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Brett Hull and Ex-Blues Teammates Share Keenan Story
Brett Hall and his former St. Louis Blues teammates did not hold back when reflecting on Mike Keenan. Hull, along with Jim Campbell and Tony Twist, shared a wild story from Keenan’s tenure as Blues head coach.
Keenan was named Blues head coach after winning the 1994 Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers. St. Louis was eager to get over the hump and believed Keenan was the perfect fit.
Despite his success as a coach, Keenan was known for being demanding and tough on his players. His coaching style and personality led many former players admitting that they disliked playing for him.
“Things that [Mike] Keenan did, you couldn’t feel special because he did it to everyone,” Hull said during an episode of Ice Guardians Podcast.
Hull, Campbell, and Twist recalled on incident in particular involving Rob Petrovicky. They said Keenan sent him down to the minors after warmups, only to recall him once he arrived at his destination.
“I remember [Petrovicky] getting sent down to and getting to Ohio [and then they call him back,] ‘Yeah, you can come back. You’re not quite there but yeah, turn around and come back,” Campbell said.
“I think Mike Keenan was trying to play a Scotty Bowman role with the mental games.”
Brett Hull Says Mike Keenan Enjoyed Playing Mind Games
Getty*TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY GABRIELLE TETRAULT-FARBER*
Metallurg Magnitogorsk’s Canadian head coach Mike Keenan reacts during the regular Russian open Kontinental Hockey League’s (KHL) match against CSKA in Moscow on September 11, 2015. Mike Keenan, 65, Nicknamed “Iron Mike” for his iron-fisted coaching style and temper tantrums, arrived in 2013 in Magnitogorsk, a steel city of 400,000 east of Russia’s Ural Mountains, after having coached eight different NHL teams during 20 seasons, led Metallurg Magnitogorsk to its first Gagarin Cup, making him the only coach to have won trophies in both the NHL and KHL, the world’s top two leagues. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER NEMENOV (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP via Getty Images)
Brett Hull also said he believes Mike Keenan enjoyed playing mind games with his players. Hull has been open about not having a great relationship with his former head coach.
The former Blues star said Keenan treated all players the same. Hull believes Rob Petrovicky’s being sent down is one of many examples of Keenan taking pleasure in his mind games.
“People watching these podcasts and there’s almost a Keenan story in almost every one,” Hull said. “You knew he was a bad guy and everything, but now you hear a story about sending a guy down after warm up then calling him back before he even gets there. Those are the things that he would do.”
He added: “It’s almost like he’d sit in his office and [think of something diabolical].”
Hull and Ex-Blues Teammates Highlight One Positive About Keenan
While they shared stories of Keenan not being a great coach to play for, Hull and his former Blues teammates did acknowledge one positive.
Campbell pointed out Keenan’s bonus structure that he had for players throughout the NHL regular season. After every seven-game stretch, the Blues’ performance would determine how generous the bonus would be.
“One thing that [Keenan did] good though, you have to admit, was the segment bonus before the cap,” Campbell said. “Seven game segments, which was broken down like a playoff series. So every seven games, we’d get an envelope full of money. We’d go on the road and get these huge envelopes full of cash.”
He added: “There was thousands of dollars in these envelopes. It was awesome.”
“It was a substantial amount of money,” Twist recalled.
“He was not afraid to spend other people’s money,” Hull said.
Giancarlo Aulino Giancarlo Aulino is sports writer who covers UFC for Heavy.com. He began writing for Heavy in 2025 after providing MMA coverage for Sportskeeda. Giancarlo is an experienced journalist and interviewer, having covered soccer clubs Toronto FC and Inter Toronto FC as a full-season reporter, and also producing sports coverage for Toronto radio station VIBE 105.5FM.
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