St. Louis Blues fans prefer to not think about Mike Keenan. It's just a time that we'd rather not remember.
However, if you've heard of the butterfly effect, it's hard to ignore the gigantic ripples that Keenan made. In the first half of his career, not only did he impact the Blues, but ultimately, he changed the course of the entire league.
To get a full appreciation of it all, you have to go all the way back to the beginning. Keenan started his NHL coaching career with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984.
He had immediate success, leading the Flyers to a conference championship and a spot in the Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately for Iron Mike, they ran into the budding dynasty of the Edmonton Oilers and lost the series 4-1.
Keenan would take the Flyers back to the final in the 1986-87 season, where they lost to the Oilers again. He was fired the following season with an 85 point season following three 100-point seasons.
However, the trickle down effect started. Just imagine how things might have been different if he pulled off an upset and won the Stanley Cup. With Philly last winning in 1975, the drought wasn't quite as noticeable, but he still would've lasted longer with the team if he put them back on top.
If he wins in Philly, maybe he never ends up in Chicago, where he started to have an impact on the Blues. His teams were talented, but also tough. Some of the biggest brawls against the Blackhawks came with Keenan behind the bench and Brian Sutter even came close to getting into it with Keenan.
Similar to the Flyers situation, Keenan nearly ended the championship dry spell. He led the Blackhawks to the Cup Final in 1992, but ran into a Pittsburgh Penguins team that had surrounded Mario Lemieux with enough supporting cast to be far too much for the Hawks to handle.
Chicago had not won the cup since 1961, so winning the chalice would have ended a 30-year drought. If he wins in the Windy City, he likely never goes to his next team, much less makes his way to the Blues and everything is different.
But, despite his success, there was an odd power struggle behind the scenes, coupled with Daryl Sutter being a hot commodity as an assistant, so Keenan moved to the GM office for a season and then headed out.
Interestingly, a choice by another team to not hire Keenan also altered their course forever. He was a candidate for the Detroit Red Wings, who went with Scotty Bowman and we know how that turned out for the Wings.
Instead, Keenan went to the New York Rangers. In spite of alienating half the team, he managed to lead them to their first, and only, Cup since 1940.
That's when the ripples really started kicking into full gear. Despite being a hero in the biggest market in the country, Keenan bolted for St. Louis because the Blues were foolish enough to make him their new coach and general manager. Not only did that alter the Blues franchise, but had a big impact elsewhere.
Keenan came out of the gate pretty hot, winning 28 games in a strike-shortened half season, but the Blues were ousted in seven games by Vancouver. Keenan made a ton of unpopular moves, including shipping out Curtis Joseph, Brendan Shanahan and the infamous Wayne Gretzky debacle. You do have to give him credit for bringing in Chris Pronger, but that's for another day.
The bottom line was he made a lot of unpopular moves while he was in charge and also chased off the greatest player of all time. What poured salt in the wound was that the Blues fired Keenan 33 games into the following season.
If the Blues had simply chosen Gretzky over Keenan in the offseason, then the Great One retires with the Blues as planned. Gretzky never goes to the Rangers.
Even in his diminished capabilities, Gretzky still gave New York two seasons of 90-plus points and a third with still 62 points in 70 games.
If Keenan doesn't last that extra part, and if Gretzky stays, then Brett Hull might never have soured on the team and also stayed. Imagine an extended period of Gretzky and Hull together and Al MacInnis and a much more seasoned Chris Pronger all together.
The Blues came close to taking down Detroit in the brief combo, but maybe they take that next leap if you never break up that core. That only happens if the Blues do the courageous thing and get rid of Keenan before Wayne officially leaves.
Yes, the Blues picked up Joel Quenneville and eventually added names like Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight and others, but those things may have happened anyway and you still get the previously mentioned players towing the weight too.
Speaking of Hull, the more you think about it, that horrendous relationship with Keenan changed other franchises too. If Hull never leaves, or at least stays until the twilight of his career, then what happens to the Dallas Stars?
Hull stayed another season after Keenan, but the relationship between him and the franchise he helped save had been too damaged. Hull signed with the Stars and immediately won the Stanley Cup in the 1998-99 season.
The Stars had a very talented team, but Hull showed he wasn't washed up with 37 goals. He also scored the game-winning goal for Dallas to beat the Buffalo Sabres in six games. It still should not have counted since the rule was a skate in the crease should negate a goal, but that's not worth arguing any longer. The bottom line is that if Keenan doesn't drive Hull to the point where he didn't want out long before he got out, then Hull never leaves and the Stars may never have won that Cup, nor gone to the Final the season after.
It's probably a stretch to say Detroit might not win if Hull doesn't go there, but you still have to wonder. Every player on a championship squad has an impact and Hull was still a clutch scorer for the Wings championships he contributed to.
Do the St. Louis Blues win a championship in this fictional situation? Likely not since they were still a bit too top heavy, but I'd like to have seen what those teams could accomplish. It's hard to argue against the Red Wings still getting their dynasty going, but a seasoned champion like Gretzky leading those teams would have been fun.
Who takes over in the Westerrn Conference if Dallas doesn't make their run? If Hull never goes there, do the Wings continue to run roughshod over the conference or does another team make the push?
If Dallas doesn't win, does Ken Hitchcock have the staying power to last in the league until the Blues gave him his run? He is still one of the winningest coaches in Blues history, so that's another alteration that might have been had Keenan left earlier.
The end of Keenan's career was much more like John Tortarella. His act became old with players far too quickly and he never lasted more than a season or two with anyone with little impact after his tenure with the Blues.
Unfortunately, even with Coach Q's long-term success after Keenan, Iron Mike really put a big dent in the Blues franchise. It's an interesting case study to think how franchises like Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, St. Louis and even Dallas could have ended up much differently if just one or two small things went differently in Keenan's tenure.
Unfortunately, things went how they went and we are where we are.