So here it is, July of 1997, and the Buffalo Sabres are looking for a hockey coach to replace Ted Nolan, who apparently turned down the offer of a one-year contract to return as the Sabres coach.

Recent news accounts have the Sabres interviewing a couple of lesser lights as Nolan's replacement--lesser lights than Mike Keenan, that is.

But think about it for a minute or two.

Every single candidate that interviewed for one of the several NHL coaching and/or GM vacancies did not possess the resume of one Iron Mike Keenan, a resume that includes four coaching appearances in the NHL finals and one Stanley Cup victory.

Heck, even Brian Sutter got the Calgary job!

But as the 1997-98 NHL season begins, it seems that Mike Keenan will be left without a meaningful job in the world's best hockey league.

That seems incredible, doesn't it?

Digressing for a moment, when I think about the Keenan-era Blues, and in particular Keenan's post-game press conferences, one word comes to mind.

The word is a favorite of Keenan's, and I suspect it is an integral part of his life in and out of hockey.

That word is "desperate".

Here's why.

"They were [are] a desperate hockey team" seemed to be Keenan's favorite post-game phrase when asked to explain why the Blues played poorly against a team struggling to make the playoffs...

And Keenan, during those post-gamers, often disparaged his own team's effort by stating that "we didn't play like a desperate hockey team tonight".

So why hasn't any NHL team hired Mike Keenan as its coach and/or GM?

Well...after all, it's only July.

NHL teams aren't desperate in July.

The most laughable press reports about Keenan's possible future had him fingered as one of (new Maple Leafs president) Ken Dryden's top candidates to become the new Toronto GM.

Anyone who knows anything about Ken Dryden...or read anything that Ken Dryden has written...or spoken with Ken Dryden...knows full well that the word "desperate" and Ken Dryden seldom appear in the same sentence.

It's going to take one incredibly desperate hockey team, in the hands of one incredibly desperate hockey executive, to hire Mike Keenan.

Some day it will happen.

Mike Keenan will come along and ruin yet another hockey franchise.

Just what was Mike Shanahan thinking, anyway?