The Vancouver Canucks have fired head coach Travis Green and hired Bruce Boudreau to replace him, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.
The move came Sunday, after the Canucks lost for the 10th time in 13 games, falling 4-1 to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
It was a particularly ugly night with fans chanting “Fire Benning” – making their feelings known about general manager Jim Benning in the third period. Later, one fan tossed a jersey on the ice as a modest two-game win streak – against two of the weaker teams in the league in Montreal and Ottawa – came to an end.
The Canucks are 8-15-2 on the season, last in the Pacific Division.
Boudreau has coached the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and, most recently, the Minnesota Wild.
The 50-year-old Green, a native of Castlegar, B.C., became the second head coach fired in the NHL this season after Chicago’s Jeremy Colliton (Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville resigned in amid the Blackhawks’ sexual abuse scandal).
Hired to replace Willie Desjardins after the 2017 season, Green missed the playoffs in three of four full seasons with the Canucks.
The lone playoff appearance came in 2019-20 when the Canucks made the deepest run of Canadian team, falling in Game 7 of the second round against Vegas.
But the Canucks followed that up by finishing last in the all-Canadian division last year following a COVID-19 outbreak that created a hectic late schedule.
Green signed a two-year extension with the Canucks in May.
Green was hired by the Canucks after he coached the team’s AHL affiliate in Utica for four years, highlighted by a run to the Calder Cup final in 2015.
Previously, Green guided the Portland Winterhawks to the Memorial Cup final in 2013.
