Today, the Panthers picked up Steve "I'm just visiting this reality" Shields for the proverbial bag of pucks. The fun is just beginning.
If there is a current goalie/coaching combination that has a better chance for providing sheer entertainment value, I can't think of one.
Keenan's well-known for attempting to bully his goalies by pushing their emotional buttons, and he's not going to know how to do it. Keenan's effecacy in this tactic has dropped dramatically since the statement by Mike Richter that it was a good thing for Keenan that NYC had a waiting period for handguns, and it hit an all time low when Arturs Irbe pulled off the "I am poor Latvian goalie trying to put bread on table for family" schtick while repeated skewering Keenan on HNIC (This was a truly wonderful set of performances missed by those of you who didn't have access to CBC back in Keenan's Vancouver days. I think CBC used to have Irbe on post-game just to get the latest chapter on air.). But Keenan insists on going back to the same poisoned well, and he's going up against the zen master of "space cadet".
Keenan's going to find out that you can't hurt what you can't hit, and that is likely going to drive him to his usual end-game behaviour--lashing out and attacking everything around him, while at the post-game press conferences his voice wanders from tenor into whiny mezzo.
If you're interested in the game behind the game, this is one to watch.
Posted by lsefton at October 5, 2003 11:34 AM