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Wednesday, November 8, 2000
Keenan's hiring a bold move




There was no surprise that the Boston Bruins fired Pat Burns as their head coach on Wednesday morning; however it was a surprise that the club decided to hire Mike Keenan as his replacement.

In the natural order of things, a "tough" coach is usually replaced by a player friendly coach, or vice versa. In this case, Burns was a tough guy who was replaced by an even tougher guy in Keenan.

Mike Keenan
Keenan is all smiles Wednesday as he's announced as the next Bruins head coach.

The message should be very clear in the Boston dressing room: There is a mandate to win. Any team that would hire Keenan at this stage of his career is a team that needs to reach its potential ... now.

This is a clear indication that president Harry Sinden expects -- and now demands -- that the Bruins turn into a winning organization. Sinden believes Keenan's style of a more dynamic offensive team will pay dividends.

For Burns, he came into this season as the popular choice as first coach to be fired. Burns even joked about it during a recent conversation when he feigned shock that he was still around -- and this was in the second week of the season when the Bruins were in the midst of a 3-0-1 start.

"When do you think it'll be my turn?" asked Burns. "I guess we're fooling everybody by winning like this. We'll see."

Burns knew he was virtually fired toward the end of last season, and there are members of the Boston organization who insist that the only reason Burns was not fired last season is because the Bruins could not afford a public relations hit.

Remember, the team traded away icon Ray Bourque, and Sinden's history with the organization goes back far enough to remember the fallout from the ugly scenario when Bobby Orr was allowed to escape as a free agent at the end of his career.

The Bruins knew that Burns was popular despite the team's woes. And the combination of Bourque's departure with the firing of Burns would have hurt season-ticket sales. As it is, the Bruins are down from their season-ticket sales of a year ago.

With Keenan, the Bruins get an immediate jolt of electricity. Whatever his critics say, Keenan is a dynamic figure, and he has a more aggressive offensive style as a coach. Burns, who ironically is a very good friend of Keenan's, preached a more defensive system.

Watch for talks with free-agent forward Anson Carter to accelerate. Sinden will want to give Keenan every opportunity to succeed, and Carter would help. Also, it will be interesting to see what happens with Burns. If a team such as San Jose, Philadelphia or Florida falter, the name of Pat Burns will float around as the guy to change things.

Al Morganti covers the NHL for ESPN.
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