 It marked the first time in NHL history that a regular season game was held outside of North America – an effort from the league to attract attention to the sport in anticipation of the 1998 Winter Olympics, which were held in Nagano, Japan.As the team's performance continued to worsen, starting the 1997–98 season with three wins in the first 16 games, Quinn was fired as general manager after ten years with the team.Soon thereafter, Renney was fired and replaced as coach by Mike Keenan, reuniting him with Messier, another central figure from the Rangers' 1994 team.