Dallas Stars Taking A Necessary Chance With Jim Montgomery
By Josh Clark
After a three-week search for a new head coach, the Dallas Stars hired Jim Montgomery from the NCAA. It may seem like a risk, but it’s one that the Stars have to take at this point. And on the bright side, it could have a major payoff.
The Dallas Stars haven’t been known for taking risks in the recent past.
Ever since Jim Nill was hired as general manager, the Stars have played it safe in just about every situation. Besides dealing Loui Eriksson in his first ever trade, Nill’s trade moves have been low-risk. In free agency, he frequently signs an established veteran over a young gun.
An example may be trading for 30-year-old Ben Bishop to be their new starter instead of going after a young goalie to build around. It also involves trading for Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp to fill in the top six on offense instead of using young talent over the years.
But it also applies to his choices for the Dallas Stars bench boss. In his first two head coaching hires, he went with experience over unproven potential. Both Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock had been coaching in the NHL for 15+ years before Nill hired them to coach the Stars. And in both situations, those coaches took precedent over younger guys from the AHL and even further down the ranks.
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It’s a strategy that Dallas embraces. Taking few risks means less chances to screw up or drop the ball. Playing it safe is, well, the safest idea after all.
But sometimes playing it safe doesn’t work. After all, look at where it’s gotten the Dallas Stars in the past five seasons. Two playoff appearances and one series win is all they have to boast over the span. And while the rest of the Central Division seems to get better with each passing season, the Stars continue getting stuck in late-season meltdowns and inconsistent patches.
And with all of that coming to a pinnacle at the end of the 2017-18 season, it’s time for a change. What the Stars are doing simply isn’t working in the long term and that’s enough to spark the need for a shift.
Nill realized this and on April 13, he got his first chance at taking the franchise in a new direction. That’s the day that legendary head coach Ken Hitchcock retired from coaching after 22 years in the league. His retirement left a void behind the Stars’ bench for the second time in one year and gave Dallas another box to check off in their offseason to-do list.
With the need for a coach after another hire that didn’t end in success, Nill decided to open the door a little wider in his search. He committed himself to looking at all viable options and picking the best coach, regardless of their past experience or resume. The first step in taking a chance is stepping out of your typical comfort zone, and that’s exactly what Nill did.
In the end, he locked in Jim Montgomery as the newest head coach of the Dallas Stars.
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By now, you probably know all about the hire, Montgomery’s coaching style, and his coaching background. And if you know that much, you know that “Monty” is only the fifth coach in history to jump directly from college to the NHL.
And for those previous four coaches, the results have been mixed. So there’s really no certainty as to whether Montgomery will produce an immediate winner or not. There’s also a chance that he never fully adapts to the NHL’s pace and style and his coaching doesn’t translate.
That’s where the risk comes in. Nill could very well have gone after NHL veterans like Bill Peters, Alain Vigneault, or even Darryl Sutter as his next head coach. After all, there’s suspicion that this hire could make or break Nill’s position in the GM seat. And yet he still goes with a young coach with a winning background but no professional experience.
It’s a chance that the Dallas Stars have been needing to take for a while now. Dallas isn’t thriving by playing it safe and some of the NHL’s best stories are sparked by taking a chance.
Montgomery is a young coach at the age of 48. And while he hasn’t coached an NHL team before, winning seems to follow him in his recent coaching gigs. If he can establish himself quickly and get the Stars off to a fast start in 2018-19, he could be setting himself and the franchise up for a beautiful and long relationship.
It’s all about taking a chance in today’s game. Playing it safe stopped working for the Stars after a while and now has them in the cellar of the Central Division. They have to start their ascension next season and will look to Montgomery for answers and assistance.
It’s a risk for the Stars, but now is the perfect time for risk-taking. The Stars need a new spark and Nill is now showing that he’s willing to do anything to make that happen. Can Montgomery serve as that spark? Only time will tell.
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But for now, just know that this is a good step for Nill and the Dallas Stars. They took a chance at just the right time and seem to have found a solid solution from it.