New Stars coach won't change who he is

Jim Montgomery said the best advice he got before accepting an offer to coach the Dallas Stars came from Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella.

"He said there's a reason that people want you right now, so don't change a thing about how you do things," Montgomery said. "Be who you are. That really resonated with me because I'm confident in how I'm able to get a group of people to play the same way and believe in how we're doing it, and the trust that evolves from it. I'm not going to change who I am."
Montgomery, 48, was hired by the Stars on May 4 after spending the previous five seasons as the coach of the University of Denver men's hockey team, and he's already letting his players know what their new coach is about.
"The most important thing is you show the players that you're prepared with your game plan, your video and your practices," he said. "And that you invest in them. What I mean by investing in them is that it's a working relationship together. They know I'm going to be firm and I'm going to be hard in certain areas, but I'm also going to let them have a voice in how we're going to go about things. Because in today's world you have to explain the why and how and it just makes sense to do that."
Besides getting the advice from Tortorella, another veteran Montgomery will rely on is the person he replaced, Ken Hitchcock, who retired from coaching April 13 and remains with the Stars as a consultant.
"Ken Hitchcock is a brilliant mind and for me not to use him would be really dumb, in my opinion," Montgomery said.
Montgomery said he's spoken with Hitchcock to develop a plan for how they can work together.

"I think we're on the same page of how it would possibly work best," Montgomery said. "We just have to finalize all that. Just have to make sure once I get my day-to-day staff in place that they're comfortable with it and everyone in the organization would be comfortable. … For me, the way it would work best with [Hitchcock], is him and I are speaking a lot, but it's him and I and he's kind of mentoring me."
Montgomery and Hitchcock have a relationship dating to 2012. Hitchcock, then coach of the St. Louis Blues, considered hiring Montgomery, then coach/general manager of Dubuque of the United States Hockey League, as an assistant.
"He said he wanted to hire me but they didn't know at the time if one assistant or two assistants were leaving," Montgomery said. "He said if one assistant leaves I'm going to hire one guy I already have working experience with that I know is really good … he said if the second guy decides to leave then I want to bring you in and this is where I'm going to use you."
While Montgomery stayed with Dubuque, he and Hitchcock kept in contact.
"When we spoke on the phone (after Montgomery was hired by the Stars), he said he was surprised that it's taken this long for me to become a head coach in the NHL," Montgomery said.
Montgomery said he plans to fill his coaching staff with experienced assistants. He's the fourth coach to go from NCAA hockey to the NHL without professional experience, following Dave Hakstol (University of North Dakota to the Philadelphia Flyers, 2015), Bob Johnson (University of Wisconsin to the Calgary Flames, 1982) and Ned Harkness (Cornell University to the Detroit Red Wings, 1970).
"Whether that's two of the three assistants or all three, that is definitely an element I have to have," Montgomery said. "Whether they have head coaching experience or been a longtime assistant, you've got to know the League, you've got to know the players, you've got to know the opposing coaches. That is extremely important."
Stars general manager Jim Nill said he and Montgomery have had ongoing conversations on what the coaching staff will look like.
"He's talking to certain people, and him and I are talking as we go through it," Nill said. "We discussed it, is it important to have an experienced guy, who can that be? We are definitely looking at that. Something that's going to be important."

Montgomery understands the job that lies ahead for him, including getting the Stars back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They finished three points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card from the Western Conference, and have the No. 13 pick in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft, which the Stars host at American Airlines Center on June 22-23.
"It's now thinking about the pieces to the team, it's thinking about completing the staff, it's everything you like to do as a coach," Montgomery said. "It's why you want to be a coach, because of this part, the planning and the building part."