By Jordan Long
The Dallas Stars have their new head coach. The vacancy has been open since Ken Hitchcock decided to retire on April 13th after a 42-32-8 record. They failed to make the playoffs. The Stars were patient looking for his replacement. According to ESPN, Dallas General Manager Jim Nill said, “I want to be pretty open-minded about this. You’re seeing some successful young coaches come in and some successful coaches out there that have some great resumes.” Earlier this week, Jim Montgomery was announced as the Coach of the Dallas Stars.
This is a surprise since Montgomery doesn’t have NHL coaching experience. The only familiarity he has to the NHL is his playing days which lasted from 1993 to 2003. Montgomery appeared in 122 games for the Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadians, San Jose Sharks, and St. Louis Blues.
Montgomery has been successful at the college level with the University of Denver the past 5 years. He owns a record of 125-57-26. Denver never missed going to the NCAA Hockey Tournament under him. Denver even went to two, Frozen Fours with him taking home the National Title in 2017.
Montgomery knows how to coach a team. He has shown that in college. The NHL is a different game. It is faster and they have more skilled skaters.
Montgomery has his opportunity at the highest level. He may not win right away. The Stars need to be patient and in the past they have shown they are. Dallas doesn’t fire a coach after one poor season. Dallas may not improve in the standings next year, but Montgomery will have them playing solid hockey. Hopefully that will lead to more victories in the future and maybe a few postseason births.
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