Avalanche Hire Montgomery

The Colorado Avalanche have named Jim Montgomery as their new head coach, it was announced Sunday morning. 

“Jim is a guy we’ve targeted for a couple years now, given his personal struggles we wanted to allow him the chance to get healthy before we moved forward and by all accounts he has.” His ability to connect with all types of players while also demanding that his teams play with structure, is what really stood out for us.” Avalanche general manager Kirklan Lycar said in a statement. "

“We are excited for Jim to begin to make his imprint on our team, and we believe he is the right man to lead our franchise through this reload of assets.” 

The 53-year-old Montgomery replaces Jeff Blashill, who was fired by the Avs after only one season. “I have to commend Jeff for his hard work and dedication towards our franchise, we just felt that we needed a new voice and a new direction. When asked what expectations Lycar has for Montgomery this year he had this to say 

“Winning is the name of the game, but our measure of success on this season will be focused more on the development of our younger players as well as establishing a culture that we can hang our hat on moving forward, this is a reload; not a rebuild.”

Kevin Lacy

You beat me to it. This was my plan if my team struggled after 20 games.

Avalanche Hire Montgomery
Lycar tabs Jim Montgomery as the “man in charge”

• 1 teams Like this  2 years

Kyle Phillips

Nice hire! I do have to wonder what the difference is between a "rebuild" and a "reload" though ;)

Avalanche Hire Montgomery
Lycar tabs Jim Montgomery as the “man in charge”

• 1 teams Like this  2 years

Kirklan Lycar Difference is I plan to compete for a cup in 2 years versus 5, I suppose.

2 years  1 teams Like this