Mike Keenan — despite many, many, many off-season requests from Calgary media — held his tongue this summer.

Refusing to talk, of course, is his right. In Keenan's case, however, it had been an uncharacteristic stretch of silence.

Tuesday, though, Iron Mike finally cleared his throat, choosing a Toronto radio station for his coming-out.

The FAN 960 replayed clips of his excuses, I mean, explanations.

For what it's worth, here's a couple of them:

* Did Keenan think he'd be fired after two seasons in Calgary? "No, I didn't, particularly when you look at the context of the season. We had more wins than Vancouver, two points short. In the last 10 games, we played shorthanded. As everyone knows, we ran into cap problems and a plethora of injuries, particularly on defence with Regehr, Giordano, Sarich, and Phaneuf in the playoffs. Bourque was a big injury for us in the playoffs as well. To answer your question, though, I didn't think it would go to that extent because of those extenuating circumstances. Particularly (when we were) vying for that first place in our division with a shorthanded roster. A little impatient. They gave Bowman four years to get a Cup in Detroit . . . but we only had two years and I didn't know it."

* About being fired? "The business part of it is unexplainable at times. That's what you do — you take your medicine, you move on, you try to dust yourself off, and away you go."

* About Dion Phaneuf's performance in 2009-08? "Phaneuf adds a lot to that hockey club. Even though it's perceived that he had a bad year, if I had to identify problems or people that didn't have great years, Phaneuf wouldn't be the first guy I'd point out."

So there.