I’m a fan of Mike Keenan. It started just by following him with piqued interest to see if he could continue to turn teams around one after another. He generally does, though he’s usually long gone when his hard work pays off. Take Vancouver, who are infinitely better off for his trade for Bertuzzi or St. Louis with his trade for Pronger or Chicago with his trade for Chelios.
Today we get sob story after sob story about Joe Thornton. Unfortunately the Salem news didn’t want to let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Sadly, Thornton will be remembered for two things during his seven-plus years in a Boston sweater: he didn’t live up to his expectations, and he never quite cut the mustard come playoff time.
Then:
The first point is a little more open to debate. As a first round pick in the 1997 draft, Thornton could hardly be called a bust. He tallied 454 points in 535 career games — and that’s after registering only seven points in 55 games during his rookie season, when then-coach Mike Keenan treated the 18-year-old Thornton like a Faberge egg.
Funny, but according to Joe Thornton’s career stats, he was playing for Boston his rookie season. Meanwhile, Mike Keenan’s career stats have him clear across North America, in Vancouver. Unless the Faberge egg reference is some kind of voodoo thing, I doubt Mike Keenan ever entered the mind of a rookie Joe Thornton. It wasn’t until 2000-2001 when Keenan led the Bruins to a remarkable late-season run only to lose a playoff spot to a tiebreaker after a horrible Pat Burns start.
Keenan takes a lot of crap. He’s been somewhat controversial, but he’s also the fifth best coach in the history of the NHL. Whatever methods he’s employed to get that done have worked, and something keeps getting him hired (perhaps something by the name of success).
Just another case of poor journalism.
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