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Canucks won’t say if Ducks have asked to interview Travis Green

Travis Green

5 Apr 1998: Center Travis Green of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in action during a game against the Calgary Flames at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California.The Ducks and Flames tied 3-3. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn /Allsport

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Anaheim has a pretty deep list of candidates for its vacant head coaching gig, but one guy continues to stand out among the rest:

Travis Green, the head coach of Vancouver’s AHL affiliate in Utica.

Green, who’s been under Vancouver’s employ for the last three years, has already been floated as a potential replacement for Bruce Boudreau in Anaheim -- but it remains unclear whether or not the Ducks have asked the Canucks permission to speak with him.

If they have, well, the Canucks aren’t saying. From the O.C. Register:

[Green] has some Ducks ties, having played 108 of his 970 NHL games with Anaheim over two stints in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons and the 2006-07 season.

A Canucks spokesman said Vancouver general manager Jim Benning would not comment on whether the Ducks have asked for permission to speak to Green, but they showed interest in him early last season when the team got off to a slow start with Boudreau.

Greene, 45, would be a really intriguing hire. He’s been a winner at both the junior level (with WHL Portland) and at the AHL level, having led the Comets to the Calder Cup Final last season.

And though he was a bit player during that aforementioned ’06-07 campaign -- appearing in just seven games -- Green was teammates with Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Todd Marchant (now the director of player development) and Scott Niedermayer (now a special assignment coach).

So needless to say, his ties to the organization run deep.

Green, widely considered to be one of the brightest young coaching candidates in the American League, is under contract for one more season in Utica, but reportedly has an out-clause to pursue an NHL job.

He’s on record saying he thinks he’s ready to make the leap to the big leagues.