Podcast (Audio) Mike Keenan - SportsLit

[SportsLit]

Hey All,
Neil Acharya co-host of SportsLit Podcast, Mike Keenan relased his memoir Iron Mike today (Oct. 1), spoke with him ahead of its release. As we know, he was behind the bench in Vancouver for two seasons in the late 90s. Perhaps our interview may be of interest to you.

Thanks,

Neil

Iron Mike

Mike Keenan is a madman. Mike Keenan has a method. All things considered, both descriptions are part and parcel of a coaching career in which he angered many, and accomplished a great deal. 30 years ago he won the Stanley Cup and then abruptly parted with the New York Rangers, the team he l

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[rypper]

I think he might be persona non grata in Vancouver only behind Messier and Benning.

 

[Hit the post]

I think he might be persona non grata in Vancouver only behind Messier and Benning.

Benning was just incompetent as a GM. Keenan (& Messier) was a poor excuse for a human being.

 

[SportsLit]

Benning was just incompetent as a GM. Keenan (& Messier) was a poor excuse for a human being.

The book does cover his time in Vancouver in the chapter titled A Curious 14 Months

 

[Vector]

The book does cover his time in Vancouver in the chapter titled A Curious 14 Months

I’m already angry.

 

[HairyKneel]

Keenan was vital in helping clean up the mess Pat left post 1994.

 

[David71]

he did more harm than good in the 90s treated his players like shit. being a coach/gm that was a players worst nightmare, i remember he aquired a few players 1 month and the next month or 3 4 weeks later they're traded.

 

[Wry n Ginger]

Yah zero f*cks given about MK. Didn't even come close to my 'man I hate that guy scale'.

Truly a nonentity in this market for me. Part of the blurry dark background of some bleak seasons and nothing more.

 

[HairyKneel]

he did more harm than good in the 90s treated his players like shit. being a coach/gm that was a players worst nightmare, i remember he aquired a few players 1 month and the next month or 3 4 weeks later they're traded.

And he made an absolutely brilliant trade running 16 out of town. Yep he was mean to Grant Ledyard and a couple other scrubs. The guy I was pissed he dealt was Gelinas. That team was garbage fire when he got here. And BTW Brian Burke has done some pretty horrendous things to players......like Peter Zezel for instance.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

And he made an absolutely brilliant trade running 16 out of town. Yep he was mean to Grant Ledyard and a couple other scrubs. The guy I was pissed he dealt was Gelinas. That team was garbage fire when he got here. And BTW Brian Burke has done some pretty horrendous things to players......like Peter Zezel for instance.

Keenan shat on the team and was doing what ever Messier wanted.

Together they ran the team to the ground.

 

[SportsLit]

Here is an excerpt from the book:

With some injuries and no Pavel, the Canucks were an ordinary 9–10–1. On November 25, we
were in Toronto, down 3–1 midway through the third period. I
pulled Garth Snow while we were on the power play. We hit the
post, but Maple Leafs defenceman Dmitri Yushkevich scored a
short-handed, empty-net goal. We lost the game, 5–1.
Burke was livid. Again, my retort was that the team had no
offence, and we needed a spark. Get me some players.

 

[HighAndTight]

Thanks for Luongo.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I don't think the two concepts here are mutually exclusive. The team, while having assembled some high profile pieces, was not doing well. And Mike Keenan was not the remedy for the team's issues.

Yes, the team needed a rebuild. And yes, the Linden trade - in hindsight - is arguably one of the best in franchise history. But the damage Keenan (and Messier) did to the franchise, the brand, and the market, took a number of years to recover from. Those two are - rightly - two of the most pilloried figures in GM history. I think Jack Gordon and Jim Benning might be the only others that come close.

EDIT: I'll throw @MS a bone with a hat tip to Brian Burke for his work after he left the Canucks.

 

[MS]

I don't think the two concepts here are mutually exclusive. The team, while having assembled some high profile pieces, was not doing well. And Mike Keenan was not the remedy for the team's issues.

Yes, the team needed a rebuild. And yes, the Linden trade - in hindsight - is arguably one of the best in franchise history. But the damage Keenan (and Messier) did to the franchise, the brand, and the market, took a number of years to recover from. Those two are - rightly - two of the most pilloried figures in GM history. I think Jack Gordon and Jim Benning might be the only others that come close.

EDIT: I'll throw @MS a bone with a hat tip to Brian Burke for his work after he left the Canucks.

Pretty much this.

The team obviously wasn't in a great place when Keenan got here and in the end the fact that he inadvertently burned the team to the ground did provide a good space to grow from in ensuing years ... but that does not mean that anything about what he did here was actually positive or contributed to the team in the way it was intended to, other than the big return on the Linden trade.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

I’m already angry.

I wonder, does it include pulling the goalie in a tie game?

 

[Vector]

I wonder, does it include pulling the goalie in a tie game?

In the 2nd period too. That was so outrageously stupid.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

In the 2nd period too. That was so outrageously stupid.

Guy was a clown. Pat Quinn built this team from the ground up.

 

[LuckyDay]

Here is an excerpt from the book:

With some injuries and no Pavel, the Canucks were an ordinary 9–10–1. On November 25, we
were in Toronto, down 3–1 midway through the third period. I
pulled Garth Snow while we were on the power play. We hit the
post, but Maple Leafs defenceman Dmitri Yushkevich scored a
short-handed, empty-net goal. We lost the game, 5–1.
Burke was livid. Again, my retort was that the team had no
offence, and we needed a spark. Get me some players.

Captain Hook!

I was in town for a game for some reason and I got a scalpers ticket. It was awesome. The Canuck fans were screaming at him, "Hook! Hook! Hook!".
They were having fun with the chaos. I was so close to the glass I saw how Mess just towered over everyone else and was the focus of the team.

 

[LuckyDay]

Guy was a clown. Pat Quinn built this team from the ground up.

And left it in the hands of Rick Ley. Then MacLean had his divorce. Bure abandoned the team over not getting treated right. We had to trade Jeff Brown for a bag of pucks. He traded Ronning and Momesso. Quinn could be too loyal, and I quote, "I promised Rick". There was no better coach in the history of the league then Pat Quinn but he wanted to manage and not coach and as a manager he was schizo.

Keenan was brought in to be a hatchet man and he did so by burning the team down and forcing our Sacred Cow Trevor (and others) to leave to make it his team.
Only then could the rebuild happen. Inevitably, a guy like that would be gone. A hatchet man. Those who are left (the fans, the players) thank the owners for getting rid of the evil hatchet man and the new manager reaps the benefits.
Trevor came back. Bure is replaced by Jovanaski. Ohlund, Aucoin, Hedican come into their own. We get the Sedins. We get Naslund. We get the West Coast Express.

 

[Paulinbc]

Nope.

 

[LuckyDay]

In the 2nd period too. That was so outrageously stupid.

Crow did something similar when he got here (7 minutes to go in the game, 2 goals down?). He was sending a message to the team to try harder, regardless if they score or not. He was ridiculed for it but the message got through. IMO, it was Crow that got Nazzy motivated and Nazzy helped motivate everyone else on the ice with his positive energy.

 

[Hit the post]

And left it in the hands of Rick Ley.

Loyalty was Quinn's greatest "fault". It's why many of his players would do anything for him.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i’d like to hear mike keeenan’s side of the story

said no one in vancouver ever

 

[archangel2]

I was at the first game after the Linden trade. Man was that a strange night.

Keenen had/has an ego and it did more damage than good

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I was at the first game after the Linden trade. Man was that a strange night.

Keenen had/has an ego and it did more damage than good

i was at that game too

two loudest cheers i’ve ever heard in GM place/rogers was the standing O for linden and gino’s fight with strudwick