I’m in the camp that coach Mike Keenan should be dismissed and GM Darryl Sutter should stay.
Keenan didn’t do enough in his two years guiding the Flames. With his primary mandate to coach the Flames deep into the playoffs, he simply didn’t get the job done.
His litany of other shortcomings is extensive: He couldn’t revive a floundering Calgary power play that shorted out in the final 12 games of the season and six more in the playoffs; he failed to even make an attempt at establishing a backup to Miikka Kiprusoff and burned out Kipper in the process; he watched as defenceman Dion Phaneuf regressed by epic proportions, offering only increased ice time as a remedy; he failed to spark Olli Jokinen into a consistent scorer; he was badly out-coached by Joel Quenneville in the playoffs.
Sutter should be allowed one more coach.
In my mind, it has to be someone who has a better track record of educating and developing a system.
The GM did a good job picking up cheap talent such as Rene Bourque, Curtis Glencross, Mark Giordano and showing the gumption to acquire Jokinen and Jordan Leopold at the trade deadline.
Those deals didn’t work out to perfection, but perhaps if he had a better coach…
Sutter did make some mistakes on contract signings — Jim Vandermeer at $2.4 million, Daymond Langkow at $4.5 million, Phaneuf at $6.5 million for five more years — but he has proven himself as a GM who can work his way out of a mess.
Calgary’s roster is sure to turnover at least 30 per cent over the summer and there’s a good chance a new forward-thinking coach can weave this misdirected outfit into a spring winner.
