Flames' Keenan on the hot seat?

CALGARY, Alberta - There always are personnel changes during the NHL off-season, even for teams that made the playoffs such as the Blackhawks and the Calgary Flames.

It's not too early to wonder what's in store for the Flames and the Hawks this summer.

The series loss by the Flames makes it two straight first-round exits under coach Mike Keenan, who has another year left on his contract, if that even means anything.

If you believe the whispers around the Saddledome, Keenan is on shaky ground. The speculation is that Brent Sutter will someday coach the Flames for his general manager brother Darryl, but Brent Sutter's future is cloudy.

Sutter still is under contract for next season with the New Jersey Devils, but there is talk he would like to coach Canada in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and it might be difficult to give proper attention to both jobs.

The Flames have five key unrestricted free agents to worry about, the biggest being Mike Cammalleri. The others are Todd Bertuzzi, Adrian Aucoin, Adam Pardy and Jordan Leopold.

The Hawks have five unrestricted free agents in Martin Havlat, Nikolai Khabibulin, Sammy Pahlsson, Matt Walker and Aaron Johnson. The Hawks have indicated they want to re-sign Havlat, but he might have played his way back into a higher price range.

The list of restricted free agents presents some difficult decisions for Hawks GM Dale Tallon, who will need to find the money to re-sign Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg ands Cam Barker for certain. Troy Brouwer, Ben Eager and Colin Fraser also are set to be restricted free agents.