Grade the move - Hiring Jim Montgomery

[Over the volcano]

Wondering what ya’ll think of the move for this club at this moment

 

[Gee Wally]

TBD for me. I need to see at least until Thanksgiving.

 

[bme44]

I took a fan shot at rating the grade. Seems I am 100% correct at the moment,since I am the only vote so far. LOL

 

[Ladyfan]

From all I have read it seems like a good choice.

Shocking, even the posters here mostly approve.

I gave an A- but do agree with Wally. It is too soon. I would even say not by Thanksgiving, but by the end of the season (given that a couple of our top players will be out for the first half).

 

[Healthy Wrap]

Didn’t want to see them fire Cassidy in the first place. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this hire. I figured they’d go the safe route and pick someone with more ties to the organization/area. I don’t think you can really rate it at this stage, but I am hopeful the team will be competitive under Montgomery. Still not expecting him to magically turn guys like Studnicka and Frederic into studs, but we’ll see.

 

[LouJersey]

Put B due to the fact they went outside the organization. I love that part. Also played a lot of young guys his full season in Dallas, he is going to use Studnicka in the 2 hole imo

 

[Flannelman]

Put B due to the fact they went outside the organization. I love that part. Also played a lot of young guys his full season in Dallas, he is going to use Studnicka in the 2 hole imo

Stud likes the #2 hole

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

A+ to the front office for going outside the box. Teams out there like Philadelphia always seem to try to grab the big names when hiring coaches (and often times players) and it backfires constantly. A move like this tells me there was actually some real thinking done.

But yeah, there’s no way I can actually grade the hire without seeing the team play. I have no clue what to expect and that’s to be expected at this point.

 

[chizzler]

Wondering how the team responds to a different style. Does Monty introduce man to man or slowly incorporates it when the team is a full strength. The system will be a key to this and does he have the right players to run it. That why I’m waiting for a direction from Sweeney with some kind of move. I’m just stumped as to what he can do.

 

[Bruin4]

Didn’t want to see them fire Cassidy in the first place. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this hire. I figured they’d go the safe route and pick someone with more ties to the organization/area. I don’t think you can really rate it at this stage, but I am hopeful the team will be competitive under Montgomery. Still not expecting him to magically turn guys like Studnicka and Frederic into studs, but we’ll see.

^ This pretty much sums it up for me ^

* Edit. Except the Cassidy part, I think a new voice was needed.

 

[Over the volcano]

Of course it’ll be easier to grade later- but the front office didn’t get that luxury and we love picking them apart so it’s worth going on record without any hindsight bias.

I went with B+ based on what I’ve read since the picked him, no real depth of knowledge before hand. I was hoping for someone with positive experience with this group of younger players just as a base to work from, but understand that the benefits of having a coach with NHL head coaching success under his belt.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Stud likes the #2 hole

Underrated post.

I went B+ as he was my top choice. They went outside the organization with someone who doesn’t many ties to this team which is refreshing.

 

[Bearcrap]

Voted C. He's a downgrade from Cassidy.

 

[Bruin4]

Of course it’ll be easier to grade later- but the front office didn’t get that luxury and we love picking them apart so it’s worth going on record without any hindsight bias.

I went with B+ based on what I’ve read since the picked him, no real depth of knowledge before hand. I was hoping for someone with positive experience with this group of younger players just as a base to work from, but understand that the benefits of having a coach with NHL head coaching success under his belt.

That's very true and its a whole lot easier when u wait. Lol, but the bottom line is the front office doesn't have a crystal ball or the luxury to wait, and they're getting paid a whole lot of money to have the outcome of their choices, decision making, and use of their assets, to far out weigh their blunders.

In the end that's what they are ultimately judged on and Neely & Sweeney are far behind the 8 ball at this point and time.

With that said, as of today, I really like this choice.

 

[Saxon Eric]

A
Monty is more interested in player development than maintaining a spray tan

 

[mjhfb]

We'll just have to wait and see. The best situation for a new coach to walk into is a skilled underperforming team with a weak record. Nowhere to go but up.
Since that's not the case here, especially with injuries, I hope people will be patient.

 

[Ladyfan]

We'll just have to wait and see. The best situation for a new coach to walk into is a skilled underperforming team with a weak record. Nowhere to go but up.
Since that's not the case here, especially with injuries, I hope people will be patient.

You know some won't.

 

[chizzler]

You know some won't.

That’s the difference between people. Some people like to fester on a problem or the past. Some people accept the present and move on a solve the problem and hopefully learn from it. It can be the difference between success and failure.

 

[KrejciMVP]

gave Sweeney a B for signing an NHL coach

 

[missingchicklet]

They hired, IMO, the best coach out of the available candidates, while at the same time letting other teams hire retreads. Simply based on that, before the season starts, I give them a grade of A. Not sure management could have done any better.

 

[NDiesel]

I love the move but way too early to grade IMO

 

[chizzler]

I love the move but way too early to grade IMO

I think grading the hire has nothing to do with how he does the job. Two different questions.

 

[Trashpass]

Voted C. He's a downgrade from Cassidy.

Did you consider Cassidy an upgrade over Julien? Thing is every coach has a shelf life no matter how good someone thinks they are and it looked like Cassidy's time was up.

I'm sure Cassidy will do good in Vegas until he becomes stale then they'll move on and probably "downgrade" from him. Just the way the coaching game works.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Did you consider Cassidy an upgrade over Julien? Thing is every coach has a shelf life no matter how good someone thinks they are and it looked like Cassidy's time was up.

I'm sure Cassidy will do good in Vegas until he becomes stale then they'll move on and probably "downgrade" from him. Just the way the coaching game works.

Consider the source. Then look at his name. That’s the level of his posting. He’s a troll who doesn’t say anything positive about the team. Everything sucks.

 

[ODAAT]

can`t really give it a grade but for me, to see Sweeney go a bit outside the box here and not bring in who I thought it was going to be in Leach (not that I have any issues with him) is a sign that perhaps he (Sweeney) is somewhat serious about giving kids a legit chance which I think they`ll have to do with such limited cap room

The issue will be here is this and it woulda been with Butch, what`s this team going to look like from opening day up to the point the injured return, that is going to be a tall task for anyone. Hope the fans here aren`t on Monty from game 1 if the B`s don`t look like the team they have in recent past