Off-Wing Opinion weighs in on Keenan, and I expect to see something later from Frank Hofer.
Yeah, I have thoughts...
Background--I have a lot of hockey programs. I mean a lot. We're talking 10 vertical drawers full of hockey programs. So, I get to see a lot of bright, smiling faces through a lot of years.
Part of the collection is a bunch of programs from the Rochester Americans, where Keenan coached before he came on board with the Flyers. He's smiling, and he doesn't have that guarded and hard look you see after he ended up, with oh, New York. He looks like a guy on the way up, who knows where he's going.
So, he ends up with the Flyers, and they're a team on the move as well. They've matured from the Broad Street Bullies, and now with their new goalie, Pelle Lindbergh, they look like they have all the pieces in place.
Depending on which Flyers book you want to read (or the "Six Shooters" book about the Sutter brothers), Keenan had a party for the players--you know, one of those "all the wood behind one arrowhead" type of things.
Pelle Lindbergh didn't survive. Cast the blame where you will--a Porsche that was modified beyond control, too much alcohol, whatever, but Lindbergh sustained a serious brain stem injury, and after a few days, the doctors turned off the machines.
The press caught up to Keenan, and he was quoted as saying "How am I going to win the Stanley Cup now?!?"
I'll give Keenan points for being totally distraught, and not having his brain properly engaging his mouth.
But after that, he couldn't properly coach a goaltender. He picked up a rep for being particularly abusive to his goaltenders, talking to the press about how they weren't so special.
After that Keenan fell into a pattern of screwing up the relationship with his teams, making it a certainty that he'd get canned when things got completely out of control.
Because if he left them, they couldn't leave him, could they?
Update: Frank Hofer offers his opinion on Keenan