By Canadian Press

Dallas Stars fire head coach Jim Montgomery, citing “unprofessional conduct”

Dec 10, 2019 | 8:33 AM

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars have fired head coach Jim Montgomery, citing “unprofessional conduct.”

Rick Bowness, who has served as an assistant coach since June 2018, was named interim head coach.

 “The Dallas Stars expect all of our employees to act with integrity and exhibit professional behaviour while working for and representing our organization,” GM Jim Nill said in a statement.

“This decision was made due to unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League.”

The team did not detail the conduct in question. The departure follows Bill Peters stepping down as Calgary head coach after questionable conduct, with the spotlight also shining on other coaches.

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The announcement comes a day after Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the league’s Board of Governors meeting that the NHL will work swiftly to make changes to better deal with personnel conduct issues in the wake of incidents that surfaced in recent weeks.

The Stars, who have won their last two games, stand sixth in the Western Conference with a 17-11-3 record.

Dallas named Montgomery head coach in May 2018. He had spent the previous five seasons, winning the NCAA championship in 2017. He succeeded Ken Hitchcock, who had retired.

Montgomery played pro hockey for 12 seasons, including 122 NHL games with the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks and Stars.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10 2019.

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The Canadian Press