Wednesday: Sean Shapiro of The Athletic confirmed today that the radio appearance many have pointed to over the last 24 hours had nothing to do with Montgomery’s firing. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the rest of Montgomery’s contract, which continued through the 2021-22 season, has been terminated with cause.
Tuesday: The Dallas Stars have become the next team to fire their head coach this season, dismissing Jim Montgomery today. The Stars did not make this decision due to on-ice performance however. GM Jim Nill released a statement explaining the move:
The Dallas Stars expect all of our employees to act with integrity and exhibit professional behavior while working for and representing our organization. This decision was made due to unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League.
Assistant coach Rick Bowness has been named interim head coach, while Derek Laxdal will move up from the Texas Stars to serve as an assistant with the NHL club. Neil Graham will become the head coach of Texas.
This move comes just after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the league “will not tolerate abusive behavior of any kind” and instituted several levels of training for their coaches and executives, along with a hotline for players or employees to report any incidents of abuse. The league however was asked directly by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet if there were any ongoing investigations, which they denied. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic also tweets that the Montgomery situation is not related to the program Bettman announced.
Nill at a press conference explained that there is no connection to any current or former players. He was made aware of “a material act of unprofessionalism” over the weekend, which did not involve any other Stars employees.
The Stars had turned around their season dramatically from a disastrous start and now sit 17-11-3 on the year. The team has lost in regulation just four times in their last 22 games and are one point out of a divisional playoff spot.
LeBrun reports that Montgomery had two years left on his contract, however it is unclear what kind of termination this is. The Stars used “dismissed” in the release instead of “relieved of coaching duties” as most do when they are honoring the contract.
Bowness meanwhile will take over with plenty of experience behind the bench. With nearly 500 games as an NHL head coach and plenty more as an assistant, he will certainly not be overwhelmed by the moment. The Stars will play the New Jersey Devils today.
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???? + ????!!!!
I wonder what he did. Mutter the N word 35 years ago? Maybe he winked at an ice girl? Looking forward to hear what heinous behavior he committed.
so over exaggerated, racism isn’t okay and has no place I. hockey. get over yourself
So if he had uttered the N word 35 years ago you would fire him?
Who knows, maybe he has some Kate Smith records in his collection from the 1930’s.
obviously not, I’ll entertain a co versation once we decide we want to have an actual discussion.
Please start one then instead of virtue signaling.
I am looking forward to finding out what progressive cancel culture / death penalty act he committed. Maybe he made someone turn off a rap song. Oh the humanity!
Honestly, the only people that would get fired up about this are people who probably should check their own behavior at work.
What in the world did Mountie do with his quote?
The wrong Dallas HC got fired.
You don’t mean…GARRETT?!!!
I might just give up on the team if it’s because of an interview he had with the local radio station
You don’t, by chance, happen to know the date, show & station, do you? We might be able to dig up the podcast and hear for ourselves & share the link with our fellow PHR members.
He’s probably talking about The Ticket, however, it’s highly unlikely that interview had anything to do with this.
Do you know what day and show he was on? There’s too many shows/hours to weed through.
I didn’t hear the interview, but I can only assume he’s referencing the white elephant broadcast last Wednesday. They had done a “Monty on Monty” segment a while back and I think they did another rendition at some point during the day. It was probably just funny & maybe borderline inappropriate humor if it was anything like the first time they did it. Again, I didn’t hear it, and I highly doubt it’s to blame. I just saw some people mentioning it on Twitter joking with the Ticket hosts.
MANY thanks, @B-Minus21! Here’s the link I found: link to omny.fm
It isn’t nearly as “funny” as some want to make out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this junk is the bogus (un-) “just cause” that Nill & Co. used. Many a subpoena will loosen up the tongues of Nill & Co.
*ERRATA*! MAYBE a subpoena… (who the bleep put the “n” so close to the “b” on my stinkin’ keyboard?) Or, maybe multiple subpoenas can be had (bulk discount!)
There is a link posted on Twitter somewhere let me see if I can dig it up
@Donovan – Already found the clip — see my post above (link to omny.fm)…
Is this a frikkin’ joke??? It better not have anything to do with Radulov’s recent scratch.
After minutes of exhaustive research, I finally found it! Coach Monty, in the privacy of his own home and out of earshot of the wife & kids, stubbed his toe on the bedpost and uttered the most heinous of heinous statements: “Damn the Standard Oil Company!!!” He should have known better. Now, Jim Nill & Co. better hope his ACTUAL constitutional rights weren’t violated, else they’ll be a run on asbestos underwear in the DFW area…
something “umprofessional” that didnt involve anyone related to the team? curious to see the rationale here.
I’m betting we don’t hear anything remotely resembling “rationale.” This is already beginning to smack of a baseless smear job by “an employee” who didn’t get enough “Please” & “Thank You” trinkets thrown their way…
Yeah that doesn’t leave much left
“Material breach of unprofessionalism” DOES NOT stand up in court, Jim Nill & Co. “Just because” isn’t going to cut it.
If he had a morals clause or a code of conduct clause which, governs BOTH ON AND OFF ICE behavior and violated it, in ANY WAY, then he’s going to get fired (and i’d argue the chance is very high that he did). My god I absolutely loathe utter idiots like you who can’t separate private business from government.
Like as a example: I work in a school district with kids who are in a Special Education program and who have IEPS and sometimes Behavioral IEPS. Now, if I was recorded/overheard something derogatory about or making fun of children with learning disabilities (more specifically the ones I work with) and word got back to my superiors I would absolutely expect to be reprimanded and potentially fired, whether it was in a classroom or not.
Also, clearly you’ve never heard the business worlds version of “just because.” Which is, btw, “it wasn’t working out.”
You call someone an idiot. Then you write “a example”. It should be “an example”.
It’s a revolving door this year with managers coming in and coaches going out.
So glad he turned down the Rangers
Another coach who doesn’t know how to behave. Hockey has a very serious problem with their coaching culture.
It’s probably drugs or infidelity.
If it were drugs that he had an issue with they’d place him in the wellness program… though that’s assuming that he was just abusing them and not say, running a ring or supplying players with them.
If it’s infidelity then well… I don’t get that one. Though, it is Texas.
Why would infidelity be a fireable offense? Has the Dallas Stars been converted to a Catholic Church now? I imagine most of the NHL dabbles in infidelity.
Montgomery would be better served by just having the truth come out rather than rampant speculation.
Like me guessing he was #MeToo’d, for example.
Word on the street is harassment. I am not going to say what it was because it’s completely unproven at this point, but if true it’s pretty gross and completely uncalled for.
So, harassment of a Stars employee, not a team member or coaching/training/equipment staff? Still a bit vague…
Dallas Stars employee outside of hockey operations.
Kinda what I already guessed, so we’re still at square one…damn aggravating…
Getting close to NHL Network time to get all the down and dirty on Stars fiasco . Agreed not a Cowgirl fan but fire Garrett too… Maybe Montgomery hung around Cuban , didn’t he put his foot in his mouth a little while back as Mavericks owner, something stinks in Big D , yeah mac the keys are close together , need to invent ones for those of us with fat typing fingers.
Yo, G! My invention time has been eaten up by chasing the so-called leads all over you-know-what and back today. I need some afternoon popcorn from the stove top popper! The firings probably should have been over at 1310 The Ticket…
Think I will warm my fat fingers up with some homemade Taco Soup , cooking in crock pot and get ready for some hockey, have to wait on NHL Network European Hockey Championships on for now. have a few shows for hockey news before tonight’s games.
A semi-wild guess here:
If the incident literally just happened “a few days prior” to the weekend, if it was an issue of harassment or bigotry or whatnot, how could the Stars for sure say there is no criminal investigation? The victim would be well within their rights still to report it to police – it’s a very odd turn of phrase. I would think ‘no pending criminal investigation’ would be more appropriate in those circumstances.
My thought – it was some kind of consensual sexual relationship, or perhaps one-time, between Montgomery and this employee. If it was ongoing the reported incident could be when they were caught by someone and officially reported to the Stars.
There are lots of companies that frown on interoffice relationships and forbid them, Stars could be one. Also possible that it was a quid pro quo kind of thing which is pretty sleazy.
Again just a guess – trying to read between the lines a bit. All my attempts to look for reasoning are getting back to those interviews, which most people seem to say are nowhere near bad enough to be worth firing over.
but they’re saying it isnt related to a member of the organization. if it was anyone within their employ then they are incorrect.
What I read said it was concerning a Stars employee – Nill said later it didn’t involve any current or former players or other employees.
So isolated to just one Stars employee in other words. It’s possible I did interpret that wrong it isn’t written very well in most of the reports I read.
You are already talking about “victim”. You are a well trained progressive. Imagining victims that may not even exist.
Where did I imply a victim?
If it is a consensual quid pro quo situation, they are both equally guilty and should face the same consequences.
I heard on good authority it was titty bar related.
Was he making it Rain!
The speculation will outlive whatever the “material act of unprofessionalism” was. Maybe the Stars aim is let the rumor mill run riot, but it doesn’t serve anyone’s interest. The story will eventually be released and the Stars should admit and move on.