| Mike Keenan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Keenan in 2008 | |||
| Born | (1949-10-21)October 21, 1949 (age 76) Bowmanville,Ontario, Canada | ||
| Coached for | Philadelphia Flyers Chicago Blackhawks New York Rangers St. Louis Blues Vancouver Canucks Boston Bruins Florida Panthers Calgary Flames Metallurg Magnitogorsk Kunlun Red Star | ||
| Coaching career | 1984–2017 | ||
Michael Edward Keenan (born October 21, 1949) is aCanadian-American former professional hockey coach. Previously, he served as head coach and/orgeneral manager with severalNHL teams between 1984 and 2009. He currently rankssixth in playoff wins with 96. He is noted for his early career success in coaching, which started with reaching theStanley Cup Finals in his rookie season in 1985. In 1987, he reached theFinals once again. Months later, he ledTeam Canada to win the1987 Canada Cup round-robin tournament in a thrilling best-of-three series finale againstViktor Tikhonov'sRed Army team.[1] He left the Flyers for Chicago in 1988. He reached the Finals once again in1992 but lost again. After leaving the Blackhawks and spending a year away from coaching, Keenan won aStanley Cup championship as coach of the New York Rangers in 1994.
He is one of three coaches to coach in a playoff Game 7 ten times, for which he won five times.[2] Keenan was the third person to lead three different teams (Philadelphia, Chicago, New York) to theStanley Cup Finals; only one coach has accomplished the feat since Keenan.[3][4]
Keenan coached for eightNational Hockey League teams from 1984 to 2009. He also won theGagarin Cup while coachingMetallurg Magnitogorsk in 2014, and he became the first head coach to have won championships in both the NHL and KHL, later to be joined byBob Hartley after his win in 2021.[5]
Currently, he is 15th all time inNational Hockey League wins as one of 23 head coaches with 600 wins in NHL history. In each of his first eleven seasons, Keenan led his team to the Stanley Cup playoffs; in the subsequent nine seasons that followed, his teams only made it to the playoffs twice. His tough coaching style and attitude towards his players have earned him the nickname "Iron Mike".
His first coaching job was atForest 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 juniorcoaching career with thePeterborough Petes before moving on to theRochester Americans, which he guided to theAmerican Hockey League championship in 1983. He returned to the University of Toronto to lead it to theCIAU title.
Keenan landed his first high-profile job with thePhiladelphia Flyers in 1984.[6] From the 1988-1989 through the end of the 1991-1992 season, Keenan coached theChicago Blackhawks,[7] 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 theNew York Rangers head coach and led the team to itsfirst Stanley Cup win since 1940. Prior to the 1993 season, he was also a candidate for theDetroit Red Wings head coaching job that eventually went toScotty Bowman.[8]
The 1994 season saw Keenan become the first to coach two teams to a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals, having previously coached the Flyers in a losing effort against theEdmonton Oilers in1987. He was followed in this feat in2009 byMike Babcock of theDetroit Red Wings.[9] In winning the 1994 Stanley Cup, Keenan managed to avoid becoming the first coach in NHL history to lose Game 7s with two teams (the fate which would befall Babcock in losing to thePittsburgh Penguins[9]).
After leaving the Rangers, Keenan went on to serve as coach and general manager of theSt. Louis Blues (1994–96),[10] and coached theVancouver Canucks (1997–98), and theBoston 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 coachJacques Martin.
On April 24, 2007, Keenan would take his next role as senior advisor to theSwedish Ice Hockey Association. This role would not last long as he was named head coach of the Calgary Flames on June 14, 2007. Keenan would go on to passPat Quinn for 4th on the all time NHL coach win list (648 wins) on February 12, 2009.
On May 22, 2009, after two consecutive first round playoff losses, Keenan was fired as head coach of the Calgary Flames; he had one year left on his contract.[11] He recorded his 600th win as an NHL coach with the Flames.[12]
On October 1, 2009,MSG Network announced that Keenan would join the Rangers MSG Network broadcast team ofSam Rosen,Joe Micheletti,Al Trautwig, John Giannone,Dave Maloney, andRon Duguay as a regular guest analyst for pre-game, intermission, and post-game reports on the network. He's also an analyst onMSG Hockey Night Live with Trautwig, Duguay, Maloney,Ken Daneyko, andButch Goring.
On May 13, 2013, Keenan signed a contract withMetallurg Magnitogorsk ofKHL.[13] On April 30, 2014, Keenan's Metallurg team won the KHL championship with a game seven victory overHC Lev Praha. In winning the team's firstGagarin Cup, Keenan became both the first North American coach to win a KHL championship and the first coach to win both the Gagarin Cup and the Stanley Cup.[14] On October 17, 2015, Keenan was fired by Magnitogorsk.
On March 16, 2017, Keenan was announced as the new head coach ofHC Kunlun Red Star, the KHL's first Chinese based team.[15] After a disappointing start to the 2017–2018 season, Keenan was fired by Kunlun Red Star on December 3, 2017.[16]
On October 18, 2022, theItalian Ice Sports Federation named Keenan as the head coach of theItalian men's national ice hockey team.[17]
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.[18] 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 thePhiladelphia Flyers a year after leading them to the1987 Stanley Cup Finals in a move that Flyers GMBobby Clarke stated was because the team had lost "enthusiasm" for playing under Keenan.[19] After taking theChicago Blackhawks to the1992 Stanley Cup Finals, Keenan was forced to focus solely on his GM duties when longtime Blackhawk player and assistant coachDarryl Sutter was being courted by other teams to be their head coach. OwnerBill 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.[20] Keenan managed to coach the Rangers to theStanley Cup in his first and only year as head coach, but was unable to coexist long enough with general managerNeil Smith and resigned weeks later, citing a violation of his contract by the Rangers.[21][22][23][24]
Stops inSt. Louis andVancouver saw conflict with team stars; bothBrett Hull[10] andTrevor Linden[25] had major personality conflicts with Keenan. In one instance while the Blues were playing theBuffalo Sabres atThe Aud,Dale Hawerchuk's dying grandmother, who lived in nearbyFort 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. Another time, defensemanGrant 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.[26]
Keenan was even willing to publicly criticizeWayne Gretzky after he acquired the superstar in an early 1996 trade with theLos Angeles Kings. Keenan had previously coached Gretzky inCanada Cup play, and his refusal to moderate his attitude and style even when coaching a team full of stars meant his relationship with the league's all-time leading scorer was never particularly warm. Gretzky refused to consider re-signing with St. Louis during the 1996 off-season and opted instead to finish his playing career with Keenan's former team, the Rangers.
In September 2006, Keenan again attracted headlines when he abruptly resigned asgeneral manager of theFlorida Panthers. Keenan's resignation came shortly after he dealt Florida Panthers' franchise goaltenderRoberto Luongo along with defencemanLukas Krajicek and Florida's 2006 sixth-round draft pick (Sergei Shirokov) to the Vancouver Canucks for struggling forwardTodd Bertuzzi, goaltenderAlex Auld, and defencemanBryan Allen. It was speculated that Keenan had lost a power struggle with head coach and longtime friend,Jacques Martin, over personnel decisions. Martin succeeded him as general manager upon his resignation.
He was also notorious for pulling or switching hisgoaltenders, sometimes multiple times in a period. Before the1987 playoffs, he usedRon Hextall as the regular starting goalie. However, he pulled goaltenders Hextall andChico Resch a total of five times in a single game (the fifth time to gain a man-advantage in the last minute of play) in game 4 of the first round of the1987 playoffs.Three years later, he pulled goaltenderGreg Millen in favor ofEd Belfour a total of four times in 8 games. That system was discontinued when he became theNew York Rangers head coach and usedMike Richter as the regular starting goalie.
Goaltender Roberto Luongo said the following regarding Keenan's penchant for pulling his goaltenders while a member of the Florida Panthers in2002:
Keenan has a wife and a daughter.[1]
Derek Keenan, the head coach and general manager of theSaskatchewan Rush of theNational Lacrosse League, is Keenan's third cousin. Derek's wife, Wendy, is a sister ofHockey Hall of FamerJoe Nieuwendyk.
In 2018, Keenan went public with being diagnosed withprostate cancer, and was then undergoing treatment.[28]
Regular season points (Pts) contained in brackets () denote the team's standing after the full season, not the number of points accrued at the time Keenan was fired.
| Team | Year | Regular season | Post season | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | T | OTL | Pts | Finish | W | L | Win % | Result | ||
| PHI | 1984–85 | 80 | 53 | 20 | 7 | – | 113 | 1st inPatrick | 12 | 7 | .632 | Lost in Stanley Cup Finals (EDM) |
| PHI | 1985–86 | 80 | 53 | 23 | 4 | – | 110 | 1st in Patrick | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost in Division semifinals (NYR) |
| PHI | 1986–87 | 80 | 46 | 26 | 8 | – | 100 | 1st in Patrick | 15 | 11 | .577 | Lost in Stanley Cup Finals (EDM) |
| PHI | 1987–88 | 80 | 38 | 33 | 9 | – | 85 | 2nd in Patrick | 3 | 4 | .429 | Lost in Division semifinals (WSH) |
| PHI Total | 320 | 190 | 102 | 28 | – | 408 | 32 | 25 | .561 | 4 playoff appearances | ||
| CHI | 1988–89 | 80 | 27 | 41 | 12 | – | 66 | 4th inNorris | 9 | 7 | .563 | Lost in Conference finals (CGY) |
| CHI | 1989–90 | 80 | 41 | 33 | 6 | – | 88 | 1st in Norris | 10 | 10 | .500 | Lost in Conference finals (EDM) |
| CHI | 1990–91 | 80 | 49 | 23 | 8 | – | 106 | 1st in Norris | 2 | 4 | .333 | Lost in Division semifinals (MIN) |
| CHI | 1991–92 | 80 | 36 | 29 | 15 | – | 87 | 2nd in Norris | 12 | 6 | .667 | Lost in Stanley Cup Finals (PIT) |
| CHI Total | 320 | 153 | 126 | 41 | – | 347 | 33 | 27 | .550 | 4 playoff appearances | ||
| NYR | 1993–94 | 84 | 52 | 24 | 8 | – | 112 | 1st inAtlantic | 16 | 7 | .696 | Won Stanley Cup (VAN) |
| NYR Total | 84 | 52 | 24 | 8 | – | 112 | 16 | 7 | .696 | 1 playoff appearance 1 Stanley Cup title | ||
| STL | 1994–95 | 48 | 28 | 15 | 5 | – | 61 | 2nd inCentral | 3 | 4 | .429 | Lost in Conference quarterfinals (VAN) |
| STL | 1995–96 | 82 | 32 | 34 | 16 | – | 80 | 4th in Central | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost in Conference semifinals (DET) |
| STL | 1996–97 | 33 | 15 | 17 | 1 | – | (83) | 4th in Central | – | – | – | (Fired) |
| STL Total | 163 | 75 | 66 | 22 | – | 172 | 10 | 10 | .500 | 2 playoff appearances | ||
| VAN | 1997–98 | 63 | 21 | 30 | 12 | – | (64) | 7th inPacific | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| VAN | 1998–99 | 45 | 15 | 24 | 6 | – | (58) | 4th inNorthwest | – | – | – | (Fired) |
| VAN Total | 108 | 36 | 54 | 18 | – | 90 | – | – | – | |||
| BOS | 2000–01 | 74 | 33 | 26 | 7 | 8 | (88) | 4th inNortheast | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| BOS Total | 74 | 33 | 26 | 7 | 8 | 81 | – | – | – | |||
| FLA | 2001–02 | 56 | 16 | 29 | 8 | 3 | (60) | 4th inSoutheast | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| FLA | 2002–03 | 82 | 24 | 36 | 13 | 9 | 70 | 4th in Southeast | – | – | – | Missed playoffs |
| FLA | 2003–04 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 0 | (75) | 4th in Southeast | – | – | – | (Resigned) |
| FLA Total | 153 | 45 | 73 | 23 | 12 | 125 | – | – | – | |||
| CGY | 2007–08 | 82 | 42 | 30 | – | 10 | 94 | 3rd in Northwest | 3 | 4 | .429 | Lost in Conference quarterfinals (SJS) |
| CGY | 2008–09 | 82 | 46 | 30 | – | 6 | 98 | 2nd in Northwest | 2 | 4 | .333 | Lost in Conference quarterfinals (CHI) |
| CGY Total | 164 | 88 | 60 | – | 16 | 192 | 5 | 8 | .385 | 2 playoff appearances | ||
| Career Total | 1386 | 672 | 531 | 147 | 36 | 1,527 | 96 | 77 | .555 | |||
The Penguins...beat the defending champion Detroit Red Wings 2-1...in Game 7 and win the Stanley Cup for the third time...In 2003...the last series in which the home team won all seven games...the Mighty Ducks team that lost then was coached by current Red Wings bench boss Mike Babcock.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
