Mike Keane Autographed Card

As I'm gearing to put another set of my cards in binders, I thought it would be helpful to feature Mike Keane once more, if only to put in perspective how much the game has changed since the end of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Take the 1992-93 season as an example, centered around Keane, two years ahead of his short stint as Montréal Canadiens captain. The team won the Stanley Cup that year, after a respectable 102-point season, which was still only good for third in the Adams Division, behind the Boston Bruins (109) and Québec Nordiques (104). Yet, that mark was good for sixth in the NHL, as only the Pittsburgh Penguins (119), Chicago Blackhawks (106) and Detroit Red Wings (103) did better in the entire league.

It has often been said that the Habs won the Cup that year on the back of Conn Smythe winner Patrick Roy and, perhaps, to a lesser extent, the incredible shut-down play of Guy Carbonneau, who silenced the likes of Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Pat Lafontaine, Alexander Mogilny, Dale Hawerchuk, Ray Ferraro and Wayne Gretzky.

While mostly true, this narrative forgoes and forgets the fact that a defenseman, Éric Desjardins, posted a hat trick in the Cup Final. That John LeClair rose from the status of almost-bust to budding clutch player. That Carbonneau was flanked by two terrific two-way players in Keane and Benoît Brunet.

It also neglects to remember that the team was also made up of very productive offensive players, such as Vincent Damphousse, who posted 97 points that year, Kirk Muller (94), Brian Bellows (40 goals, 88 points), and Stéphan Lebeau (80 points in 71 games), and that it also included former 100-point superstar Denis Savard (50 points in 63 games), All-Stars Desjardins and Mathieu Schneider on defense, former 50-goal scorer Gary Leeman, as well as a lot of heavyweights: Lyle Odelein, LeClair, Kevin Haller, Mario Roberge, Todd Ewen, and convicted killer Rob Ramage.

Where did Keane fit in this collection of very good players and rogue assembly of role players? His 60 points had him in fifth place during the season, and his 15 playoff points tied him for third on the team, behind Muller (17) and Damphousse (23).

Nowadays, 60 points is what Jonathan Toews gets; some team scoring leaders don't even get there. 97 points (Damphousse's 1993-94 total) gets you in Art Ross contention - Jamie Benn won it with 87 points in 2014-15, Martin St-Louis won it with 94 in 2003-04.

Don't get me wrong: the fact that he vowed never to learn French despite captaining the Habs, and how head coach Pat Burns would send him and Brent Gilchrist on the ice at all times - I understand when shorthanded, but when down by a goal, wouldn't you want some of your proven scorers there instead? - would anger me and many other fans for years, but perhaps he was better and more important on the ice that we thought at the time.

After all, he did also win the Cup in 1996 (with the Colorado Avalanche, with Roy and Canadiens alumnus Claude Lemieux) and 1999 (Dallas Stars, with Carbonneau and fellow former Habs Brian Skrudland and Craig Ludwig).

Here he is wearing the Habs' classic red (then-away) uniform, battling for position with giant (6'6", 235 pounds) Uwe Krupp of the New York Islanders, on card #92 from Topps' 1993-94 Stadium Club set, which he signed in blue sharpie:

Ironically, Krupp would be a huge part in the Avs' 1996 Cup win, with 16 points in 22 games manning the point, including the series-clinching, third-overtime goal in the fourth game of the team's sweep of the Florida Panthers.

Mike Keane Autograph Card

The Montréal Canadiens are in the midst of a four-game road trip, and all three games so far (Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Thursday against the Ottawa Senators, and tonight against the New York Islanders) featured their opponents wearing their alternate uniforms which, for all except the Isles', are definite improvements over their regular garbs.

Which brings me to this card of former Habs captain Mike Keane, seen wearing the New York Rangers' blue ''Liberty'' uniform - perhaps the best alternate jersey in all sports (the Edmonton Oilers had a great one too):

It's card #101 from Pinnacle's 1997-98 Be A Player set, the black sharpie signed insert version of the set.

What a perfect design, keeping the Rangers' classic dark blue as a base and red as its counterpoint, with white to highlight, and the Statue Of Liberty's head as a logo instead of the classic simple RANGERS (or NEW YORK) letters going down the front of the jersey, with the team's logo/shield on the shoulders. It was both modern and classic, also perfect descriptions of their star player at the time, Wayne Gretzky.

Keane has one less Stanley Cup than The Great One, but won it with three different teams: the Canadiens (1993), the Colorado Avalanche (1996, with former Habs and Cup winners Patrick Roy and Claude Lemieux) and the Dallas Stars (1999, with former Habs and Cup winners Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, and Craig Ludwig).

The Winnipeg native spent the twilight of his career captaining the AHL's Manitoba Moose (his #12 jersey is the only number the franchise ever retired) and now works for the Winnipeg Jets, as their player development assistant. He's a local hero there, almost on the same level as former superstar and Jets captain Thomas Steen.

While he was playing Juniors with the Moose Jaw Warriors, he played on a line with Theoren Fleury and Kelly Buchberger; all three eventually became NHL captains. I'm bound to have another signed card of his from his days with the Habs, in addition to the one I featured last August. Stay tuned, I guess!

Mike Keane Autographed Card

As I mentioned last week when I featured this Yvan Cournoyer return, I had a few option regarding jersey #12 for my Habs Numbers Project, and one of them was Mike Keane, who I got to meet a few times while he was a member of the Montréal Canadiens, and once with the Manitoba Moose.

Though he did have a 15-goal and 60-point season in 1992-93 - the year the Habs won the Stanley Cup, where a lot of their players had career years - he was mostly a grinder who gave it his all on the ice but was better at not costing his team a game than handing it one. It was that reason that got him to briefly serve as the team's captain, before being part of the trade that would send him and Patrick Roy to the Colorado Avalanche for their first Cup win - and cause the Canadiens a decade of misery.

Keane won a third Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars, playing with other former Habs Cup winners Craig Ludwig, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland - the latter two having also worn the 'C', though only Carbonneau had the title (Skrudland served during another captain's injury, perhaps Carbonneau's).

Keane signed this card a little after the turn of the millennium, though I forget what team he was playing for at the time - it could have been in his second stint with the Avs, or that season when he was with the Vancouver Canucks:

It's from Upper Deck's 1995-96 Collector's Choice set (card #153) and was signed in black sharpie.

Keane and Brent Gilchrist pretty much owe Hall Of Fame coach Pat Burns their NHL careers, as he brought them along when he graduated from the Habs' AHL affiliate Sherbrooke Canadiens, and kept handing them defensive responsibilities at the NHL level, where they improved their game immensely.

A Winnipeg native, Keane spent his final 5 seasons playing for the AHL's Manitoba Moose - which he also captained - and his #12 is the only jersey in team history to be retired.