Mike Keenan for Russia

[IDeyChopNaira*]

I believe it would be amazing if Mike Keenan coaches Russia at the upcoming World Cup in Toronto.

Keenan would make history as the only coach to manage Canada and Russia at the Canada/World Cups.

I'm sure it'd be cool to see him behind the Russia's bench coaching Ovechkin & Co.

Any thoughts on that?

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[Scotty B]

I believe it would be amazing if Mike Keenan coaches Russia at the upcoming World Cup in Toronto.

Keenan would make history as the only coach to manage Canada and Russia at the Canada/World Cups.

I'm sure it'd be cool to see him behind the Russia's bench coaching Ovechkin & Co.

Any thoughts on that?

Russia can have him...ONLY if they promise...














To KEEP HIM

 

[IDeyChopNaira*]

Russia can have him...ONLY if they promise...














To KEEP HIM

Is he that bad? I think Keenan is a legend. I loved his Canada Cup teams in 87 and 91

 

[Acallabeth]

Maybe if he brings 1987-like referee favoritism with him, along with prime Larry Murphy and Ray Bourque.

 

[93LEAFS]

I believe it would be amazing if Mike Keenan coaches Russia at the upcoming World Cup in Toronto.

Keenan would make history as the only coach to manage Canada and Russia at the Canada/World Cups.

I'm sure it'd be cool to see him behind the Russia's bench coaching Ovechkin & Co.

Any thoughts on that?

Can't see Russian's hiring a Canadian to coach them, or anyone who wasn't born in the Soviet Union. Anything can happen as witnessed as the English National team being coached by a Swede, but I don't see it happening. Russia is a very prideful nation, and I don't think hiring a Canadian to coach them at a sport they are elite at fits in with that.

 

[Scotty B]

Is he that bad? I think Keenan is a legend. I loved his Canada Cup teams in 87 and 91

Keenan legend/loved? Hardly...he's almost universally disliked...Kinda like a more recent incarnation of Eddie Shore... Why?

Well for starters...keeping Stevie -Y off our CC team...just cause Keenan's a *****...

...On second thought...Everybody loves that Iron Mike/ Captain Bligh guy...or rather they would love it, IF...




















HE STAYED IN RUSSIA!

 

[snipes]

Why not Valeri Bragin?

 

[JackSlater]

I'm sure that Russia can find a good Russian coach before going low enough to hire Keenan. Tactically he was a dinosaur in the NHL, and his dictatorial style no longer worked with players. At the very least in a short tournament there is less time for the players to turn on him.

 

[kp61c]

after hell freezes over, then why not?

 

[Yakushev72]

I don't think anyone cares about the nationality of the coach, but why would they believe that Keenan would make a big difference? There have been reports that Tretyak retained Znarok for the World Cup, but I haven't found any confirmation of that.

 

[sdf]

Please no. Live is not hollywood drama

 

[XokkeyGuy]

Commented similiar thing earlier.

Then you would need to remove Tretiak since he has said himself that no foreigner will coach the national team. It would be one thing if this was a sport that Russia sucked at or wasn´t really that competetive, but since you are talking about a proud and patriotic country and its perhaps greatest team sport you will probably never see a foreigner ever coaching it.
Especially after the failure/scandal with Capello in the football team last year and the atmosphere that it left behind it won´t be possible in the nearest future.

 

[malkinfan]

I would like to see it. He's the only coach in the world to win a Stanley cup and a Gagarin Cup. He is a changed man, the players now respect him in Russia. Timkin says that not only does he allow Russian style of play, he encourages Soviet style of play (and is the only coach that does). So why not?

 

[oilinblood]

Is he that bad? I think Keenan is a legend. I loved his Canada Cup teams in 87 and 91

I honestly think he was a better coach the last time i saw him than he was in the 90s. But i have not seen him coach in 4-5 years. I follow Boston as my second team and he was very good in his short stint there. He did alot with nothing and was a very different coach than he had been in STL, CGY, PHI. He reminded me a bit of how he coached in NYR (NYR were stacked though and should have been alot more dominant IMHO) but... He also did some good things in VAN (SOME good things).

There is the possibility that the NHL game passed him by but i didnt see that evident in the last viewings i got of him in the NHL.

I dont see Russia as ever having a foreign coach though. That would be saying they are learning.


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South Korea will have a team as hosts of the 18 Olys. someone needs to start coaching that team pretty soon for them to be ready to not be embarassed.

 

[Sanderson]

Commented similiar thing earlier.

Well, technically Oleg Znarok is a German-Latvian (born in Russia though), the German commentators even mentioned that he and assistant Ilya Vorobyov are listed under German nationality in the official IIHF-documents for the recent tournament, so they kind of had a "foreign" coach already, even if it's merely technically

I agree with the general idea though. Russia is a great and proud hockey nation, it has no need for foreigners to take over the team. Sure, you can always find a foreigner who could teach the team something new, but it's not really something you do when you are a big nation yourself. There would be an outcry if such a choice would be made, and an even bigger one should it fail, no one would make such a risky move, as your career would be over if you made the decision to hire a foreign coach and it failed to work.

You might as well try to install a foreigner as German football coach, or with any of the bigger football nations for that matter. I still remember the outfall of England using Eriksson as coach, no one ever really warmed up to him. It's one thing to use a foreigner if you have an average to good team, but if you pride yourself to be one of the leading nations, you just won't go for that.

 

[malkinfan]

Vorobyov-Keenan-Pelino should be coaches of Russia.