Keenan Is a Loser in This Power Play

Mike Keenan’s turbulent term as general manager and coach of the St. Louis Blues ended Thursday when he was fired, 2 1/2 years after the Blues lured him away from the New York Rangers in a controversial and costly deal.

Keenan was dismissed two weeks after he brought his long-simmering feud with Brett Hull to a boil by benching Hull, the only high-profile player Keenan hadn’t driven out of town.

Team President Jack Quinn was also dismissed but was offered a job as a consultant.

Keenan, who is owed about $7 million by the Blues, did not comment.

Jerry Ritter, the club’s chairman, acknowledged that tension between Keenan and Hull had contributed to the decision.

“Yes, the continuous feuding had become a distraction,” Ritter said. “We told Brett there was no winner in his quarrel with Mike Keenan. We also told Brett we expected more leadership.”

Assistant coach Jimmy Roberts was appointed interim coach. Ron Caron, who preceded Keenan as the Blues’ general manager, was named interim general manager.

Mark Sauer, formerly the chief executive officer of baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, replaced Quinn.

The Blues are staggering through a 3-7-1 slump and attendance at the Kiel Center has plunged about 3,000 a game below last season’s levels.

Keenan helped fill the arena last season when he acquired Wayne Gretzky from the Kings for three players and two draft picks. He anticipated that Gretzky and Hull would lift each other and the team to new heights, but his previous deals had rendered the Blues too thin for even that prolific pair to carry.

Unhappy with Keenan’s constant criticism--especially of his production during the playoffs, when he scored 16 points in 13 games--Gretzky left St. Louis as a free agent without compensation in July. When the Blues got off to a rocky start this season and Keenan and Hull sniped at each other, Ritter stepped in.

“We looked as if we were about to make our move,” Ritter said. “Instead, we’ve had constant unrest. The trust built over 30 years is being strained and that’s absolutely unacceptable.”

This was Keenan’s fourth abrupt departure from an NHL job. He was fired by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1988 and by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1992. In 1994, he claimed the Rangers had breached his contract and signed with the Blues a month after he had coached New York to the Stanley Cup. He was fined and suspended by the NHL for negotiating with the Blues.

Keenan led the Blues to the NHL’s third-best record in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, but he antagonized fans by trading Curtis Joseph and Brendan Shanahan.

Speculation on a coaching successor centered on Jacques Demers, who coached the Blues from 1983-1986 and now scouts for the Montreal Canadiens. Caron said he hoped to name a coach next week.