When we hear about Mike Keenan, we always hear about how everyone hated him and how a lot of good players were in his doghouse. Clearly he needed to have some players that he liked and trusted in order to be a successful coach. So just wondering who some of these players were. I've heard he liked Messier and I also remember Roenick saying he enjoyed playing for Keenan. Does anyone know what type of player Keenan liked? Just also trying to figure out why some good players ended up in his doghouse.
Who were Mike Keenan's favourite players?
- Thread starter Sticks and Pucks
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I can't give you too much help here, but I recommend reading Roenick's book. He talks about why he likes Keenan quite a lot (most of it stems from constantly pushing him and despite being very tough, also being fair when necessary). It's also a fun read. Roenick's stories include a lot of parts where Keenan DOESN'T like players, and I seem to remember he wasn't a fan of established leadership when he entered a new room. I recall him having beef with Denis Savard, and again with Trevor Linden.
The Panther
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That's a good question. We know that he loved Mark Messier, he said that Messier single-handedly eliminated the Blackhawks from the playoffs in the 1990 Conference Final series. Keenan loved the work ethic of Steve Larmer, Dirk Graham, Brian Noonan (wherever Keenan coached it was Noonan who ended up playing there) and Keenan admired the toughness of Enforcer Mike Peluso. Chris Chelios was another one of his favorites, it was rumored that when Keenan coached the Rangers he wanted to trade Brian Leetch for Chelios but was discouraged against it by upper management.
Ziggy Stardust
Master Debater
Brian Noonan and Stephane Matteau seemed to go wherever Keenan was.
Chicago Blackhawks
New York Rangers
St. Louis Blues
Keenan also had Noonan in Vancouver, and later Matteau in Florida.
Keenan also brought in some former Oilers along with him, like Glenn Anderson and Esa Tikkanen in New York and St. Louis.
He had Steve Larmer in Chicago and New York, and Mike Hudson also played for him thrice in Chicago, New York and St. Louis. Mike Peluso and Adam Creighton also played for two Keenan teams in Chicago and St. Louis.
Chicago Blackhawks
New York Rangers
St. Louis Blues
Keenan also had Noonan in Vancouver, and later Matteau in Florida.
Keenan also brought in some former Oilers along with him, like Glenn Anderson and Esa Tikkanen in New York and St. Louis.
He had Steve Larmer in Chicago and New York, and Mike Hudson also played for him thrice in Chicago, New York and St. Louis. Mike Peluso and Adam Creighton also played for two Keenan teams in Chicago and St. Louis.
vadim sharifijanov
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best example, martin gelinas. keenan couldn't wait to get rid of him in vancouver. later signed him as a free agent in florida because, well, gelinas was basically the epitome of a mike keenan player.
other guys keenan loved: brian noonan and stephane matteau are the names that pop up a lot. he also loved islanders and oilers dynasty guys: brent sutter, greg gilbert, steve smith, along with the more obvious names. he really loved steve larmer and rick tocchet, to name a couple of stars. and i feel like he once called chelios his favourite player.
igor kravchuk is a less likely name that followed iron mike around.
and of course iron mike loved his goalies to death. hextall, belfour, richter, fuhr, luongo, kipper, he played every one of those guys until they dropped.
DudeWhereIsMakar
Originator of the username
Interesting with Brian Noonan. He actually played on the Blackhawks as a 22-year-old rookie and scored 30 points when Keenan had not arrived yet. Then Keenan arrives and Noonan only plays a total of 60 games over the next three seasons that Keenan is there, bouncing around in the minors. I would have guessed Keenan sent Noonan to the minors during those three seasons because he didn't like him. Any insight on why Noonan wasn't a regular between '88 and '91?
Also, would Messier not have been considered "established leadership" when Keenan had arrived in New York? What made Messier more special than guys like Linden and Gretzky in Keenan's books?
Also, would Messier not have been considered "established leadership" when Keenan had arrived in New York? What made Messier more special than guys like Linden and Gretzky in Keenan's books?
Blade Runner
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VanIslander
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Keenan was a strategist who loved physical, scrappy players.
He gooned up several series, including one against the Oilers when he was a young Philly coach (back in '84 I believe - I was in junior high). Keenan and Slats yelled at each other, Keenan sent Doug Brown out to make trouble. It got real nasty and Keenan developed quickly a rep for wanting dirty play to throw the opposition off its game.
He gooned up several series, including one against the Oilers when he was a young Philly coach (back in '84 I believe - I was in junior high). Keenan and Slats yelled at each other, Keenan sent Doug Brown out to make trouble. It got real nasty and Keenan developed quickly a rep for wanting dirty play to throw the opposition off its game.
Johnny Engine
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Doug Lidster and Esa Tikkanen also followed around Keenan a bit towards the end of their careers.
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
I wonder if Keenan was just ahead of the curve on getting the most out of your #1 goalie, like they were in New Jersey.
vadim sharifijanov
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peter zezel is another three time keenan guy, as a youngster in philly when he looked like a promising future star and as he bounced around at the end of his career to st louis the second time and vancouver.
Killion
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Ditto on that. Quite an excellent read. Roenick's recollections of his first year in the league playing for Chicago under Keenan replete with a number of rather hysterical episodes, his assessment of Keenan (he was "an old school tyrant, a screamer, playing for the guy like being camped out on the side of an active volcano, just a matter of time before he erupted & youd be caught up in his lava flow" & so on). Apparently he singled out Dave Manson with quite the frequency during his between period tirades, how "you shouldnt be in this league, your eff'n family must be ashamed of you" and worse. Crazy thing was that according to Roenick he actually "loved Dave Manson". Loved the potential the guy had and wished he had a whole team full of Dave Mansons'. I recall in one episode in the book, Roenick describes how the Hawks were getting beaten and in-between periods Keenan goes all psycho, rips down a bunch of ceiling tiles in the dressing room, starts laying into Dave Manson who's sitting there with his sweater off, skates undone.... well..... Manson "snaps", starts throwing equipment at Keenan then gets up & charges him, Keenan bolts out the door with Charlie Manson in hot pursuit chasing Mike around the bowels of Chicago Stadium in his half done up skates, sparks flying off the concrete, Keenan in full sprint terrified for his life.... As Roenick says in his book, "you have to give Keenan some credit though, as once a year he'd show-up at practice in full gear, telling the Players alright you MOFO's, this is one your chance to get even with me and he'd participate in scrimmages", no holds barred, he could play a bit as he'd played College Hockey, and quite the Lumberjack with his stick. Real nasty. Used it alternately like a club or a scalpel if anyone came within about 3' of him.
Johnny Engine
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Here's a team Mike might have liked:
Tikannen - Messier - Anderson
Corson - Sutter - Tocchet
Gilbert - Zezel - Larmer
Noonan - Hudson - Matteau
Chelios - Smith
Kravchuk - Lidster
Wells - Manson
Belfour
Healy
Really, if all those players are at or close to their prime, you'd have something you could win with. Although many of these guys seemed to be kicking around on Keenan teams because of their past rather than their current value.
*I chose Healy as backup because he seems like the one example of Keenan just picking a veteran backup and giving him a healthy 29 games. Every other team, he either played the heck out of his starter, or there was some amount of controversy over who the guy was supposed to be.
Tikannen - Messier - Anderson
Corson - Sutter - Tocchet
Gilbert - Zezel - Larmer
Noonan - Hudson - Matteau
Chelios - Smith
Kravchuk - Lidster
Wells - Manson
Belfour
Healy
Really, if all those players are at or close to their prime, you'd have something you could win with. Although many of these guys seemed to be kicking around on Keenan teams because of their past rather than their current value.
*I chose Healy as backup because he seems like the one example of Keenan just picking a veteran backup and giving him a healthy 29 games. Every other team, he either played the heck out of his starter, or there was some amount of controversy over who the guy was supposed to be.
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
Kravchuk down, Manson up... much more complementary pairings there.
edit: Mike Hudson! there's a guy I haven't thought about in 15 years.
vadim sharifijanov
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yeah, that was his style. but i think with him it was psychological too. if you have that kind of elite starting goalie, you ride him because he needs to know he's the man and it helps the other guys to know that every night your guy is behind them and that he's their guy too.
but i think he also knew that when you don't have that calibre of goalie you can't just ride any old average starter like he's roberto luongo. lindbergh and rookie hextall played crazy workloads, but not bob froese in '86. belfour in his vezina years, but not in his bad ones. luongo and kipper but not garth snow.
in the same way, i think it was just keenan's style to ride a workhorse number one defenseman (he played the hell out of dion phaneuf, for example). so i would edit this team a little:
propp messier larmer
corson brent sutter tocchet
tikkanen poulin graham
gilbert zezel noonan
chelios pronger
howe mccrimmon
smith kravchuk
fuhr
ideally no one
that would be a very tough team to score against.
other guys include claude lemieux, any number of other oilers and islanders, iginla, olli jokinen, the young non-cowardly joe thornton, ron sutter, and actually i bet he would give his left nut to field a whole line of sutters.
SmellOfVictory
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weaponomega
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He did a lot for Joe Thornton and Bill Guerin when he coached the Bruins for less than a season. Joe Thornton became that nasty hard nosed player under Keenan.
Big Phil
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Rick Tocchet was the first name to come to mind because of his time in Philly and also Keenan gave him a break in the 1987 Canada Cup. Tocchet was hurt but pleaded with Keenan to let him play Game 3 of the final, which he did and he contributed. I'm not sure I'd have liked playing under Keenan, but the guys that loved him definitely loved him a lot.
Ziggy Stardust
Master Debater
Can't forget Pronger too. Keenan was tough on him at first, but he really blossomed under his watch in St. Louis (though I think he reached another level with Quenneville behind the bench).
I really dislike Keenan for being such a smug *****, but he did know how to push some buttons. After a while, his act wore thin though and it showed by how frequently the team's he coached bowed out of the playoffs (or failed to reach them), and how often he bounced around after he bolted New York for St. Louis under some shady circumstances.
GMR
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YEM
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Not sure if "favourite" is the correct word, but he had a good relationship with Olli Jokinen. Everyone thought OJ was a bust after disappointing first years in the NHL, but Keenan thought there was still potential in him and gave him a chance and pushed him hard to improve his game. Basically turned him to the 30-goal scorer he was for a couple of seasons. It was the typical tough love style that Keenan was known for but it worked for Olli.
