Former Blues coach Mike Keenan hasn’t changed a bit over the years. He talks a good game about accountability, but he passes the buck when questions arise about his failures.
Blues fans gave him a light booing Tuesday night when his balding head was displayed on the Jumbotron. That bugged him.
He shared this bit of revisionist history with the Calgary Herald :
“It’s kind of difficult when you’re getting marching orders to trade people,” Keenan said. “I’m not shy to tell the folks here that I was explicitly told to trade MacInnis, Hull and Shanahan to reduce the budget significantly. The team didn’t want to carry those finances.
“I told them at the time. I said, `there’s going to be a major backlash if this happens.’
“I was the guy out front taking responsibility for the orders I was given by the ownership,” he said. “You sign up for it. I didn’t expect the owners to come out and say, `We told him to do it.’
“But that is the fact.”
Hockey Guy gives Iron Mike a half-pass on Wayne Gretzky. Keenan alienated The Great One with his tyrannical coaching style. Also, Gretzky bristled at Keenan’s public criticism of him.
But Blues president-at-the-time Jack Quinn also deserves some blame for the contract extension breakdown. The contract was on the table, then it wasn’t. Shiftiness was an Action Jackson trademark.
Keenan clashed with Brendan Shanahan, then blamed the trade (for Chris Pronger) on Shan the Man’s off-ice activities. The other players, though, would have been fine keeping Shanahan.
(Craig Janney, the aggrieved party in the off-ice activities, was long gone. He lasted just eight games under the oily-haired despot.)
Keenan clashed with Brett Hull and wanted to deal him. But ownership didn’t let him. The same thing happened with MacInnis, who finished out his career in St. Louis and moved into management.
A check of the 1995-96 Blues statistics shows that 46 different players wore the Note. That constant turmoil led to the team’s implosion the following season and Iron Mike’s departure.
Owners didn’t order him to make trade after trade after trade after trade, remaking his lineup almost weekly.
That year Keenan trade away Jeff Norton, Dale Hawerchuk, Dallas Eakins. Denis Chasse, Donald Dufresne, Kevin Sawyer, Pat Jablonski, Roman Vopat, Patrice Tardiff, Craig Johnson, Ian Laperriere, Esa Tikkanen and David Roberts during the season.
That year Iron Mike acquired Wayne Gretzky, Stephane Matteau, Mike Hudson, Igor Kravchuk, Steve Leach, Glenn Anderson, J.J. Daigneault, Craig MacTavish , Ken Sutton, Charlie Huddy and the Ghost of Yuri Khmylev during the season.
Among those getting short looks were Jamie Rivers, Fred Knipscheer, Alex Vasilevsky, Paul Broten, Greg Gilbert, Basil McRae, Rob Pearson and Christer Olsson and Bruce Racine.
And then there were the regulars who somehow survived: Hull, Macinnis, Chris Pronger, Shayne Corson, Geoff Courtnall, Brian Noonan, Adam Creighton, Grant Fuhr, Peter Zezel, Murray Baron and Tony Twist.
That chaos, and the 1996-97 collapse, led to Keenan’s exit. He had total control of the franchise and abused it.
That is why ownership finally reeled him in.
DON’T MAKE BRAD WINCHESTER ANGRY
He did a nice job with Cory Sarich, eh?
AROUND THE RINKS: Did Mats Sundin opt for the Rangers, and favorable travel, over the Canucks, and a chance to play with the Sedin Twins? Apparently so. And that will force the Rangers to ship out some significant talent (and payroll) to make the acquisition work . . . It’ll be fun to see defensive prospect Jonas Junland finally get his first NHL look, but it was tough to see veteran Jay McKee suffer a broken finger. Jay hasn’t been worth the big money he got to come here, but he has always been willing to sacrifice his body for the team. He has the gnarly X-rays to prove it . . . The Blackhawks are steamrolling opponents with a high-powered offense. New coach Joel Quenneville must feel like he got the keys to a brand new sports car. Chicago has won five games in a row, with the 9-2 blowout of Edmonton providing an exclamation point.