#4 Mike Keenan quits on the team
July 1994, the New York Rangers organization should have been basking in the glory of a Stanley Cup championship. After ending 53 years of futility, the team’s only concern should have been the impasse between the NHLPA and management, that would result in the cancellation of half the season.
The team was ready to come back to defend their title and their chief mission was how to replace Glenn Anderson and Craig MacTavish who were set to leave the team as free agents.
Instead, turmoil reigned as coach Mike Keenan suddenly resigned, citing breach of contract. It was the culmination of growing rift between Keenan and General Manager Neil Smith. The two had grown so far apart, the reports were that the two weren’t speaking to each other during the playoffs.
Keenan had a five-year contract at a million dollars annually and Keenan called a press conference to announce his departure, citing the non-payment of a bonus as breach of contract. Madison Square Garden responded that the breach was actually, just a one-day delay in the payment of the bonus.
Keenan’s departure had a ripple effect throughout the organization. Most affected was Mark Messier who had a good relationship with the coach. It drove a wedge between Messier and Neil Smith that became the reason that Messier left the team three years later to sign with Vancouver, a departure we covered at length elsewhere in this post.
With Messier at odds with Smith, it got worse later that month when the GM traded Esa Tikkanen, a Messier pal, to the Blues for Petr Nedved. Messier made Nedved’s life miserable and questioned his competitiveness. Nedved was eventually traded to the Penguins along with Sergei Zubov.
So, when Mike Keenan broke his contract and abruptly resigned, it set into motion a series of events that included the trading of Zubov, a future Hall of Famer, and ultimately Messier’s departure for Vancouver. The departure of Messier and Zubov helped contribute to the decline of the team and their missing the playoffs for seven years, leading to the great purge and the trading of Brian Leetch. Somehow, it’s all connected.