Keenan Biography

[3rd line Grinder]

Originally Posted by Murph

Buddy of mine met him at an airport and asked him for a picture. Keenan enthusiastically popped up for the picture but not before hauling a comb out of his pocket to slick the hair back.

Clearly if he had to do that his hair wasn’t slicked back. It was pushed back.

[rollie619]

Iginla said Keanen was the second best coach he ever played for. He wouldn't have said that if he didn't believe it. Guy got results just can't exist in today's NHL.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Coach

A close relative of mine played for Keenan. Brad Marsh once had to stop him from overhand chopping Keenan with his stick.

Guy is a garbage person.

I dunno...that story? He sounds intriguing...

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by rollie619

Iginla said Keanen was the second best coach he ever played for. He wouldn't have said that if he didn't believe it. Guy got results just can't exist in today's NHL.

I love Iggy but has he ever said anything negative about anyone publicly?

Edit: He probably did love him because Keenan relied on stars, and let them free-lance. During the Keenan era that's when the divide in the locker room started to seemingly emerged between Iginla (who wanted to free lance to generate offense) and Regehr (who felt the team wasn't committed defensively).

A good coach doesn't create that conflict. Keenan is the type that would try to intentionally generate it.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I love Iggy but has he ever said anything negative about anyone publicly?

Edit: He probably did love him because Keenan relied on stars, and let them free-lance. During the Keenan era that's when the divide in the locker room started to seemingly emerged between Iginla (who wanted to free lance to generate offense) and Regehr (who felt the team wasn't committed defensively).

A good coach doesn't create that conflict. Keenan is the type that would try to intentionally generate it.

Yeah, I don't understand "leaders" who don't treat certain individuals well because they're of less importance to them. I'd go so far as to say most are to some degree like that these days. There should be checks and balances within an organization on this stuff but when results are all anyone cares about, nonsense happens and power is given to a select few to just perform. The rules are for everyone else.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by rollie619

Iginla said Keanen was the second best coach he ever played for. He wouldn't have said that if he didn't believe it. Guy got results just can't exist in today's NHL.

Regher said he was the worst coach ever.

Now you can see why the team was divided and never recovered.

He was lucky to be on teams with superstars like Iggy and Hull and guys that probably made up for his horrific coaching.

Look at the reports from practice. They did 5 on 0 drills and didn’t work on the PP and I believe it set a modern NHL record for futility to end a season going 0/50.

He chased Gretzky from the Blues. He tried to gey the GM fired and take his job after 1 year in New York.

Conroy said he would change the practice team the day of randomly.

[Bleeding Red]

I read the book the other day. I found it very pedestrian - not really a lot of insights into the how's or why's (i.e. he never really explains why he didn't practice the PP). I found Burke's book to be a little more insightful.

He, of course, admitted being tough on players, but also said that A LOT of players (stars & journeymen alike) came to his teams out of shape, unprepared, and happy to play as an individuals not as a team (see B. Hull, who didn't win until he was a secondary player on winning teams).

I know there are 3 sides to every story, but I think many are assuming malice in these scenarios. According to MK, NYR GM didn't want him there and was forced to make moves by ownership. NYR ownership changed shortly after they won the cup, GM won the power struggle, MK out. (a some point, don't all coaches want to be the GM too, for some job security, at least. One could say that Darryl actively worked to take Button's job.)


I think those old time Oilers liked the guy. If Gretzky or Messier hated MK, I am sure Hockey Canada would have had someone else coach in the '91 Canada Cup. I don't think WG would have gone to STL if there was animosity there. He says star players (Messier, Bure) wanted him as their coach and worked GMs and Owners to make it happen.

According to him, every team he coached improved in points from when he got there to when he left. 672 career NHL wins, 15th all time. hard to argue with that.

[Bleeding Red]

I'm pretty sure that Gretzky left the Blues for the Rangers because Messier asked him to, not because Keenan chased him out of town.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by rollie619

Iginla said Keanen was the second best coach he ever played for. He wouldn't have said that if he didn't believe it. Guy got results just can't exist in today's NHL.

Number one was everyone else.

[rollie619]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Number one was everyone else.

Number one was Darryl FWIW.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Bleeding Red

He says star players (Messier, Bure) wanted him as their coach and worked GMs and Owners to make it happen.

Not sure how true that is about Bure. He asked for a trade the year Keenan was hired (although I don't think it had anything to do with Keenan), and Messier allegedly talked him into playing the year. But the following year, when Keenan was still around, Bure held out until his trade to Florida.


Interesting that iirc in both St Louis and Vancouver, there were players that everyone assume Keenan would get along great with (Shanahan, Linden), and they didn't.


Keenan also brought Brian Noonan with him pretty much everywhere.

[Bleeding Red]

Originally Posted by Ped

Not sure how true that is about Bure. He asked for a trade the year Keenan was hired (although I don't think it had anything to do with Keenan), and Messier allegedly talked him into playing the year. But the following year, when Keenan was still around, Bure held out until his trade to Florida.

Interesting that iirc in both St Louis and Vancouver, there were players that everyone assume Keenan would get along great with (Shanahan, Linden), and they didn't.

Keenan also brought Brian Noonan with him pretty much everywhere.

According to Keenan STL ownership demanded high priced talent other than Hull be moved. Bye Shanahan. Now, I'd be interested to read Shanahan's book (when he writes one) about his side on that.

He noted that Bure's hold out and trade demand were about money. Bure was traded by Burke halfway through the season (Jan. 99) after Keenan was fired (June 98). If Bure had issues with Keenan, I doubt FLA would have hired him.

He states that he did not get along with Linden and felt there was heat between Linden & Messier. Bye Linden.

It was also clear in the book, though not explicitly written, that Keenan had "his guys" - guys who knew how to win, who had been in the trenches before, and that he tried to have on his teams at each stop.

Interestingly, though, he said that, though he was offered the opportunity to hire his own ass't coaches at each stop, he always kept the previous ones on staff (who wanted to stay). He would bring along various other coaches - strength, video, pysch.

He, of course, cops to a few regrets and a few incidents that ended friendships. He was lucky, like a lot of coaches were/are. Ever wonder how many used cars Sather would have sold over the years if Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, & Coffey hadn't landed in his lap?

Again, I found it a bland read. Was only interested in the CGY chapter. Left disappointed. If you are really curious about his time in CGY, I recommend just going to Indigo and reading that section there.

[FlamesAddiction]

Pavel Bure also said Keenan was one of the best coaches he played for. In 1997-1998, he said Keenan put him out there at opportune times to ensure that that he would reach 50 goals and get his performance bonus. The team was missing the playoffs anyway. This despite Keenan publicly calling Bure a "sulking suck" at one point that season.

Bure also said that he played for Viktor Tikhonov back in Russia, so Keenan wasn't so bad in comparison. It makes you wonder just how bad Tikhonov must have been.

[Paulie Walnuts]

That’s why Keenan sucked. You only hear top line players say anything t good about him. He over played them and it got him by.

He couldn’t build a team. That’s how you win.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bleeding Red

I read the book the other day. I found it very pedestrian - not really a lot of insights into the how's or why's (i.e. he never really explains why he didn't practice the PP). I found Burke's book to be a little more insightful.

Most celebrity bios are like this. Because they are mostly co-written or ghost-written, they dislike making themselves look too bad, and it's not their own words.

Now I suspect Burke wrote his own stuff (maybe with a strong editor). Dryden wrote his own. Of course, both of those guys are lawyers.

Or books by someone who has something to say, like Malarchuk, McCarty, etc.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Most celebrity bios are like this. Because they are mostly co-written or ghost-written, they dislike making themselves look too bad, and it's not their own words.

Now I suspect Burke wrote his own stuff (maybe with a strong editor). Dryden wrote his own. Of course, both of those guys are lawyers.

Or books by someone who has something to say, like Malarchuk, McCarty, etc.

Yeah if people are looking for juicy details about when he was an a**hole and why, why would he publish anything like that? Especially in the current environment. No doubt in my mind he'd be flagged as abusive and much more so than people like Babcock or Hartley or whatever. I edited my last comment because it's not really my story. But hockey is better without people like him.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Does he talk in the book about how and why he used to pull goalies so quickly?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Does he talk in the book about how and why he used to pull goalies so quickly?

He blamed Kipper for the team not winning the cup.

[Paulie Walnuts]

https://bleedinblue.com/2023/01/19/w...ues-fans-knew/

You can't use those World Cups to think Mario and Wayne wanted Keenan. This was for short period, and they are likely not to not play for their country over coaching.

Keenan chased Gretzky from the Blues, and I read he was using contract negotiations during the playoffs to motivate him.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Bleeding Red

He noted that Bure's hold out and trade demand were about money. Bure was traded by Burke halfway through the season (Jan. 99) after Keenan was fired (June 98). If Bure had issues with Keenan, I doubt FLA would have hired him.

Keenan was fired in January of 99 by Vancouver. Bure was already sitting out that season. I have no idea if Bure had a problem with him or not, but his presence certainly wasn't enough to keep him playing.