Jim Kelley wonders if Darryl Sutter is the man for the job with the Flames.
I don't really worry whether or not Mike Keenan made the right or wrong move in pulling Miikka Kiprusoff in Game 7 of Calgary's eventual loss to the San Jose Sharks.
I worry about whether or not general manager Darryl Sutter made the right decision in hiring Keenan in the first place.
The truth is I worry a lot about Sutter's decisions. I realize he's a sacred cow in Calgary, but follow even a sacred cow around long enough and you inevitably run into some droppings that just don't pass the smell test.
The wheel of coaches would be one of them. It spins like a revolving door in Calgary and aside from proving that losing wasn't all Jim Playfair's fault, exactly what has it accomplished?
Having the oldest (or second oldest depending upon how you configure a roster on any given day) lineup is another. Losing in the first round of the playoffs for three consecutive years would be a third. A repeated failure in getting Jarome Iginla a quality centreman would be another. Lack of overall team speed in a league that puts a premium on speed might be something worthy of debate. A bloated payroll for a team clearly not headed in the right direction is something one could hang on Sutter. So too is a farm system that hasn't produced a great deal of young talent and does not appear capable of doing so in time for next season.
With a resume like that, one could argue that it is Sutter's work that should be evaluated before next season. Keenan is a secondary problem.
Not that the coach gets off easy in this assessment.
Keenan thrives on creating tension and he did that in Calgary. He was a perfect example of the "careful what you wish for" scenario in that you knew there would be conflicts with the players and especially conflicts with the goaltender once you hired him.
Those are the downsides of Iron Mike. The upside is that he is a terrific coach when it comes to bench tactics and that's a big part of the reason the Flames - a team that at least on paper was outmatched in most of the key areas - extended the series with the Sharks to seven games.
But if there's something that separates old-school coaches like Keenan into a second echelon behind old -school coaches who know how to succeed in a new-school era, it's their ability to adapt.
Scott Bowman has that talent to go along with all the other elements that make him the closest thing to a coaching genius the NHL has ever had. Keenan does not.
That's something that Sutter should have been aware of when he looked over Keenan's resume. In essence, he hired the same coach Keenan has always been at every stop and in his later years, those stops have produced little of consequence. In addition, Keenan still has most of the same traits that have made him so unsuccessful as a general manager and one of them, the penchant for throwing people under the bus to justify questionable decisions on his part, has now reared its ugly head in Calgary.
Pulling Kiprusoff is one thing. Singling him out as the reason the Flames lost the series - and make no mistake, that's exactly what Keenan did in his postgame remarks - was foolhardy.
Understand, I don't worship at the altar of Miikka Kiprusoff any more than I don't bow to a Sutter when one passes by. The goalie's approach to training camp and his sometimes lackadaisical approach to the early part of the season needed to be corrected and if the player doesn't do it himself, then it falls to the coach and usually by way of some harsh tactics.
But that's something to be done early on and pounding on an individual, arguably the most important individual on the team beyond Iginla, as the reason the Flames lost as a team is not only foolish and shamelessly self-serving, but it's bad management as well.
The goalie is under a long-term contract. He, like most in his profession, has a delicate psyche. He shouldn't necessarily be coddled, but he does need to know that he's a part of a team, especially when everyone else on the team knows they wouldn't have even qualified for the playoffs if the goalie hadn't been there for them time and time again.
Keenan intentionally chose not to do that.
And why did it come to that? Could it be that Iron Mike was sending a message that the goalie upon which the GM has staked the franchise's future isn't good enough for him? If that's the case, that's a slap in the face to Sutter. It could also be taken as an unspoken allegation that the GM has picked the wrong rock on which to build his team. That is not the role of a coach, but it's not like Keenan hasn't been down this path before.
But then the general manager should have known that when he hired him.
And if he didn't, that's one more thing on a rather long list of Sutter decisions that Calgary Flames fans should be worried about.
AND ANOTHER THING …
In the accountability department your humble correspondent was just so-so in the prediction department. I said the Canadiens would beat Boston and that Pittsburgh would beat Ottawa, but I also picked the Capitals to beat Philadelphia in seven and though I would like to claim incompetent officiating played a hand in Philadelphia's triumph, a win is a win. I also missed badly in selecting the New Jersey Devils over the New York Rangers. Clearly things have changed in the swamp.
Out west it was better. I told you Nashville would give Detroit a scare but that the Red Wings would win. I picked San Jose over Calgary in seven games and I picked Colorado over Minnesota in six. I told you the Dallas Stars were capable of beating the defending champion Anaheim Ducks and how they could do it, but I didn't have the courage to back it with a pick. As a result the final tally was 5-3. Selections for the second round appear elsewhere on this site.
