Jacques Martin's relationship with his new boss, Florida general manager Mike Keenan, goes back more than three decades.

Martin and Keenan go way back
By John McGourty | NHL.com
Oct. 29, 2004

Florida Panthers General Manager Mike Keenan has assembled a veteran coaching staff and one with proven ability to develop young players.

Keenan is one of the NHL's most experienced and successful coaches and he reached out to an old teammate to help him lead the Panthers. Keenan named Jacques Martin, the former head coach of the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators, as head coach and hired former Mighty Ducks of Anaheim coach Guy Charron as his assistant. Rounding out the staff is longtime NHL goaltender Clint Malarchuk, who will advise a netminding corps that includes Roberto Luongo and Jamie McLennan with the NHL club; Patrick DesRochers and Travis Scott with San Antonio of the AHL and junior prospect David Shantz, the Panthers' second-round pick who is playing with Mississauga in the Ontario Hockey League.

Keenan and Martin, a goalie, were teammates at St. Lawrence University in the early 1970s. They played for legendary coach Bernie McKinnon, who later initiated the Saints' women's ice-hockey program.

Keenan went on to coach the OHL Peterborough Petes and a few years later Martin coached the same team. Before that though, Martin spent 10 years coaching Ottawa's Algonquin College and in the Central Junior Hockey League. Martin won the 1986 Memorial Cup with a Guelph Platers team that included Gary Roberts, Lonnie Loach, the late Steve Chiasson, Kerry Huffman, Warren Rychel and goalie Steve Guenette. That earned him OHL Coach of the Year honors and a chance to coach the Blues, which then included now-Chicago Blackhawks coach Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Doug Gilmour and Rob Ramage.

Martin rejoined Keenan when the latter was named coach of the Blackhawks in 1988 and stayed two seasons. Two years later, he joined the Quebec Nordiques as assistant coach and stayed with the club through their Stanley Cup in Colorado in 1996.

Martin spent the past eight seasons as head coach of the Senators, winning three Northeast Division titles and the Presidents' Trophy in 2003.

Mike Keenan gets away with claiming he wasn't a very good hockey player. How not very good was he?

Mike was a good hockey player. He was our captain and very dedicated. As a player, Mike was a real hustler and a real hard worker. Mike was a very determined individual.

I first met Mike at St. Lawrence University. He was a senior and I was a freshman so we played together for one year. Then, we hooked up again after I graduated. We've worked hockey schools together in the summer time. I also worked with Mike for two years in Chicago, 1988-90, as his assistant coach.

You both had mature plans to get grown-up jobs, but the rink dragged you back?

I was a school teacher for seven years and combined it with coaching college and junior hockey. In 1983, I decided to leave the teaching profession and enter hockey full time. I joined the Peterborough Petes for two years, then the Guelph Platers. I got an opportunity with the St. Blues in 1986, was hired as their head coach. Ron Caron was the general manager at the time. I had just won the Memorial Cup with the Platers and it gave me a start in the National Hockey League.

Both you and Mike coached the Peterborough Petes. Did you follow him or were there other coaches in the interim?

Mike was at Peterborough before me. After Mike, Dave Dryden replaced him and then Dick Todd.

Keenan made some sharp moves to improve the defense on a club that allowed an NHL-leading 34.5 shots per game. Your goaltender, Roberto Luongo, held up pretty well and looks like he'll be good for a long time. You also have a corps of developing young forwards. How long will it take to get this club to become a force in the NHL?

That's hard to say. I think the key to our hockey club is going to be the improvement of our young players. I think we will be a better hockey club as our youth improves. We've got strong goaltending with Roberto and we signed Jamie McLennan as a backup. We're really pleased with our goaltending. We've added some defensemen, some experienced people, like Sean Hill, Alexander Karpovtsev, Joel Kwiatkowski and Eric Cairns. Those are four veterans to complement the youngsters that we have.

I've been very impressed with Jay Bouwmeester, who played well with Team Canada. Branislav Mezei looked good with Slovakia. We also have veterans Mike Van Ryn and Mathieu Biron. We have a good core on defense. Up front, we're still very young and we'll have to count on them to improve, play hard and help our defense.

So it looks like the Panthers are rebuilding from the back end on out, picking up a goalie and four defensemen?

I think that's the key to building any winning program. That doesn't mean that you take away from your offense. The last six years that I coached in Ottawa, we were one of the top teams as far as goal scoring in the NHL. To me, good defense promotes good offense. It's a matter of players learning to play at both ends of the ice.

The Panthers have made some great draft picks in recent years. Are these young players ready to take a place in the lineup?

After Olli Jokinen, a veteran, we've got young people like Stephen Weiss, Nathan Horton, and hopefully, Anthony Stewart. But Horton and Stewart are still junior age. It's a tough challenge to play in the NHL. We just have to be patient and work at getting better from game to game. I think we have good young players who have to understand what professionalism is all about. They have to learn about the game, learn about commitment and learn how to become winners. When you look at this organization, there has been instability and they have missed the playoffs for the last four years. We've got to get back to a playoff spot, but we have to learn to walk before we learn to run.