Green fired as coach of Canucks, Benning as GM

Green, who was in his fifth season as coach, was replaced by Bruce Boudreau. Benning, in his eighth season as general manager, was replaced by Stan Smyl with the Canucks beginning a search for new leadership in the hockey operations department..

Assistant GM John Weisbrod and assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner were also fired. Scott Walker was named an assistant coach.

“First, I want to sincerely thank Jim, John, Travis and Nolan for their passion and dedication to the organization and our community,” Canucks chairman and governor Francesco Aquilini said. “We are grateful for everything they have done for the Canucks during their tenure, and we wish them nothing but success in the future.”

The moves come with the Canucks (8-15-2) last in the eight-team Pacific Division. They lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Saturday and are 3-9-1 in their past 13 games.

“These are difficult decisions, but we believed we would have a competitive group this year,” Aquilini said. “As a result, I’m extremely disappointed in how the team has performed so far. I’m making these changes because we want to build a team that competes for championships, and it’s time for new leadership to help take us there.”

During their 13-game stretch, the Canucks have received little production from forwards Elias Pettersson (two goals, two assists), Brock Boeser (four assists) and Bo Horvat (two goals, one assist). They were held to one assist (Boeser) and three shots on goal in the loss to the Penguins.

“If you’re asking me to call out our top guys, I’m not going to do that,” Green said after the game Saturday. “It’s easy to say our top guys didn’t get points tonight, I get that. We’ve done a lot of talking about that as well. I’m not going to continue to do it on a night like tonight.

“With Brock, he’s a guy that has to produce for us. He knows that. He’s trying. He’s working. It hasn’t gone for him. He has to try to continue to work.”

Green, hired to replace Willie Desjardins on April 26, 2017, was 133-147-34 and qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs once with the Canucks, going 10-7 in 2020. He had agreed to a two-year contract to remain coach May 21.

“We’re trying to find solutions to our problems, and Travis and his staff are working hard,” Benning said Nov. 18. “This is wearing on them like it’s wearing on all of us. This is something that I didn’t expect to happen after the moves we made this summer, but it’s happening, and we have to deal with it and find answers and get things back on track.”

Prior to the season, the Canucks acquired defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and forward Conor Garland in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes for forwards Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson and three draft picks. They also acquired forward Jason Dickinson from the Dallas Stars, traded defenseman Nate Schmidt to the Winnipeg Jets, bought out the contracts of forward Jake Virtanen and goalie Braden Holtby, and signed defenseman Tucker Poolman, forward Justin Dowling and goalie Jaroslav Halak during free agency. Defenseman Alexander Edler signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent.

The changes came after Vancouver went 23-29-4 and finished last in the seven-team Scotia North Division last season. During the season, the Canucks had a COVID-19 outbreak that led to 22 players and four staff members, including Green, testing positive. As a result, they had nine games postponed and went 4-10-1 in their final 15.

In 2019-20, the Canucks were 36-27-6 and fell one win short of advancing to the Western Conference Final. It was Vancouver’s first postseason appearance since 2014-15 and deepest playoff run since 2010-11, when it lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins.

Boudreau last coached with the Minnesota Wild before being fired Feb. 14, 2020, his fourth season with the team. In 14 seasons as an NHL coach, he is 567-302-115 with the Washington Capitals (2007-11), Anaheim Ducks (2011-16) and Wild (2016-20), and won the Jack Adams Award voted as best coach in the NHL in 2008.

“I am excited to add Bruce Boudreau as our new head coach and Scott as assistant,” Aquilini said. “Bruce is one of the most experienced coaches in the NHL, with nearly 1,000 games behind the bench and a successful track record working with some of the game’s best talent.”

Walker played 17 NHL seasons for the Canucks, Nashville Predators, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals. The forward scored 397 points (151 goals, 246 assists) in 829 regular-season games and eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 30 playoff games.

Smyl has spent his entire professional hockey career with the Canucks.

Selected by Vancouver in the third round (No. 40) of the 1978 NHL Draft, he scored 673 points (262 goals, 411 assists) in 896 games and was captain from 1982-90. His No. 12 was raised to the rafters Nov. 3, 1991.

Smyl was named director, collegiate scouting June 19, 2008, before also becoming senior adviser to the GM on Sept. 11, 2008. He was promoted to director of player development Oct. 10, 2013,

“Our search for new leadership is underway. In the interim, Stan Smyl will lead our hockey operations team with the strong support of Ryan Johnson (assistant GM), Chris Gear, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Doug Jarvis and others on the team to ensure day-to-day continuity,” Aquilini said. “Stan has been a very loyal and committed member of our hockey operations senior management structure for many years and is someone whose experience and leadership we value greatly.”