Dallas Weekend Mystery

It came as shock to the hockey world today that the Dallas Stars opted to fire head coach Jim Montgomery for what the team described as "unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League." There were very few details given by Stars GM Jim Nill in his press conference today about what kind of conduct Montgomery had engaged in, and Nill wouldn't divulge any details as to who the conduct was towards outside of confirming it had nothing to do with players both past or present nor any team employees. The tenure of Jim Montgomery in Dallas is officially over.

I'm not going to speculate on what Montgomery may have done to warrant his immediate termination from the NHL club, but it seems Jim Nill was notified on Sunday about the issue. He then turned it over to the Dallas Stars general counsel for review, and the decision was made to fire Montgomery. Whatever Montgomery did had to be serious to generate this kind of response from the Stars, and it's certainly going to follow Montgomery to future job interviews as the details today were sparse at best. Jim Nill stressed that the decision to remove Montgomery was not based on the on-ice performance by Dallas Stars nor was Nill influenced by the recent announcements regarding a code of conduct in the NHL. Needless to say, Jim Montgomery's days as a professional coach may very well be over.

Here is Jim Nill's entire press conference today regarding the dismissal of Jim Montgomery.

One thing is very clear in today's NHL: things that used to be overlooked and swept under the rug will no longer be tolerated by the NHL or its member clubs for anyone with an NHL contract. If there is a silver lining to this story, interim head coach Rick Bowness guided the Stars to a 2-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils tonight, but that's simply an asterisk on this day for the Dallas Stars.

Whatever Jim Montgomery did, whatever indiscretion or action he committed that was reported back to the Dallas Stars, it seems that it was clearly something the Stars cannot and will not tolerate under any circumstance. As Bob Dylan sang, "the times, they are a-changin'." Hopefully for this sport, for the better overall.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!