche | 82 | 55 | 16 | 11 | 121 | |
| Stars | 82 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 112 | |
| Wild | 82 | 46 | 24 | 12 | 104 | |
| Mammoth | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Blues | 82 | 37 | 33 | 12 | 86 | |
| Predators | 82 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 86 | |
| Jets | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 82 | |
| Blackhawks | 82 | 29 | 39 | 14 | 72 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Golden Knights | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 95 | |
| Oilers | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 93 | |
| Ducks | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Kings | 82 | 35 | 27 | 20 | 90 | |
| Sharks | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 86 | |
| Kraken | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 | |
| Flames | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| Canucks | 82 | 25 | 49 | 8 | 58 | |
COMPLETE STANDINGS | ||||||