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“Sometimes, you could tell with Al if you had a good game or a bad game by being in games where you won 5-2 or 6-2 and maybe you didn’t have a good game,” Green recalled Friday. “In the back of your mind you kind of wonder if the coach knew.

“He had a way of making sure you knew, whether it was saying hi to the guy beside you — and not to you. You couldn’t fool him. I valued that part of Al.”

So, imagine how Vanek reacted when told those 16 to 18 minutes he logged with the Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings last season would be chopped dramatically.

The winger logged a season-low 11:48 of ice time Thursday in a 6-2 thrashing of the Washington Capitals. He also scored his fourth goal of the season in true Vanek style — knocking a rebound out of mid-air after missing a check in his own zone — and that’s what you often get with the 33-year-old Vienna native. Some bad. Some good.

“The best coaches I’ve had, it goes two ways,” said Vanek. “You need the trust from him and he needs the trust from you. The biggest thing is honesty. Greener has done a real good job of that and we’re winning, so the message is sent well.

“But talk to any player. You want to be around that 15- or 16-minute mark. Right now, that’s not happening so you just try to make the most of what you get.”

What Vanek is getting is what Green is willing to offer on a reward-based system. The winger gets that the Brandon Sutter and Bo Horvat lines are often in matchup roles and that the trickle-down effect is less ice for another alignments.