The Dallas Stars fired Coach Jim Montgomery on Tuesday, citing “unprofessional conduct.”
Montgomery is the second coach in latest weeks to lose his job for conduct unrelated to his staff’s efficiency. Calgary Flames Coach Bill Peters resigned on Nov. 29 after being accused of directing racial slurs at a black participant 10 years in the past whereas teaching within the minor leagues. Peters had additionally been accused of kicking and punching players on the bench whereas he was coach of the Carolina Hurricanes from 2014 to 2018.
In a press release, Stars Common Supervisor Jim Nill stated: “The Dallas Stars count on all of our workers to behave with integrity and exhibit skilled conduct whereas working for and representing our group. This choice was made attributable to unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the Nationwide Hockey League.”
At a information convention, Nill stated he wouldn’t elaborate on what conduct led to Montgomery’s dismissal “out of respect for everybody concerned.” Nill described the incident, which occurred final week, as “a fabric act of unprofessionalism.” He added that it didn’t contain a legal investigation, any abuse of present or former gamers, or one other worker of the staff.
Montgomery’s firing got here a day after Gary Bettman, the N.H.L. commissioner, addressed coaches’ conduct at a Board of Governors assembly, saying the league wanted to “expedite a change in tradition.”
Along with Peters’s state of affairs, Mike Babcock was known as a bully after being fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs final month. The Chicago Blackhawks not too long ago suspended the assistant coach Marc Crawford as they examine accusations that he bodily abused gamers.
On Monday, Bettman announced a mandatory annual training program for the league’s coaches on range and inclusion.
“Our message is unequivocal: We won’t tolerate abusive conduct of any type,” he stated.
Nill stated that Montgomery’s firing was unrelated to the N.H.L.’s new initiative. The Stars grew to become conscious of his conduct on Sunday evening; Nill stated the staff accomplished its inner investigation and made its choice earlier than Bettman’s announcement.
Bettman additionally stated that groups had been “on discover” to report conduct involving N.H.L. personnel that’s “inappropriate, illegal or demonstrably abusive” to the league and that the N.H.L. would create a system through which situations of inappropriate conduct might be reported anonymously.
Montgomery, 50, was employed in Could 2018 after 5 seasons on the College of Denver, the place he received a nationwide championship in 2017. He was the uncommon N.H.L. coach to make the jump from the college ranks. The Stars reached the playoffs in his first N.H.L. season, dropping within the second spherical, and are 17-11-Three this season. The assistant Rick Bowness would be the interim head coach.
Dave Caldwell contributed reporting.