If you love the Flyers, you know all about “The Legion of Doom” line of Leclair-Lindros-Renberg of the mid 90s. This is one of the greatest lines in Flyers’ history as well as one of the more famous ones in recent memory across the NHL. However, the person who gave this name to this trio was center Jim Montgomery; a player who spent a brief minute with the team in 90s.
Montgomery spent parts of six seasons in the NHL, playing in a total of 122 games. In that time, he scored nine goals and 25 assists playing for five different teams. In that time, he was an associate coach with many of the great coaches and players of that era, including: Lindros, Mike Modano, and Brett Hull.
After his NHL career, Montgomery bounced around to various minor leagues. When he retired, he became the assistant coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and then the RPI Engineers. He got his first head coaching gig in 2010 as he lead the USHL expansion team Dubuque Fighting Saints to a league championship.
He won the championship, known as the Clark Cup, two years later. He moved on to coach the Univ of Denver, guiding them to the Frozen Four in 2016 and the NCAA championship game the following season.
In 2018, Montgomery was tagged to be the head of the Dallas Stars. In his first season, the Stars advanced to the second round of the playoffs before losing to the St. Louis Blues. It’s here that something bizarre happens.
During the 2019 season, he was fired by the Stars, while the team had a 17-11 record. All that has been revealed is that it was conduct that was “unprofessional”. Shortly thereafter, Montgomery attended an alcoholic rehabilitation facility and revealed that he has had a history of issues related to drinking.
Since 2020, he has served as a very capable assistant to former Flyers head coach Craig Berube on the Blues.
Why He Should Be The Flyers Next Coach
He has the respect of his team and Coach Berube. He has been named in as a target to coach for just about every team that has an open position. He’s on a team that has been rather successful the last few years, serving under a Stanley Cup winning coach, and teams tend to like that.
Why He Shouldn’t Be The Flyers Next Coach
We live in an age where if you do something “unprofessional”, it comes to light and it will stir up a bunch of controversy. What happened in Dallas? We don’t know. He has issues with alcohol. Will he be able to handle the stress of coaching in a demanding town like Philly?
Final Verdict
He’s played in Philly as a Flyer and a Phantom. He knows what this city is like and he knows what we fans are like. He isn’t scared of us. He also doesn’t seem like the type of person who would let an opportunity to coach one of the most storied franchises in the NHL be blown by bad personal decisions.
If the Flyers would offer him the position, it would be after doing their due diligence in making sure his past demons are there in the past. He could have a lot to offer this team and his story could be a great story of personal triumph. He might be some to take a chance on.