Mike Keenan’s winning chapter with the New York Rangers

Mike Keenan earned quite a reputation during his NHL coaching days, including his one season behind the New York Rangers’ bench.

There’s a reason Mike Keenan earned the moniker “Iron Mike.”

Actually, there are quite a few of them, from holding practices after poorly played games to publicly berating top players and undermining his superiors. Keenan got into the heads of his players, often playing mind games simply to determine which players had the pedigree required to make a serious run at winning the Stanley Cup.

Some referred to him as Scotty Bowman’s protegé. Others likened him to Hitler. A few still curse his name and call him a traitor. But love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Iron Mike got the best from his first three NHL coaching ventures, starting with the Philadelphia Flyers, then the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers.

Keenan led the Flyers (twice) and the Hawks to the Finals prior to being hired by Rangers’ general manager Neil Smith on April 17, 1993. As you know, the coach and general manager often clashed over player personnel decisions. Keenan wanted to trade youth for experience and Smith didn’t, especially not rising-star Tony Amonte.

Turned out the moves Keenan requested panned out, as the Rangers won the Stanley Cup on June 14, 1994. Within a month, however, Keenan resigned, citing breach of contract by the Rangers. Click here for Steve Paulus’ account in Blue Line Station. For more on Keenan and his coaching methods, check out Jeff Gordon’s masterpiece Keenan: The High Times and Misadventures of Hockey’s Most Controversial Coach.

Keenan: The High Times and Misadventures of Hockey’s Most Controversial Coach

Publisher, Year: McGregor, 2000

How to get a copy: https://www.amazon.com/Keenan-Misadventures-Hockeys-Controversial-2000-10-01/dp/B01K3JF7HI

Synopsis: Gordon superbly documents Iron Mike, from his time as a student and player at St. Lawrence University to his days coaching in Canadian juniors and the NHL. The prologue hooks readers with gems about Keenan’s stints in juniors and with the Blackhawks.

The book has eight chapters. The titles of each are in italics, followed by a brief description.

1. One of the Nice Guys.  A look back at Keenan’s time as a student and player at SLU.
2. Becoming Scotty Bowman.  Keenan’s quest to emulate the coach he most admired.
3. Philadelphia Story.  Broad Street’s bully behind the bench.
4. Blowing through the Windy City.  Keenan’s tirade against his players and referees.
5. On Broadway.  (You know the deal.)
6. Suffering through the St. Louis Blues.  The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
7. What a Mess in Vancouver.  A long way from Broadway — on and off the ice.
8. Wasting Away.  Life after Vancouver.

Highlights

Gordon recalls that Keenan was livid with referee Andy van Hellemond after Game One of the1992 Finals in which the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from 4-1 down to win 5-4.

The Hawks’ coach blamed van Hellemond for missing interference on Pittsburgh’s tying goal with just under five minutes to go in regulation, and for awarding the Pens a late power play during which Mario Lemieux potted the winner with 13 seconds remaining.

“Andy van Hellemond did a very poor job. …I thought, ‘We worked four years to get here and the officials did us in,'” Keenan was quoted afterward. “Somebody didn’t prepare himself to call a big game.”

It’s no secret that Keenan viewed Mike Gartner as a player who excelled in the regular season and faded in the postseason. As a result, Keenan viewed Gartner as expendable and often humiliated the standout winger before his teammates.

Gordon notes that after one loss at Montreal, Keenan wondered out loud in the dressing room full of players if Gartner had “ever gotten the sh-t beat out of him by the Montreal Canadiens, and if so, is that why you’re playing so scared?”

Following a loss in Dallas, Keenan screamed at Garter: “Mike Gartner — what have you ever done in your life? You were embarrassing yourself out there.”

As Gordon notes, and to Gartner’s credit, he played the role of “good soldier” until he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in March 1994 for playoff-savvy Glenn Anderson.

By now, it’s well-known that Brian Leetch wasn’t one of Keenan’s favorites, either. At least not early in the season.

Gordon notes that Leetch’s penchant for lingering deep in the attacking zone led to many odd-man rushes the other way, driving Keenan mad, and that in an early-season match against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the coach benched Leetch and berated him for lackluster physical play after the second period.

“You’re no f—ing (Chris Chelios)!” said Keenan, who coached Chelios in Chicago. “Everybody in this organization thinks you’re so great. You’re not that f—ing good. You’re not as good as anyone says you are.”

To his credit, Leetch went on to record 23 goals and 56 assists for 79 points before leading the Rangers in the playoffs with 34 points and a plus/minus rating of +19 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Quotable

• “That’s where he runs into problems — intensity. Problems with players, problems with upper management. I’d joke around to him, to his face, that he doesn’t burn bridges behind him, he f—ing nukes them.” — Former Rangers scout E.J. McGuire, who spent two seasons with Keenan in Chicago after assisting him in Philadelphia and with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.
• “He was nuts. This guy, he’d call a team meeting, we’d all be there, and then he would change his mind. …He was crazy. We called him The General. He looked like a general with that little Hitler mustache he was wearing.” — Former Flyers strength coach Pat Croce on Keenan.
• “I’m Jewish and my grandfather died at Auschwitz. We were both very upset. Mike was very sensitive to how that would affect me and my family.” — Keenan’s first wife, Rita, after a cartoonist depicted her husband as Hitler.
• “Mike wanted to be as tough as Scotty (Bowman), but there was one problem: Away from the game, Mike was friendlier. He cared about what you thought of him.” — former Montreal Canadiens’ standout Yvon Lambert, who played for Bowman in Montreal and Keenan in Rochester (Keenan brought Lambert to the Amerks to be his point man in a dressing room in which most of the players were older than their coach).
• “The (Stanley Cup) is unbelievable. It has its own personality. Like it’s talking to you — talking of all the broken hearts, the broken legs, the broken families that went into it. For a small period of time, all the heartache goes away. I just looked at it and cried.” — Keenan after winning hockey’s Holy Grail.

In case you missed them

Here are the links to previous “Pucks on Pages” features.

We are the Rangers by Stan Fischler

The Rangers by Brian McFarlane

Unforgettable Rangers: Games and Moments from the Press Box by Matthew Blittner