Welcome to Boston

Jim Montgomery was officially introduced as the new Boston Bruins head coach this week. This guy is going to fit in great. OR relapse. Montgomery lost his last head coaching job with the Dallas Stars due to a drinking problem resulting in a “fireable offense” involving the team owner and one can only assume some top shelf bourbon. He has since gone to rehab, cleaned up, and found himself on the St. Louis Blues staff last year.

For St. Louis, Montgomery took the Blues offense from middle of the pack offensively with 169 GF to 2nd in the Western Conference with 311. The new leader behind the bench was brought in to relate to younger players and open things up offensively. If his coaching history tells us anything it’s that at the very least he wins.

SOURCE On April 12, 2010, he was named head coach of the United States Hockey League (USHL) expansion franchise Dubuque Fighting Saints. In the team's first year, Montgomery guided the Fighting Saints to a 37–14–9 record and the 2010–11 USHL championship with a three games to one victory over the Green Bay Gamblers. He went on to win the Clark Cup again during the 2012–13 season.

In 2013, Montgomery was signed by University of Denver as head coach of their Pioneers men's ice hockey team and led them to a berth in the NCAA Tournament. He led the Pioneers to the 2016 Frozen Four. In 2017, his fourth year as the head coach of the Pioneers, he led them to the National Championship game after establishing them as the first-seeded team in the country for the majority of the season. In 2016–17 season he was named the Spencer Penrose national coach of the year.

Montgomery then went on to lift the Stars to a play off birth and a 61 - 43 record over the 2018 - 2019 and 2019 - 2020 seasons. Then he got wasted and took a dump in a flower pot. [That is not a confirmed fact. ]

I’m interested to see if Bruins brass actually gives Jim the leash to help develop the younger players on this roster. After all that is why Cassidy was let go, supposedly. Funny enough the latest rumors are the Bruins are looking to bring back Krejci so a bit counter intuitive. They literally don’t have enough cap space to sign Dr. Big Mac so there are sure to be a number of moves being made with free agency starting today.

All I know is if they win every hammer head in town will offer this guy a drink and if they lose, well everyone needs a vice.

I’m rooting for Montgomery. He’s a good story with the self redemption and has a strong track record of winning with young athletes. Hopefully he is not a stop gap and can help pull this hockey club into it’s next generation.