Pandemic affecting potential extension for Canucks' Green

The financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Vancouver Canucks are impacting a potential extension for head coach Travis Green.

"We’ve talked and we’ll continue to work at it, but everybody is really in a holding pattern right now and we’re not the only team," general manager Jim Benning told Ben Kuzma of The Province. "And everybody is sensitive right now. It’s going to be important coming out of this to have a coach who can get the best out of his players."

The Canucks hired Green to his first NHL coaching gig in April 2017 after spending four seasons with the club's AHL team in Utica. He has one year remaining on his contract that pays him $1 million per year, according to Cap Friendly.

Green got his first taste of the playoffs as a coach this past season and guided the Canucks to their first series victory since 2011 when they knocked off the defending champion St. Louis Blues in the first round.

The 49-year-old has helped the Canucks' rebuild progress faster than expected, and his impact on Vancouver's core of young stars has made an impression on Benning.

"Travis lets young players have the puck on their stick as long as they’re not making the same mistakes over and over. He lets them be creative and hold up to a certain defensive standard and be accountable," Benning said. "He has the ability to communicate, get the best out of his players, and he’s important to us because we’ve got young players we’re trying to grow with."