When he was introduced as the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks last Wednesday, Travis Green answered countless questions about his coaching philosophies and preferred methods to play the game. He responded to queries about handling his hockey club – veterans and youth alike – and the need for his offensively-challenged roster to generate more offence. One area he was not questioned about – therefore he did not address — was his understanding and use of analytics to optimize his hockey club and help it achieve its goals.
On Saturday, Green joined myself and Matt Sekeres on a special draft lottery program on TSN 1040 where we were able to put a couple of analytics questions to the new coach. Green says among the many things he’s excited about by making the jump to the best league in hockey is the sheer volume of statistical information that will be available to him and his yet-to-be-assembled staff. It’s a luxury he simply did not have while behind the bench in the American Hockey League.
“We don’t get access to data and analytical information like they do in the National Hockey League,” he explained of his approach in Utica over the past four seasons. “We have had three-game packages over the years that I look at. I do like the analytical side of it. I think there is so much information you can get right now and I’m looking forward to using that part of it.”
While Green didn’t want to get into the specifics of the kinds of metrics he values most, he admits his interest in statistical analysis goes beyond mere puck possession to gauge his team’s success. Like most coaches, he plans to pay close attention to scoring chances and the many ways to generate them.
“Obviously, home plate chances and things like that,” he explains. “I’m a big believer in breaking out the puck and forechecking and denying breakouts. And zone entries. There is a lot of good information you can get right now, and the access you have at the NHL level is really incredible.”
Although on the job less than a week, Green has already rolled up his sleeves and begun the process of putting his stamp on the hockey club. He conducted a series of meetings with the veteran players still in town – meetings he said went well beyond the ‘hello and how are you doing’ type sessions. He called the sessions productive as he tries to gain as much information as possible about the players he’ll be working with starting in September. Green plans to remain in Vancouver for a few more days before beginning the process of moving his family west from Utica.
Although he won’t have any official club-related role to play, Green will join the organization’s brain trust in Chicago for the June draft. He feels it’s important to be there to meet the prospects the team picks and to welcome them to the organization.
Most of his summer, however, will be spent trying to formulate a game plan for a hockey club that finished 29th overall, 29th in offence last season and 26th in even-strength shot attempts differential. The Canucks weren’t good enough in far too many areas, and that’s one of the reasons Green has been promoted from the minors to try to advance the development of the young players on the NHL roster. The new head coach concedes some of his off-season homework will be a thorough statistical review of the Vancouver Canucks season to see if he can identify and prioritize the many ways the team needs to see improvement.
“I don’t think you coach off of it (analytics), but I think it does prove theories within how I feel about the game and how it’s played and the way it’s going today,” he says. “And I’m definitely going to use the information that we can get.”
After residing near the bottom of the standings the past two seasons, the Vancouver Canucks can use a boost in almost every aspect of the way they operate on and off the ice. If there are things the statistics tell Travis Green about his hockey club, he certainly intends to crunch the numbers to find out.
The Canucks have made their decision to move forward with Green and perhaps with some forward-thinking about the statistical side of the game, he can help the hockey club start moving in the right direction.
