Why the Chicago Blackhawks should consider hiring Jim Montgomery as their next Head Coach

It is no surprise that the Chicago Blackhawks are at the bottom of the league this year. They are still in the midst of rebuilding so making the playoffs was pretty much out of the cards from the get-go. But with the addition of seven new players there needed to be at least some improvement from last year.

The problem is the Blackhawks have actually been worse this year than they were last year. A year ago the Blackhawks were 6-10-3 (15 points) whereas this year the Hawks are 6-12-1 (13 points) through the first 19 games of the season and sit dead last in the league.

The team last year was way worse than it was this year yet the Blackhawks have a worse record to start this season. So something has got to give at some point.

Why Jim Montgomery?

In simple terms, he is just a winner. In his first three full seasons he has coached in the NHL, his teams have made the playoffs every year. In his first season with the Boston Bruins, Montgomery led the team to a record-breaking 135-point season where the Bruins went 65-12-5 winning the Presidents' Trophy. Unsurprisingly he would go on to win the Jack Adams Coach of the Year award.

Before jumping to the NHL, Jim Montgomery worked as the head coach at the University of Denver for five years, where he played a key role in developing younger players into NHL talents. Troy Terry, Trevor Moore, and Logan O'Connor are a few notable names he coached during his time there who established themselves as NHL-caliber players.

He led the University of Denver to an NCAA Championship and won the NCAA Coach of the Year in 2017.

A big need for the Blackhawks is someone who has good expertise in player development because with all of the prospects the Hawks have in their pipeline now and being added in the future, they need someone who can get players to take that next step to become full-time NHLers. They also need someone who can establish a winning culture.

To me, Montgomery checks all of the boxes you would want. He has experience and success at basically every level he has coached at with coaching and developing younger players like in College and players at the NHL level as well.

Now obviously this is just wishful thinking and who knows if the Blackhawks or Montgomery would even be interested in this move but if the Hawks aren't taking steps in the right direction by season's end it would definitely be something the Blackhawks should go all out to get done.