Like many of his teammates on the 1993-94 Blues, Jim Montgomery stayed in hockey after his playing days.

After serving as an assistant coach at Notre Dame and RPI and enjoying successful head coaching stints at Dubuque of the USHL and the University of Denver, he landed in Dallas as Ken Hitchcock's successor as head coach.

Montgomery faces an interesting challenge to get the Stars back into the Western Conference playoff bracket. Hitchcock managed to restore defensive order last season, but insufficient secondary scoring and goaltender Ben Bishop's inability to stay healthy kept the Stars out of postseason play.

Hitchcock retired from hockey, again, after one frustrating season in the Big D. Now Montgomery is trying to create more puck possession and sustained offensive pressure while retaining some of the defensive structure Hitchcock instilled.

This is a work in progress, as folks will see tonight when the Stars engage the Blues in preseason play with most of their top guys playing. Montgomery is integrating elite defenseman prospect Miro Heiskanen into his attack along with winger Valeri Nichushkin, who returned from the KHL.

He also hopes to revive veteran No. 2 center Jason Spezza, who did not respond well to Hitchcock's coaching. And the addition of reliable goaltender Anton Khudobin to back up Our Town's Bishop should solve another problem from last season.

Montgomery's points of emphasis for the Stars are familiar: Win at least 56 percent of faceoffs, take no undisciplined penalties, allow three or fewer odd-man rushes per game, win the net-front battles and win special teams play.

"Those are the five things I want," Montgomery told NHL.com. "I think it allows the players to focus on details and not on outcome and results, and allow us to stay in the moment."

ALSO FROM THE 1993-94 BLUES . . .

Brendan Shanahan is running the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brett Hull has filled front office roles with the Dallas Stars and Blues. Phil Housley is coaching the Buffalo Sabres.

Jeff Brown, Rick Zombo, Tony Hrkac, Ron Sutter and Basil McRae got into coaching and/or scouting and Kelly Chase and Bret Hedican pursued broadcasting. It's great to see so many yesteryear stay in the game.

BLUE JACKETS BLUES

Former Blues executives John Davidson and Jarmo Kekalainen are suffering a rather stressful preseason with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Star forward Artemi Panarin is in the final year of his contract, with unrestricted free agency looming next summer. The same goes for goaltender goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

Cornerstone defenseman Seth Jones will miss the next four to six weeks with a sprained knee. On the plus side, defenseman Zach Werenski is returning to active duty after recovering from shoulder surgery.

So what is management to do? Keep Panarin and Bobrovsky and try to take a deep postseason run? Trade one or both for a package of prospects and draft picks at some point before the NHL trade deadline?

Panarin has sent clear signals that he won't re-sign in Columbus. He will seek a more attractive market in free agency. Bobrovsky hasn't offered many clues, but clearly he expects to become one of the game's highest-paid goaltenders in his next contract despite his lack of postseason success.

The Blue Jackets certainly have enough talent to contend in the Eastern Conference this season. So keeping Panarin and Bobrovsky as rental players would make sense.

On the other hand, dealing one or both players could help the Blue Jackets retool quickly around young center Pierre-Luc Dubois and Oliver Bjorkstrand a strong defensive corps led by Jones, Werenski and Ryan Murray.

AROUND THE RINKS: Former Blues prospect Ty Rattie, 25, has only played in 49 regular season games during his nomadic pro career. But as he did late last season, Rattie has flourished on Connor McDavid's wing during preseason play for the Edmonton Oilers. Rattie may not be able to create his own chances consistently at this level, but McDavid will do that for him -- and Rattie can finish . . . Many experts wonder if the Anaheim Ducks have enough to reach to Western Conference playoff bracket next spring. And the lost of power forward Corey Perry for five months due to a torn MCL only adds to that skepticism. The Ducks want to play faster this season, but this is not an ideal way to get quicker. Another complication in Anaheim is the contract haggling with unsigned restricted free agent winger Nick Ritchie . . . Speaking of unsigned RFAs, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Michael Nylander remains home in Sweden working out on his own. The Leafs face some long-term salary cap challenges after sign free agent center John Tavares. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner will also command huge dollars on their next deal. Nylander might be wise to sign a "bridge" deal to get closer to unrestricted free agency and his maximum leverage point. Otherwise he risks signing a long-term contract that will leave him vastly underpaid in a few years . . . The gutting of the Senators continues apace. GM Pierre Dorion is trying to offload Zach Smith and the last three years of his contract, which carries a $3.25 million salary cap hit. Smith sailed through waivers, so now he is on the trade block . . . Senators center Matt Duchene, who could become an unrestricted free agent next summer, publicly criticized the team for putting Smith on waivers. This will be a fun season in Ottawa.