Edmonton Oilers Legacy

Prior to becoming an assistant coach with the New York Rangers for the 2000-01 season, Ted Green had spent the previous 14 seasons with the Edmonton Oilers.

He served the team in several capacities, including assistant to the president, head coach and assistant coach.

The St. Boniface, Manitoba native became an assistant coach with the Oilers in 1981 and was an integral part of the club’s five Stanley Cups. He served as co-coach of the 1989-90 championship club before assuming head coaching duties with the Oilers on June 27, 1991.

In two-plus seasons as the Edmonton bench boss, Green posted an overall mark of 65-102-21.

After coaching the Oilers to a record of 36-34-10 in 1991-92, Green’s charges slumped to 26-50-8 the following season and missed the playoffs. After starting the 1993-94 campaign with a ledger of 3-18-3, Green was replaced behind the bench by general manager Glen Sather, who kept Green on his staff as an assistant.

Despite the shakeup, the Oilers failed to make the playoffs for the second straight season. After serving as the assistant to the president from November 1993 through the 1996-97 season, Green returned to the bench as an assistant coach to Ron Low for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. During the 1999-2000 campaign, Green was an assistant coach under Kevin Lowe.

Green has been associated with 12 championship clubs. His playing career spanned 18 seasons and included stops with the Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets. As a player, he won a Stanley Cup, three Avco Cups and appeared in two National Hockey League all-star games.

Green and Sather were teammates with the Bruins in the 1960s and later competed against each other in the World Hockey Association; Sather played for the Oilers while Green was a stalwart defenceman with the offensive-oriented Jets.

"It was Green’s experience with the Jets that may have sealed his hiring in Glen Sather’s mind…," wrote Douglas Hunter in The Glory Barons. "Green had played the high-flying offensive game Sather so admired. More importantly, he had been a dependable blueliner, tending to defensive duties on a team that prioritized goal scoring. He was the right person to instill some defensive discipline."

Green left the Oilers before the 1985-86 season to manage a computerized skate sharpening business he owned. He would return the following season as an assistant coach, helping Edmonton to a Stanley Cup victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.