Mike Keenan has been fired as the Head Coach of the Calgary Flames. I don't think that this was completely unexpected. Somebody had to take the fall for a team that grossly underachieved in the playoffs.
But wait a tick. Is it really that shocking?
This is a team that has only made it passed the first round once since winning the Cup in 89. Only one time in the last twenty years have Flames fans had a reason to stay interested past the end of April. I would say that Calgary supporters should be more surprised if the team actually won a round.
Keenan's firing is certainly justified. It was under Iron Mike's watch that Miikka Kiprusoff played in 76 games in back to back regular seasons. The Finnish goalie barely cracked a save percentage of .900 in either year. Obviously showing the wear and tear forced upon him. This season the Flames found themselves in the bottom third of the league in goals against, despite having the perennial Vezina candidate in between the iron.
The blame however should not be totally laid at Keenan's feet. GM Darryl Sutter must also have a finger pointed directly at him. I remember saying at the trade deadline that the Olli Jokinen trade would end up haunting the team. Trading a gritty player like Matthew Lombardi who can kill penalties and be disruptive on the forecheck for an unproven playoff entity like Jokinen was a bad decision.
Sutter's utter failure as a GM pushed his team up against the wall so bad in the final weeks of the season where they were up against the cap so hard that they could not field a full roster also hurt them. The Flames flickered to the finish, gave up home ice in the 1st round, which ultimately cost them as they quickly fell behind in their series and ran out of gas trying to fight back.
So while Keenan is being painted as the bad guy, the real villain may still be in place. For Flames fans, they hope there isn't a sequel in which to find out, but two decades of history is there to say it may be so.
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