Now, I've been paying more attention to the coaching in some of the recent games that I have watched. Now, granted, there are very FEW plays that can be scripted in hockey and the coach has to pretty much make most decisions on the fly. If anything, powerplay and penalty kill positions can be planned out and teams have a rather good idea of what their opponents like to do going into any game. I just finished watching the Kings and the Panthers and the Panthers are HORRIBLE. Mike Keenan is coaching these guys and what the mystique behind him is, I'll never know. He gets brought in and rarely makes a difference, he gets brought in at strange points in the season, but there is very little change in the teams play. They still play dirty, slow and dull hockey. Their offense SUCKS to the point where Pavel Bure only has 11 goals on the year. Concussion early on, yeah, but he's getting 30 minutes of ice time. 30 minutes!!
The Kings lose Andreas Lilja and nearly end up losing Kelly Buchberger due to knee on knee hits by Panther forwards. Steve Heinze cut his forearm on a weird play, as he landed on Roberto Luongo's skate. There were a handful of 3rd man infractions by Florida and guys like Luas and Lindsey waste no time in getting their sticks up when a hit is coming.
It's not wonder these guys lead the league in penalty minutes. 24.3 a game and they're 28th in the league in scoring. They're 6.6.1. w/ Keenan behind the bench.
I think Keenan keeps getting hired because of his work with the New York Rangers. Then again, didn't he get fired after they won the Stanley Cup in 1994?
...Some fear the Pink... ...But many fear....THE MOUNTIE! (He's handsome, he's brave, and he's strong, you know)
I didn't get to see the Kings/Panthers game down here in Florida so no comment. You are right though, the Panthers suck. Keenan is doing pretty good though, he has as many wins in 13 games that Sutter had in 24. The problem is that Brian Murray traded away a lot of young guys and got little or nothing in return.
"He's the greatest, he's fantastic, wherever there is danger he'll be there."
Keenan used to get hired because of the NYR CUP and because of the job he did in Chicago and Philly before that but since he ran away in 1994 (with Neil Smith's considerable help) he has done absolutely nothing but wreck St. Louis, Vancouver (though there wasn't much to wreck there anyway) and Boston. He is the perfect big name filler for a bad market underachiever that wants to justify a ticket increase at the end of the season.
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