Burnside on Keenan's 'Resignation'

There are a number of things I think Burnside gets right, some things I think he gets seriously wrong, and a few questions I would answer differently from how he does.

Starting with what I think Burnside gets right:

"You see, there's always a next time for Keenan because there's always an owner willing to read the 12-year-old press clippings from Keenan's one, true moment of glory and buzz his assistant excitedly and yell, "Get Keenan on the phone. He's our man."

- Essentially, correct. Keenan has one of the longest resume's in the league, and one that has 'winner' appearing on it a mulitude of occasions. He's won a Stanley Cup, Canada Cup, etc., etc. a CV like that gets you consideration - deservedly so. Now compare Keenan's body of work to say, Pat Quinn. Who would you rather have? Both have experience, both have international success, lots of career wins, but wait...only one of them has a ring. Who would you hire first?

"Had Keenan been fired (sorry, he "resigned") at the end of last season, could Martin have locked Luongo into a long-term deal?

Impossible to say now, but the reality is the team has gambled its future on this trade."

- I think he's right on three counts, first that it is worth asking the question of whether or not it was Keenan who derailed the Luongo negotiations (he's not - but more on that in a moment), second for recognizing that no amount of analysis of the situation will tease out an answer as to what Martin would have/could have/should have done in his place, and third for correctly seeing that the team has gambled its future on the trade.

Keenan was an impossible situation with Luongo. The team hadn't enjoyed any success with him in the pipes despite a heavy workload as a #1, while Keenan rebuilt the farm system. The result is that just as Keenan's team starts to bear fruit (Jokinen now fully developed as a #1 power pivot after washing out twice elsewhere, J-Bo blooming on the blue-line, Olesz, Weiss, Horton, etc, etc), Luongo insists on a one year deal that would make him a UFA thereafter, or a long term deal at fantastic $s. So, as far as Luongo goes he now has two options if Keenan wants to keep him; blow his brains out (let Luongo go to the free market for nothing after one year), or bust his cap (5 years $35M).

Or, he takes door #3 and decides to make the best trade he can. The situation isn't one of Keenan's making, but rather one of Luongo's. Is it different if Martin is running the show? I don't see how, but its impossible to say.

Here are some of the things I think he Burnside simply gets wrong;

"You'd think it was only yesterday given the opportunities extended to Keenan to both coach and manage NHL franchises into the ground. Since 1994, Keenan managed Vancouver to a 25-43-14 record as interim GM and set the Blues back years with his turn as GM from 1994-1996. As a coach, Keenan's teams have won just one playoff round after that glorious run to the Cup in 1994."

Keenan's time as GM in Vancouver was definitely not a popular one, but the concrete foundations were laid by him for the excellent team that emerged from his departure. Consider;

- Naslund blossomed under Keenan. He was untill Keenan's arrival noteworthy for being the but of a joke scouting report 'might be better than line-mate Forsberg because of his shot', and for being traded straight up for a minor league AHL goon.

- Engineered the trade of Trevor Linden to the Islanders for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and the pick that became Jarko Ruutu. Now I know that trading Linden was seen as gutting the franchise, but c'mon, seriously - if that isn't one of the most lopsided deals ever arranged I don't know what is.

- The trade for Jovo-cop.

So I think it is simply unfair to say he ran Vcr into the ground. He patently did not. He did make serious Keenan type errors; Messier, Mogilny, and catering to Bure's ego - not to mention failing to draft, trade for or otherwise attract an elite goaltender, but on the whole, you bring Keenan in to blow up the team and rebuild it from the ground up as a stronger entity. Mission accomplished.

The situation in St Louis is difficult to judge for a couple of reasons, first, his tenure was short - just two years, and secondly, because he was called in less to blow up and rebuild the Blues, so much as get them over the top. To that end, we have Gretzky landing as a trade for Roman Vopat, and one of the sorriest excuses for Blues jersey sales to go up, ever. Should the implosion of the Blues be his responsibility? Somewhat. They were utterly devoid of prospects prior to his arrival, and while he didn't help the pipeline much, he didn't leave it worse than he found it.

"Most recently Keenan was twice allowed to muck up the future of the Florida Panthers, once as coach and then, when he couldn't get that right, as general manager."

Again, I think this is just wrong. Florida was left floundering after its miracle run to the finals and the departure of Bob Clarke to Philly. Jovo-cop kept getting injured and the team simply couldn't build around the Beezer, no matter how nice a guy he was. Now look at them. They are dripping with young prospects, talent at every position (except goaltender) and the potential to do some damage.

So I think you can blame him for being a less than fantastic coach at this stage of his career (he's good for one or two years max, before he gets tuned out), but you have to acknowledge that Keenan has had a role in building the obvious talent on team, before you chide him for how they have performed.

Now some of the questions that Burnisde asks throughout;

"Gee, has it really been a dozen years since Keenan coached the New York Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup?"

Yes it has. Since then the following coaches have won Stanley Cups;

Laviolette
Tortorella
Burns
Bowman (3)
Hartley
Robinson
Hitchock
Crawford
Lemaire

Burns, Robinson and Lemaire all won taking turns worshipping with the holy trinity of Martin Brodeur-Scott Stevens-Scott Niedermayer, so the best you can say is that they did a good job not messing up the three wise-men role. Crawford and Hartley both won steering the good ship Joe Sakic in Colorado. Funny that. Any of those guys jump out at you as being obviously superior to Keenan other than Bowman? (who is obviously superior compared to everyone). No? Me neither. Maybe Hitchcock (a Keenan protege).

"How else to explain an owner who allows himself to be bamboozled into hiring Keenan as a coach, and then, after approving his dismissal, brings him back to manage the team a few months later?"

Easy, Keenan took the coaching gig as a way to keep a high profile while searching for a GM job. His employer knew that, and knew that he was getting Keenan outside of the role he wanted, but it was to their mutual benefit that they connect when they did and to later part when they did (Keenan simply isn't a great coach anymore), and finally to reconnect over the GM role when it came about.

"Fair enough. The NHL is rife with Byzantine office politics involving coaches, GMs, scouts and equipment managers, you name it.

But if there was this kind of unease between Keenan and Martin, why was the relationship allowed to continue through the crucial free agency period?"

Who's to say it wasn't manageable to this point? Sometimes things will seem to go fine right up to the point you go over the cliff. Sure, the brakes are making a funny noise every now and then, and it's been a while since you and your mechanic spoke, but the car is running and heading in the right direction, why pull over and call a tow-truck?

"Why was Keenan allowed to trade franchise netminder Roberto Luongo for Todd Bertuzzi, a player who has yet to regain his form following his infamous attack on Steve Moore in March 2004, and mostly unproven young netminder Alex Auld?"

- Money and risk. If money were no object, Keenan would have signed Luongo - but in the new capped NHL, Money is an object whether you like it or not. Paying Luongo what he wanted would have strapped the team for the better part of a decade, and restricted the kind of building blocks available to pad out a cup winner. Risk. Luongo could have been signed to a one year deal and then allowed to walk. An arbitrator would certainly have awarded a 'one-and-out' type deal, and ultimately, the Panthers would have nothing to show for their asset. Faced with this, getting Bertuzzi for him is a coup. Bertuzzi has had two difficult years, but lots of miles left on the odometer, and he already plays a Keenan friendly game. Was their a better trade for Luongo available? I don't know, but the one he got wasn't exactly chicken feed.

"Who's next?" (as in what team will take him on now)

- Toronto. They are just about ripe to be blow apart and rebuilt. And Keenan is exactly the kind of dynamite the team needs. The fans will love hating him, and hate loving him, and everyone else not in Leaf Nation will think it a marriage made in heaven.

Or someplace warmer.