Thanks and I appreciate the insight.
Honestly from all the comments I’ve read in here and over in NJ he sounds like a carbon copy of DJ Smith.
But know this
He
is a really nice guy and
He
was a great player
He benefited from incompetent management that covered for his abilties.
That said, he took the Canucks to the Conference final during the Bubble Cup when we should have been disqualified on a technicality (we had more wins but lost the tie break because they weren't regulation wins). Nevertheless, Bettman allowed 24 teams in and we were a wild card.
We won the first two rounds with Markstrom (we swept the defending Stanley Cup champions the Blues in the first round) but when things got tough against Las Vegas in the Conference Finals, Green put Demko in and changed the tactic to Turtle. He made Demko look like Partick Roy and gave Vegas such a hard time that they had nothing left in the tank for the finals.
He made Demko look like a star and he became one - Bubble Demko he's now called. Demmer was a fantastic backup but couldn't play many games before he would start to panic. He's obviously over that now and that playoff run put him over the hoop. We had two star goalies so one became expendable. (one can't say enough about goalie coach Iain McIntyre of course but it was Green who got that team to change styles when it mattered - and teams can't do that without practice and a coach that manages it all).
That playoff run was all because of Green - he had a plan with the players he had and he was miraculously given a chance to prove himself when it mattered. The team was blown up after that and the players were given the opportunity to walk thanks to management and ownership - the payroll was way too high, they overpaid and most signed as UFA in Calgary when management didn't pursue them (Chris Tanev will possibly come back next season).
That said, after he was let go, a Canadian team of beer leaguers coached by him couldn't win a game at the Spengler Cup - a first in that tournament's history.
