Longtime NHL coach Mike Keenan hired by Chinese team
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MOSCOW (AP) Mike Keenan is taking charge of a Chinese hockey team.
The longtime NHL coach has been hired to lead Chinese club Kunlun Red Star, which competes in the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League. Kunlun's aim is to develop Chinese players as the country builds a national team to compete at its first home Winter Olympics in 2022.
Keenan, who ended the New York Rangers' 54-year wait for a Stanley Cup title in 1994, has been instructed to ensure at least five Chinese players get regular ice time on a roster dominated by foreigners.
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It's not Keenan's first job outside North America. In 2015, he became the first coach to win NHL and KHL titles when his Metallurg Magnitogorsk team won the KHL's Gagarin Cup.