Mike Keenan

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Keenan's first coaching job was at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Ontario, where he coached the varsity hockey team. In 1977 he became the coach of the Oshawa Legionaires of the Metro Junior B Hockey League, where he led them to back-to-back championships in 1979 and 1980. The following year he began his junior coaching career with the Peterborough Petes before moving on to the Rochester Americans, which he guided to the American Hockey League championship in 1983. He returned to the University of Toronto to lead it to the CIAU title. He landed his first high-profile job with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984. From the 1988-1989 through the end of the 1991-1992 season, Keenan coached the Chicago Blackhawks, nearly to the pinnacle of hockey in 1992, losing the Stanley Cup to the Pittsburgh Penguins. His time with the Blackhawks placed a heavy emphasis on physical play, with, for example, Mike Peluso accruing a remarkable 408 PIM in only 63 games in Keenan's last year as coach. In 1993, he became the New York Rangers head coach and led the team to its first Stanley Cup win since 1940. Prior to the 1993 season, he was also a candidate for the Detroit Red Wings head coaching job that eventually went to Scotty Bowman. The 1994 season saw Keenan become the first to coach two teams to a game seven in the Stanley Cup Finals, having previously coached the Flyers in a losing effort against the Edmonton Oilers in 1987. He was followed in this feat by Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings. In winning the 1994 Stanley Cup, Keenan managed to avoid becoming the first coach in NHL history to lose game sevens with two teams (the fate which would befall Babcock in losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins). However, he left the team one month after the series ended due to disputes with GM Neil Smith. After leaving the Rangers, Keenan went on to serve as coach and general manager of the St. Louis Blues (1994–96), and coached the Vancouver Canucks (1997–98), and the Boston Bruins (2000–01). He was named head coach of the Florida Panthers on December 3, 2001, before becoming its general manager. On September 3, 2006, Keenan resigned his position and was replaced by head coach Jacques Martin. On April 24, 2007, Keenan would take his next role as senior advisor to the Swedish Ice Hockey Association. This role would not last long as he was named head coach of the Calgary Flames

In Their Own Story

The story of Keenan's Florida tenure is one of sudden change. He arrived as head coach in December 2001, took over as general manager, and then, in September 2006, he resigned. The move came right after a blockbuster trade that sent franchise goaltender Roberto Luongo to Vancouver. The speculation was that Keenan had lost a power struggle with his own head coach, Jacques Martin, who then replaced him as general manager.

Reader's Guide

Despite Keenan's coaching record, his inability to maintain working relationships with players and team organizations has resulted in a lack of long-term coaching positions. His coaching resume includes abrupt terminations or resignations from coaching or general manager positions, sometimes at bafflingly inopportune, or peak, moments of his career. He was fired from the Philadelphia Flyers a year after leading them to the 1987 Stanley Cup Final in a move that Flyers GM Bobby Clarke stated was because the team had lost 'enthusiasm' for playing under Keenan. After taking the Chicago Blackhawks to the 1992 Stanley Cup Final, Keenan was forced to focus solely on his GM duties when longtime Blackhawk player and assistant coach Darryl Sutter was being courted by other teams to be their head coach. Owner Bill Wirtz did not want to lose Sutter, especially since Keenan had stated, in July 1992, that he wished to focus solely on his duties as general manager after the 92–93 season. Keenan lost a power struggle with Senior V.P. Bob Pulford after the 1992–93 season that saw him quit (whereas the team stated he resigned) and was soon hired by the New York Rangers. Keenan managed to coach the Rangers to the Stanley Cup in his first and only year as head coach, but was unable to coexist long enough with general manager Neil Smith and resigned weeks later, citing a violation of his contract by the Rangers. Stops in St. Louis and Vancouver saw conflict with team stars; both Brett Hull and Trevor Linden had major personality conflicts with Keenan. In one instance while the Blues were playing the Buffalo Sabres at The Aud, Dale Hawerchuk's dying grandmother, who lived in nearby Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, came to see him play one last time while she was alive. Keenan deliberately benched Hawerchuk for the game, and an unhappy captain Brett Hull screamed at Keenan, who then responded by stripping Hull's captaincy. He blasted Hull's play as not being a team player in the immediate time after being let go from the Blues. Another time, defenceman Grant Ledyard had to take time away to be with his wife due to her having a lump in her breast. Apparently, when he returned to call about her having a clean bill of health, Keenan (who disliked Ledyard) had spread word that Ledyard had quit on the team. Keenan was even willing to publicly criticize Wayne Gretzky after he acquired the su

Did You Know?

• Keenan ranks sixth in playoff wins with 96.
• He is one of three coaches to coach in a playoff game seven ten times, winning five of them.
• He was the third person to lead three different teams (Philadelphia, Chicago, New York) to the Stanley Cup Final.
• Keenan became the first head coach to win both the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup.
• He was named head coach of the Florida Panthers on December 3, 2001, before becoming its general manager, and resigned on September 3, 2006.