Blues Legend Brett Hull Reveals the 'Worst Thing' Mike Keenan Ever Did as Coach

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Mike Keenan, Head Coach for the St Louis Blues looks on from the team bench during the NHL Pacific Division game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim arena in Anaheim, California, United States on 1st May 1995. The St. Louis Blues won the game 5 - 3. (Photo by Glenn Cratty/Allsport/Getty Images)

Blues legend Brett Hull reflected on his time playing for Mike Keenan in St. Louis and made a shocking revelation. Hull noted that Keenan had a habit of healthy scratching players, particularly for games that carried sentimental meaning. One particular game saw Keenan healthy scratch Dale Hawerchuk in Buffalo.

It is no secret that Hull did not get along with Keenan when the latter arrived in St. Louis. Keenan brought Stanley Cup experience. However, he was also known for his poor treatment of some players.

One player in particular was Hawerchuk, who played for the Blues for only 66 games during the 1995-96 NHL season. He was nearing the end of his career, so some games, particularly against his former team, were sentimental.

Blues Legend Brett Hull Reveals the ‘Worst Thing’ Mike Keenan Ever Did as Coach

IHOCKEY-EUR-RUSSIA-KHL-NHL-KEENAN — 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)

Blues legend Brett Hull revealed that Mike Keenan purposely scratched Dale Hawerchuk when St. Louis played in Buffalo.

Hull recalled the game against the Sabres being sentimental for Hawerchuk because his elderly grandmother was in attendance. Despite knowing this, Keenan decided to scratch Hawerchuk, ruining a feel-good moment for the NHL legend.

“The worst story in hockey is Dale Hawerchuk. Near the end of his career, he’s going to Buffalo for the last time. His grandmother is very old – 90 some years old. For the last time, she comes to the game and Keenan scratched Dale Hawerchuk. Of all the things he did, that was, to me, the worst thing he ever did,” Hull said during his Ice Guardians podcast.

That was not the only thing Keenan did, as he later took the captaincy away from Hull after Hull confronted him.

“He took my ‘C’ away the next morning because I let him have it,” Hull said.

Jamal Mayers Recalls Keenan Making Players Nervous

Former Blues star Jamal Mayers also chimed in and reminisced about players being worried about Keenan finding out that they had purchased tickets for family members.

Mayers revealed that he was warned about Keenan. As a result, Mayers stayed low-key and quietly purchased just two tickets for his family.

“‘If you’re from Toronto, don’t get a bunch of tickets because if [Mike] Keenan finds out, he’s gonna scratch you.’ So, I got a ticket only for my brother – my parents didn’t go – and my grandmother, so my brother and my grandmother came to the game because I was all nervous that he’d find out,” Mayers told Ice Guardians podcast.