The coaching carousel spins perfectly for Bruins, Stars, Knights

Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, center, displays a Bruins jersey while standing with team owner Jeremy Jacobs (left) and CEO Charlie Jacobs (right) during a news conference in Boston July 11, 2022 The Associated Press

Being fired by the Boston Bruins didn’t stop former coach Bruce Cassidy from picking up the phone and offering some advice when replacement Jim Montgomery called to check.

Being fired from the Vegas Golden Knights also didn’t stop Peter DeBoer from answering a call from Cassidy, who was replacing him at his old job. DeBoer went to the Dallas Stars, where Montgomery last served as head coach before being fired in 2019 for official reasons.

The odd off-season rotation of music coaches in the NHL was great for everyone involved, with all three teams leading their respective divisions at midseason. Montgomery’s Bruins are running away with the Eastern Conference, DeBoer’s Stars and Cassidy’s Golden Knights are also on track to make the playoffs and it seems every situation was a perfect fit.

“Sometimes you add a new body, a new voice, and things work out,” Montgomery said Friday at All-Star Weekend in South Florida, where he was joined by DeBoer and Cassidy. “The credit I give to these two guys is that Butch and Pete have done a great job over a long period of time and I would love to be able to duplicate what they have done.”

It was almost such a perfect fit that Montgomery almost bought Cassidy’s old house. Only the desire for a quieter street for his five-year-old daughter stopped him.

Other than that, it’s been a seamless transition for Montgomery, who is likely making the most of his second chance as a front-runner for the Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year. Fired from the Stars in December 2019 for inappropriate behavior, Montgomery sought help for alcohol abuse, spent two seasons as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues and landed the job in Boston with a team Cassidy had coached into the playoffs for the past six years .

The Bruins have won 39 of their first 51 games and are on track to break the record for the best regular season in NHL history.

“To see him where he deserves, to get another chance, to see him make the best of it, that’s great,” said Anaheim Ducks All-Star Forward Troy Terry, who played three as of 2015 Seasons played under Montgomery at the University of Denver. 18 when the retired center emerged as the next potential coaching phenomenon in hockey.

“It’s not surprising. Of just the brains and just the mind for hockey of people I’ve been with in my career, I’d probably put him first: just his intelligence for the game, how he sees it, like he can make adjustments.”

Some of these adjustments are thanks to Montgomery’s conversation with Cassidy, who, despite a bitter end to his time in Boston, opened up about his successor on the staff, players, and some of their strengths and weaknesses.

“I felt like I had a good grip because he had given me information about what I would encounter as the Bruins head coach,” Montgomery said.

So did Cassidy in Vegas after speaking with DeBoer, who took the fall for an injury-plagued season that saw the Golden Knights miss the playoffs for the first time in their five years of existence.

“It’s nice when coaches are willing to share a certain amount of information even though we’re competing all the time,” Cassidy said. “Pete and I have been around a little longer so we know the league. Monty obviously got to know the league with Dallas and St. Louis, so I think you get the idea of ​​what that entails.

Cassidy agreed with Montgomery that there is something to be said for “a new voice” at the helm of a team and commended the leadership groups that were in place for all three teams to succeed.

Vegas All-Star center Chandler Stephenson also sees many similarities – albeit different mannerisms – between Cassidy and DeBoer, who he sees delighted to be winning with the Stars.

“They both have their systems, their way of playing and they envision us playing like that every night,” Stephenson said. “[DeBoer has been] been at it for so long, so he had to succeed. Not really surprised. He is a great coach and also a great person. He just had to get Dallas where they wanted to be.”

But DeBoer doesn’t want this happy turn of the coaching carousel to serve as a solicitation for firing coaches every few years. In his fifth NHL stint after stints in Florida, New Jersey and San Jose — including getting the Devils and Sharks into the Stanley Cup Finals — the now-gray veteran points to the coaching continuity of the past two champions, Colorado and Tampa, as proof what wins at this level.

“The fact that all three of us ended up with good teams and made an impression there I think shows the depth of coaching at this level and I think the levels below us,” DeBoer said. “There are a lot of great coaches out there.”

So many that the coaching tree has more than just three winning branches.

Rick Bowness, who replaced DeBoer in Dallas, took over for Montgomery and coached the Stars in the 2020 cup final, has the Winnipeg Jets firmly in the playoff position in the West. Former Jets coach Paul Maurice’s Florida Panthers are also just a few points behind a wildcard berth in the East.

That’s no coincidence given how many coaches want to help each other out while bouncing around the league.

“You guys help each other,” Montgomery said. “The brotherhood we have is special.”

Source: www.theglobeandmail.com