Mike Keenan Fails Again!
Here is a shocker: Mike Keenan has once failed horribly with a big budget team, amid great hype.
The yesteryear coaching legend had led still another franchise to epic disappointment. This time it is the Calgary Flames – a team that Darryl Sutter retooled to meet Iron Mike’s specifications.
The Flames caught a first-round cab against the upstart Blackhawks, coached by Old Friend Joel Quenneville.
The bald-headed despot ran off skilled players, played goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff into the ice and then got outcoached when the games mattered. Nice work!
Given the high expectations in Calgary, this exit will not go over well. Knowing Keenan, he will probably try and end-around by going to ownership to get more control, at the expense of GM Darryl Sutter.
Perhaps Sutter will try to save himself by cashiering Keenan, who is a tactically incompetent coach whose motivational tactics quit working ages ago — when top players gained lifetime security with multi-million-dollar deals.
Elsewhere, the Sharks could be headed for major changes as well. The first overall seed fell to the Ducks in a spirited first-round upset.
San Jose tried to support rookie coach Todd McLellan by surrounding him with veteran character guys like Claude Lemieux, Jeremy Roenick and Rob Blake.
Now those three old-timers could retire as the Sharks retool, again. San Jose lasted just six games in the playoffs after winning the President’s Trophy. Cornerstone Sharks center Joe Thornton is taking much heat for vanishing for long portions of that series.
Experts regarded his tiff with Ryan Getzlaf was considered too little, too late. A super-sized skilled player like Thornton needs to dominate in postseason play.
Another franchise facing major change is Montreal. The Canadiens face a potential ownership change after getting swept from the playoffs.
If Bob Gainey stays at the helm, look for massive turnover. Montreal could lose up to 10 unrestricted free agents, creating ample salary cap space to rebuild. The Toronto Globe and Mail notes that the Habs could make a play on Flyers center Daniel Briere, who has become an expensive extra forward in Philly.
(That presumes that the Canadiens won’t be able to rescue Vincent Lecavalier from that highly unstable situation Tampa. The Boston Globe notes that Gainey has been at odds with Lightning GM Brian Lawton over the earlier Lecavalier rumors.)
AROUND THE RINKS: The Blues will should have numerous goaltenders to choose from this summer as they shop for Chris Mason’s new running mate. If the Flyers lock up Martin Biron, then Antero Nittymaki will come free. With Tim Thomas locked up in Boston, Manny Fernandez comes free. Nikolai Khabibulin is a playoff hero for Chicago, so will the team recommit to him and move Cristobal Huet? Jean-Sebastien Giguere lost his starting job in Anaheim. The possibilities are endless, really . . . The Wild, starting over, could replace the departing Marian Gaborik with Saku Koivu, to team with brother Mikko . . . If the Blues want to add a veteran power forward to supplement David Backes next year, unrestricted free agent Mike Knuble will be worth a look . . . The Peoria Rivermen put up a good playoff fight, with the help of Manny Legace, but they bowed out in seven games. Too bad the Rivermen couldn’t have reached Round Two to help several prospects get an additional head start on next season . . . While some do-goods remain focused on the elimination of fighting in the NHL, the New York Times remains vigilant in its campaign against mindless head-hunting. Unfortunately, there was too much of that in the Eastern Conference playoffs this year.
I was bummed that the Blackhawks won until I realized that they beat a team coached by Mike Keenan. Watching Mike Keenan lose is always a good thing.
I bet an ideal situation for Blues fans would be to have their most hated coach at the helm of their most hated team.
Eener…
The “ideal” won’t happen; the organizations Blues fans hate the most are too smart to hire Keenan!
(How a guy who couldn’t coach Wayne Gretzky keeps getting jobs is beyond me…)
I like the idea of the Blues picking up Knuble, and I hope the Blues don’t consider Manny Fernandez, he was horrible on that NBC telecast a couple months ago against the Rangers. He gave that game to New York………….it’ll be fun to see Anaheim light up Osgood in the next series. I think it’s gonna be Anaheim and Pittsburgh in the Finals. Should be a good one.
Ugh… no Cristobal Huet, please. Albatross contract plus consistency issues? Chicago can keep that. A $6 mil cap hit for two more seasons of Giguere is also severely unappetizing at this point in his career. Mason is already due for $3 mil… I think the Blues need to settle for someone relatively affordable as his tandem partner.
Far be it me to defend Mike Keenan, but here goes:
Just wondering Jeff - what skilled players did Keenan run off this time? Provide some examples when you make a general statement like that. Also, other than Olli Jokinen, what players did Darryl Sutter bring in to meet Iron Mike’s specifications? Again, you fail to cite any examples because there simply are none. This team was built by Darryl Sutter over the last few seasons. Did you ever stop to think that maybe the series was lost due to major injuries to key players such as top defensemen Robyn Regehr and Dion Phaneuf (who was never 100% in the series after missing games at the end of the regular season). Also injured was solid puck-moving defenseman Mark Giordano, physical defenseman Cory Sarich, and top-six/20-goal-scoring forwards Daymond Langkow and Rene Bourque. By the way, the Blackhawks were relatively healthy with the exception of a possible injury to Jonathan Toews in Game Five.
The truth here is as evident as any other article you write concerning Mike Keenan - you have issues with the former Blues coach because he wasn’t your best buddy (see Bob Berry, Mike Kitchen, and “old friend” Joel Quenneville). Iron Mike refused to play ball with the St. Louis media and as a result he has been villified. (I know, because I was a participant during many of those postgame press conferences when you and your buddy Dave Luecking thought it was cute to tick the coach off. Keenan would enter the room, announce to everyone to avoid asking a specific question, and then you or Dave would ask the exact question he requested to avoid. Mike would get peeved and walk off the podium preventing everyone else from doing their jobs and getting the neccessary quotes about the game.) In addition to this childish 3rd-grade behavior, the Post-Dispatch sports writers were notorious for giving only portions of quotes to fit their agenda of making Keenan look bad. This defies all journalistic integrity!
Did Mike Keenan make some assasine moves? Yes. But let’s not forget a few of the fantastic trades he made (see Shayne Corson, Murray Baron and a 5th round pick in 1997 [Genady Razin?] for Pierre Turgeon, Craig Conroy and Rory Fitzpatrick; or Craig Johnson, Patrice Tardif, Roman Vopat and a 5th round pick in 1996, and a 1st round pick in 1997 [Matt Zultek?] for Wayne Gretzky; how about Christer Olsson straight up for Pavol Demitra!)
Were his psychological games bordering on the insane? Yes. (see alienation and treatment of players such as Kelly Chase and Dale Hawerchuk).
However, here are a few additional tidbits and realities the St. Louis media fail to disclose about other key players during Mike’s tenure:
1) although a fantastic regular season goaltender (and awesome person) the facts are that Curtis Joseph was a soft playoff performer. For a team as talented as the Blues were then, a better PLAYOFF goaltender would have drastically increased this team’s chances of winning a Stanley Cup. Keenan recognized this and decided Joseph had to be dealt. (Enter Grant Fuhr and the 1996 playoff run which ended prematurely as Maple Leaf thug Nick Kypreos dove on him in the crease in the first round, causing him to tear several knee ligaments. If Fuhr is healthy, Steve Yzerman NEVER scores from the blueline on Jon Casey and the Blues eventually advance to the Stanley Cup finals!)
2) Brendan Shanahan had an affair with Craig Janney’s wife. The tumoil was tearing the team apart and caused numerous player incidents. Needless to say, as much as we loved him, Shanahan had to go! League-wide, the word was already out regarding Shanahan’s choice of a new girlfriend so getting Chris Pronger straight up under those circumstances was truly remarkable. Both will be Hall-of-Famers.
3) In the mid-90s, Brett Hull was a one-dimensional player (albeit the best one in the league). Keenan challenged Hull to become a more complete player. For obvious reasons, the two butted heads on a regular basis. Though Brett would never admit it, Ken Hitchcock challenged Hull in the same manner and the lightbulb went off and Brett responded by winning his first Cup with the Dallas Stars.
4) Truth - A HUGE reason Wayne Gretzky left St. Louis was because of Jack Quinn’s decision to table an offer to the superstar until after the playoffs. At first, Gretzky only wanted to concentrate on helping this team win the Cup (like a true champion would). However, Quinn continually pushed the Gretzky camp to finalize a deal. The negotiations were botched because of his incompetance as he placed and then pulled deals on and off of the table. This coupled with the unhealthy relationship some players already had with Keenan (see guys like the Golden Brett), created second thoughts for the Great One who eventually bolted as a free agent. Did Keenan have a part in his departure - absolutely. Was he THE reason - NO!
The bottom line is this: Mike Keenan gave the Blues an excellent chance at winning a Stanley Cup. He is the 4th winningest coach in NHL history with 1,425 wins and ranks 4th in playoff wins as well with 96 (by the way, the next closest active coach is Ken Hitchcock with 66 wins).
His psychological tactics are no different than Scotty Bowman (who by the way, was Keenan’s mentor). His ONLY goal is to win. He doesn’t care about making friends. Keenan’s approach is harsh, abrasive, and business-like - character traits that are simply not received well in the Midwest. This especially holds true for St. Louis. (Who is that other controversial coach that drives fans crazy with his harsh, abrasive, and business-like manner? Oh yeah, Tony LaRussa).
I truly believe that had Nick Kypreos not destroyed what was left of Grant Fuhr’s knee in the ‘96 playoffs, the Blues would have won a Stanley Cup. In addition, it’s very likely that Wayne Gretzky would have remained a Blue, thus altering the course of Blues history.
I’ll give credit to Joel Quenneville for guiding the Hawks to the second round. Hopefully, he has learned from past mistakes where he was drastically outcoached in the playoffs as the leader of the Blues. I leave you with this question: how is it that Keenan-coached Blues teams constantly come under fire for playoff failure when it is OVERWHELMINGLY obvious that some of those Quenneville-coached teams were the most talented Blues teams in the history of this franchise?
Hint - the answer is simple: Quenneville is a swell guy.
Wow, Sniper16, I hope you feel better after releasing all of your pent-up feelings! You make a lot of valid points, but my meomory is that Jon Casey played pretty darned well after replacing Furh. As a Blues season ticket holder, my take of Keenan is that of an arrogant tyrant. When Keenan publicly blamed the 7th game loss on Gretzky for turning the puck over to Yzerman, I lost all respect for the man. Why would Gretzky want to continue to play for him? Maybe you know more of the specifics than I do, but I still blame Keenan for Gretzky not remaining a Blue. I will give you this though, the Flames had too many injuries to overcome. But, I did the unthinkable this past week, I cheered for the \”hated\” Blackhawks to beat the \”hated\” Keenan. Good luck, Coach Q! Now go beat the \”hated\” Canucks
As a longtime Blues fan since 1978-79, I will say that Mike Keenan was a horrible GM and coach. I’m embarrassed that he represented the Blues organization.
The Blues suffered the repercussions of Keenan’s incompetence long after his departure. Any brickbats thrown at Keenan are well deserved.
Sniper16, while some of your projections about the Blues’ Cup chances with a healthy Fuhr are optimistic, your general point is well taken.
But this is no place for facts, reason or ambiguity! No place for actually discussing *why* the Flames lost that series! ‘Hockey Guy’ and the rest of his colleagues who were around during that era can only discuss Keenan in one-sided, simplistic terms (I suppose to make them feel validated about how they covered his time here, but who knows?).
Why discuss the flawed man in rational terms when Hockey Guy can just pile on with typical paint-by-numbers “Keenan Fails Again!” copy. Per usual.
As a die-hard Flames fan, I have the obligation to point out that it wasn’t Mike Keenan’s fault that the Flames ended the Playoffs with their top five defencemen either injured or playing hurt. That being said, there are a few things that really irked me (and other Flames fans) from Keenan this year:
1. Line Juggling: I know it’s something he’s always done, but how can a group of players develop any kind of cohesion when Mike not only juggles the lines game by game, but shift-by-shift?
2. Powerplay: I remember hearing mid-way through the season that Keenan suggested that they didn’t spend much time working on the powerplay during practices. I don’t know if this is true, but if it is then it isn’t something he should be proud of. I am still of the belief that despite all their other problems, if the Flames had had even an AVERAGE powerplay in the last 20 games of the regular season (and first round of the playoffs), they would be comfortably into the second round.
3. Overplaying Kiprusof: Ok, maybe this isn’t entirely his fault, since backup goalie Curtis McElhinney didn’t have an NHL win until the last game of the season. But still, you need to manage your goaltender’s schedule a little better, especially when the Flames were playing really well in the middle of the season.
Overall, I think it’s unfair to peg all of the blame on Keenan, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be too choked up if Sutter found someone a little younger and “fresher” to take his place.
How does Keenan keep up the farce that he can coach? He is the worst coach in Blues history and so pathetic as a GM that it took 15 years to recover. God bless JD and the sooner a tyrant like Keenan is out of hockey,the better.