from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

The man who should be the Avalanche’s next coach works a little more than six miles down the road from the NHL team’s arena in Denver. If general manager Joe Sakic lets Jim Montgomery get away, it will be a crying shame.

Montgomery knows how to build a winner. He has done it at the University of Denver. The Pioneers won the eighth national championship in school history earlier this month with a 3-2 victory against Minnesota Duluth. And the NHL has noticed.

The Florida Panthers have scheduled an interview with Montgomery. They would be smart to hire him. But Sakic, the former Avs star whose efforts as a front-office executive for the franchise has been an unmitigated hockey disaster, would be crazy to let Montgomery leave town.

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