Travis Green walked away from the Senators’ first-round exit with a view that might surprise anyone who only sees the four-game sweep. Yes, Ottawa was bounced by the Carolina Hurricanes in April after a furious late-season push got them into the playoffs. But Green said the ending didn’t erase what he believed the team built over the course of the year.
“It's not very often after you get swept 4-0 that you look at it and you're proud of your group. But I did,” Green said this week on 100% Hockey with Millard and Shannon. “I told them I was proud of them.”
For Green, the bigger takeaway was even stronger than pride. He said the Senators came out of the season feeling much closer to the kind of team that can actually win it all.
“I also felt like we were closer to winning a Stanley Cup than not,” Green said. “And when I first got (to Ottawa), I didn't think we could say that.”
The jump didn’t show up dramatically in the standings. Ottawa improved by just one point, but Green said that number undersells the growth he saw in the group. In his view, the Senators became a more complete team and found a clearer identity.
“I felt like our team game was a lot better, a lot stronger,” Green said. “We really kind of came into our own as far as our identity and how we wanted to play.”
He also pointed to the way the team handled the rough patches. There were times when Ottawa played well and still didn’t get the result, but Green said the group didn’t let that turn into a season-long spiral.
“We had a much better season, I felt like mentally, than we did the year before as well,” Green said. “And I think our team learned how to believe in themselves.”
Two late-March wins, both under heavy pressure, stuck with him.
The first came on the road against the Rangers, where the Senators were already thin on defense before losing Thomas Chabot about five minutes into the game and then Lassi Thomson as well. That left Ottawa with only four defensemen for most of the night. Still, the Senators won, and they did it while allowing just nine shots, the fewest shots against in franchise history.
“You don't do that without a whole team effort,” Green said.
The next night brought another test in Detroit against a rested Red Wings team Ottawa was chasing in the standings. With no rest and even more defensive injuries, the Senators called up two rookie defensemen, Carter Yakemchuk and Jorian Donovan. They won again.
“Those are pivotal, pivotal moments in the season, I felt,” Green said. “Not only point-wise, but I think confidence-wise with our group.”
That’s why Green isn’t letting the sweep by the eventual Stanley Cup champions define the year. In his eyes, the playoffs were only part of a much longer education.
“The things didn't go our way in the playoffs,” Green said. “But we learned a lot of lessons along the way this year.
And that's part of winning. That's part of progressing.
“We've still got a really young group. But I told them that I was proud of them. Not just for the playoffs, but for the season, really.”
It’s not hard to understand why he feels that way. Ottawa had to navigate injuries, shaky goaltending, nights when good play wasn’t rewarded, strange social media rumours, and the noise around their ex-captain, who no longer wanted to be there. Even with all of that, the Senators finished ninth in the league and made the playoffs in the NHL’s toughest division.
That’s a strong argument that the next step could be bigger than the one the standings showed this year. The players who were being called “kids” five years ago now have more scars, more experience, and a better sense of what it takes to win. That, too, is part of the case for Ottawa heading into next season.
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