1. Looking Back at His Time as a Interim Head Coach
On Mar. 4, Green was elevated from associate coach to interim head coach and took control for the remaining 21 games of the regular season. Green reflected on his time as the bench boss and the final stretch of the season:
“It’s such a short time, when you take over a team with 20 games left, and it was a very emotional time. Not only is there the coach a lot of them have had for a long time not here anymore, there’s a trade deadline, and then there’s the emotions that go into battling for a playoff spot and then not being in a playoff spot. Also trying to install my beliefs about how you win and not just today, but long-term. I thought details in our game improved. I like teams that are hard to play against, and that’s an area I think that we can improve upon … really the mindset of your group in what it takes to win: being tenacious on the puck, being committed to certain structures in your game that go into winning. When you watch championship teams, they don’t just score goals, they defend as well. They’re committed to hard areas of the rink, they get to puck battles quickly, they defend their net hard. These are all things that I’ve tried, in a short period of time without a lot of practice time, to install.”
2. Always Learning
Throughout his time with the Devils, Green has discussed his commitment to growing as a coach and growing his knowledge of the game. The interim head coach discussed how he’s grown from this chapter of his coaching career:
“You’re always taking lessons. For me, as soon as I was behind the bench again I could tell I was a lot better coach. Just over time, stepping away from the game (before the Devils), analyzing. I’m a big believer in knowledge, game knowledge, studying the game. I’ve changed a few of the things I believed in before as a coach. Confidence is another area that you improve the more you do things. Being here now for 21 games with the group, it gives me a lot of enthusiasm going forward with the team."
3. What’s Next?
Devils President of Hockey Operations/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald shared in his respective press conference that he was hoping to have a new head coach named by the NHL Draft which takes place in late June. Fitzgerald has said previously that Green would be one of the candidates up for the position.
Green discussed why he wanted to be the next head coach of the New Jersey Devils in his end of year media availability:
“Fitzgerald and I have talked briefly, we’ll talk more in the upcoming weeks. Do I want to be the head coach of this team? 100%. There’s a lot of reasons why, one of them being the team is good. I want to win. There’s certain parts of coaching that I believe in, collaboration is a big part of it and I know when you talk about collaboration that’s seeing eye-to-eye with people throughout your organization. I think Fitzgerald and I see the game very similarly, I like what they’re trying to do with the group and where they want to go.
But it’s also collaborating thorughout your organization whether it’s analytics, athletic training, and I think that’s a huge part of winning. Communication is a big part of what I believe in as coaching, and having accountability. I think these are all things that go into winning organizations.
Fitzgerald and I will talk more over the upcoming weeks and we’ll see where it ends up.”
To hear more about what Fitzgerald is looking for in the next head coach, click here!
