There has never been much of a question about whether Jim Montgomery can coach. He has won everywhere he's gone. He was considered one of hockey's brightest up-and-coming coaches when the Stars plucked him from the University of Denver in 2018. He led Dallas to the second round of the playoffs in his first season there.
The questions -- many of them -- came with how things ended in Dallas. Montgomery was fired in Dec. 2019 for "unprofessional conduct" and later revealed that he was dealing with alcoholism. He began receiving treatment and returned to hockey as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues the following season.
For outsiders, it was unclear if or when Montgomery would get another head coaching opportunity in the NHL. But he never lost faith that it would happen as long as he continued to do the right things. Two and a half years after the Stars fired him, Montgomery was introduced as the Boston Bruins' new head coach on Monday.
"Yes, I did," Montgomery said when he asked if he thought he would ever get this chance again. "I'm very fortunate that I have a lot of great people in my life, a lot of great mentors. I think that everybody has ups and downs in life. I think if you learn from them, you grow, you get better, I think good things happen. I'm just grateful that it's happened."
The Bruins did their homework. They had to make sure they learned about what happened in Dallas, and they had to be convinced that Montgomery is in a better place now and ready to better handle this responsibility.
Montgomery said he had three separate interviews with the Bruins totaling about eight hours. His firing from the Stars, alcoholism and recovery were discussed thoroughly.
"It was a long conversation, and I don't think it was only one," he said. "It was probably three separate conversations. I think they realized that for me, in my life, sobriety, family and hockey are the three most important things."
Montgomery said it took him a good nine months of treatment before he felt comfortable re-entering the hockey world, a world that -- let's be honest -- features plenty of drinking. He has established boundaries and a support system since then, and he doesn't believe it will be any harder to keep those in place through this move to a new city and new job.
"I think when you have a daily routine and you have people in your life that help you, it's not hard no matter where you are," he said. "There's a lot of people everywhere that are in the same boat as me."
Some of those people are former teammates and players of his who have reached out since he went public with his issues. Montgomery said he has already seen his story help others, and that he embraces that.
"I have already, yes," he said. "Former teammates, people I've coached already. So you can imagine how youthful they are. So yeah, that's incredibly therapeutic to be able to be part of something like that.
"…I'm very cognizant of the things I've been able to overcome with the help of my wife, my family, my close friends, new friends, that I think anybody can achieve good things in life, if you're willing to accept change and make change."
