The fiery coach spent two seasons behind the Flames bench, and went 88-60-16 in that span. "Our team did not meet expectations," said Flames general manager Darryl Sutter in a release.

"Following detailed evaluation over the past three weeks, and taking into consideration all factors affecting our season-ending result, we believe this is a necessary change required to allow our team to continue toward our objective of winning the Stanley Cup."

Calgary exited the playoffs early in both years that Keenan, 59, was behind the bench, falling in the opening round each time.

The Flames lost to San Jose in seven games during the first round of the 2007-08 campaign, and bowed out in six versus Chicago in this year's opening round of the post-season