NHL: Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs - Source: Imagn

Maple Leafs' Brad Treliving makes his feelings known on 'challenges' posed by Senators HC Travis Green

Modified Apr 18, 2025 18:05 GMT

Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green was once a beloved member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But for the next two weeks, he becomes the enemy.

On Sunday night, the Senators and Maple Leafs begin their first-round playoff series, reigniting the Battle of Ontario. It will be the first time the two bitter rivals meet in the postseason since 2004.

As winners of the Atlantic Division, Toronto will enter the series as favorites, shouldering all of the pressure to finally have some playoff success. However, Ottawa has played them tough the last several seasons and cannot be overlooked as the top wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference.

General manager Brad Treliving was asked about the challenges that Travis Green and the Ottawa Senators pose in their first-round matchup. TSN Leafs reporter Mark Masters shared his comments on X (formerly Twitter).

"He’s really instilled a real defensive conscience. Checking, they check & to have success you have to check & they do. & then you got a Vezina goaltender in the net so they present a lot of challenges," Treliving said.

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It's been well documented that the Sens swept the 2024-25 regular-season series 3-0, outscoring the Maple Leafs by a combined 9-3 margin in the process. As Treliving mentioned, the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner, Linus Ullmark, could be a potential difference-maker in the series. Despite some injury issues, Ullmark has had a strong first season in Ottawa when healthy.

Travis Green has helped turn around the Ottawa Senators

Travis Green is earning his respect in the Jack Adams Award conversation for the NHL's Coach of the Year.

According to BetMGM, the first-year Senators head coach is tied for the fifth shortest odds to win the award at +10000 with Jim Montgomery of the St. Louis Blues. Only Spencer Carbery (-5000), Dean Evason (+1300), Scott Arniel (+4000), and Martin St. Louis (+5000) have shorter odds.

After seven consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs, Travis Green led Ottawa to a postseason berth in year one behind the bench. He's brought a defensive system and structure to a team that was in desperate need of it in order to snap their lengthy postseason drought.

Green and the Senators are now gearing up for Game 1 on Sunday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST at Scotiabank Arena.

About the author

Jackson Weber is an NHL journalist at Sportskeeda with a Bcomm degree in Business and Sport Management from the University of Guelph.

Jackson has grown up as a lifelong Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are his all-time favorite players. Watching the Penguins win the Stanley Cup three times is an experience that Jackson will never forget. Years later, you realize how rare it is to see your favorite team win even once, so three championships were just incredible.

When not watching, playing, or writing about sports, Jackson loves to cook and is passionate about health and nutrition.

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