The Dallas Stars Hire Denver's Jim Montgomery To Be Their New Head Coach
NHL.com – “Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today the hiring of Jim Montgomery as the team’s head coach. Montgomery will become the 23rd head coach in franchise history and the eighth in Dallas Stars history.
“We are extremely happy to announce Jim as the head coach of the Dallas Stars,” Nill said. “He has achieved success at every level throughout his coaching career, establishing a unique culture around every team that he has led. He has created a standard of excellence by building trust with his players, while putting systems in place that allow his teams to compete for championships season after season.”
So the Stars announced today they will be hiring the University of Denver’s Head Coach, Jim Montgomery, as the team’s new head coach. Montgomery will leave Denver after spending the last five seasons with the Pios, having a ton of success, going to the NCAA tournament every year he was there, back to back Frozen Four trips in 2016 and 2017, and a National Championship win in 2017. During his time in Denver, Montgomery went 125-57-26, only one coach won more games in that time span.
The Stars will love Montgomery, at 48, he isn’t one of the old school hockey nuts that can really ruffle some of the new age players feathers. He’s a player’s coach who can assert the perfect amount of authority when need be. I mean, he got Troy Terry to stick around after lighting up the WJC and winning a natty. The boys like to play for him. That is why players have stuck around at Denver.
Dallas finished the season with 92 points, missing out on the final wild card spot by three points. A team that everyone had high expectations for heading into the season, I mean how can you not? They are loaded. A roster with Seguin, Benn, Radulov, and Klingberg shouldn’t be missing the playoffs, ever. The team went out and tried to fix their goalie issues last summer, bringing in Ben Bishop, who wasn’t much of a help. Bishop posted a 2.49 GAA with a .916 SV%. So I think the problem starts and ends there. Dallas either needs a better group of defensemen or a better tendy. They have the offense, but the reason they never seem to cross that line from a good team to a great team is because of the back end. Build around Klingberg, he’s a stud.
The Stars have the 13th selection in this year’s draft. The smart move would be to add another young defenseman and try to salvage this core while they can still score. Hopefully a kid like Quinn Hughes will fall, or maybe even a player like Jett Woo out of Moose Jaw. Who knows though.
All I do know, is that Jim Montgomery is the new coach of the Dallas Stars, the players will like him, and there is no reason the Stars shouldn’t be a playoff team next season. That is all.