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Dallas Stars: Three Reasons They Make The 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs

By Josh Clark

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: Alexander Radulov #47 of the Dallas Stars celebrates his goal with John Klingberg #3 against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena on March 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Nick Wass/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: Alexander Radulov #47 of the Dallas Stars celebrates his goal with John Klingberg #3 against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena on March 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Nick Wass/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Dallas Stars
DALLAS, TX – JUNE 22: Head coach of the Dallas Stars Jim Montgomery chats prior to the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

1. Montgomery’s Style Will Catch The NHL Off Guard

There’s nothing like a fresh, new perspective behind the bench to either right all of the wrongs of a hockey team or mess things up even further.

But for the Dallas Stars, they should be in pretty good shape for the year ahead.

When Dallas hired Jim Montgomery back on May 4, 2018, there was a certain sense of urgency that came with the hiring. The Stars had missed the playoffs in two consecutive years and had done so by using two very different head coaches.

When Lindy Ruff coached the team from 2013-2017, he taught a high-risk, offensive-minded style that involved all five players on the offensive side of the puck while giving less focus to defensive structure. That worked for a while and got the Stars two playoff appearances in four seasons, but it wasn’t enough to push them through to the next level.

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    • When Ken Hitchcock was hired as head coach for the 2017-18 season, he flipped the script and taught a strong defensive approach. While that helped shore up many of the Stars’ defensive issues, the offense suffered a lack of production and energy that ultimately resulted in the team’s falling off when March rolled around.

    With Hitchcock retiring one week after the regular season ended, the hunt was on for a new head coach that wasn’t tied down to old philosophies and would provide a happy balance that would work well for a talented Stars roster. The end result was Montgomery.

    In Montgomery’s five years as the head coach at the University of Denver, he showed his NHL coaching potential. His team was consistently in the playoffs and even the Frozen Four, he taught a system that was difficult to stop, he stressed building a strong culture and bond in the locker room, and capped it all off with a national championship.

    He’s a coach that knows how to win. But the big question with the hiring wasn’t about his ability to win, but instead about his ability to win at the NHL level.

    Montgomery has never coached any higher than the college level and, besides a brief career as an NHL player that ended in 2003, has not been associated with the NHL. So, will his system work? That’s the question.

    But there’s plenty of reason to believe that the Stars will find great success in Montgomery’s system.

    On the one hand, it’s a tough one for teams to handle, even with preparation. Montgomery preaches a relentless style that relies heavily on puck possession, skating ability, and generating chances. His team at Denver was known for possessing the puck in the offensive zone for long periods of time, wearing down the opposition, and then creating scoring chances from there.

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    The Dallas Stars roster is primarily comprised of players that like to play with the puck, both on offense and defense. That bodes well for Montgomery’s style. On top of that, he also focuses on staying properly structured in all three zones and trusting his entire team.

    But perhaps the Stars’ biggest strength coming into this season is that they have a chance to catch the league off guard. Even though they have the talent to be a playoff contender, they’ve fallen short in two straight seasons. In the preseason polls, they are considered a “middle of the pack” team that may or may not contend for a wild card spot.

    With Montgomery’s new scheme coming into play and new talent on the roster, though, there’s a chance for the Stars to take advantage. Unlike with Hitchcock and Ruff, the opposition won’t know how Montgomery is planning on playing in a given night. His unpredictability and the balance that the roster possesses gives him a potential leg up on the competition.

    Montgomery’s style is a tricky one to stop or even stall, and that should pay dividends for the Stars, so long as they master it. But as of right now, he might have the secret to quick success rooted in his unpredictability and the current layout of the roster. That should at the very least keep Dallas in the middle of the playoff race in a stacked Western Conference.

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