Sports

Flaming Wreck: Calgary Flames Fire Coach Mike Keenan

by armchairsports | May 22, 2009 at 03:52 pm

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The Calgary Flames have fired Mike Keenan as head coach. "Iron" Mike Keenan tends to wear on his players. I wonder if the core group of Calgary Flames players had anything to with this... though relations with captain Jarome Iginla were reported as good. The team has some free agent work to do in the summer and it may be a more appealing place to play without Keenan behind the bench.

It sends the same message as most Canadian teams - it's not just missing the playoffs that will get you fired... at least one or two playoff rounds are required for any kind of job security... the broadcast booth claims another temporary pundit for the hockey panel.

After a disappointing end to their season, the Calgary Flames announced the firing of head coach Mike Keenan on Friday afternoon.

"Our team did not meet expectations,” Flames General Manager Darryl Sutter said in a statement. ''Following detailed evaluation over the past three weeks, and taking into consideration all factors affecting our season ending result, we believe this is a necessary change required to allow our team to continue toward our objective of winning the Stanley Cup."

Keenan became the Flames head coach on June 14, 2007. In two years with Keenan at the helm, the Flames posted a record of 88-60-16, making two playoff appearances but exiting in the first round both years.

This season Calgary finished in fifth place in the Western Conference, but were eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks six games into the post-season.