Keenan Is New GM of Panthers

The NHL’s most dysfunctional franchise was true to form on Wednesday.

Jacques Martin and Mike Keenan, who have more than three decades of hockey history together, were reunited with the Florida Panthers.

Martin, who was fired last month by the Ottawa Senators, replaces interim coach John Torchetti. Keenan takes over as general manager, replacing Rick Dudley, who fired Keenan 6 1/2 months ago to end a turbulent two-year reign.

The Panthers are one of only five NHL teams to have missed the playoffs in each of the last four seasons.

Martin is the team’s fourth coach in less than seven months, a revolving door that started when Keenan was fired Nov. 9. Dudley replaced Keenan, compiling a 13-15-9-3 record before turning the team over to his assistant, Torchetti. He went 10-12-4-1.

Dudley had lobbied owner Alan Cohen to hire Torchetti on a permanent basis. Cohen, instead, fired Dudley on Monday, then hired Martin, the 1999 NHL coach of the year who guided Ottawa to three division titles in 8 1/2 seasons.

The status of coaches and other staff already under contract with the organization, including Torchetti, has not been decided, Martin said.

Martin was 341-255-96 in the regular season as Ottawa’s coach, but only 31-38 in the playoffs. He becomes the ninth coach in Panther history, the sixth since 2000-01.

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Calgary’s 4-1 victory over Tampa Bay on Tuesday night tied for the lowest-rated Stanley Cup finals game on ESPN since 1990.

Game 1 was watched by an average of 1,013,000 people and had a rating of 1.1. Of the 34 Stanley Cup finals game the network has televised since 1990, only Game 2 of last year’s series between New Jersey and the Mighty Ducks had a rating as low.

In contrast, the game between the Flames and the Lightning was the second-highest rated NHL game ever on Canadian network CBC, drawing over 3 million viewers.

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Jody Shelley, Columbus’ enforcer who was fourth in the NHL in penalty minutes this season, re-signed with the Blue Jackets. Financial terms of the two-year contract were not disclosed.