Panthers part ways with Tallon after latest flop, begin GM search
Dale Tallon is out as Panthers general manager after failing to lead the franchise to a single playoff series win in 10 years. A core of talented young players never produced the title contender sought by owner Vinnie Viola.
The Panthers are moving on from Dale Tallon after 10 years as the team’s general manager.
The Panthers announced Monday they and Tallon came to a “mutual agreement” to part ways following another postseason flameout. The executive’s contract was set to expire this offseason after he spent 10 years in Florida without leading the Panthers to a single playoff series victory.
“For the last decade, Dale raised the team’s profile, attracted key players to South Florida and brought character and class to our franchise,” owner Vinnie Viola said in a statement. “When we purchased the Panthers in 2013, we did so with a singular goal: to win a Stanley Cup. We have not seen our efforts come to fruition. We will now begin an organizational search for the next general nanager.”
Tallon took over as the Panthers’ general manager
in 2010 following 12 years with the Chicago Blackhawks organization, including four as their general manager. The former NHL defenseman was tasked with rebuilding a team with little winning history. He retooled the roster around talented young, top-five draft picks, although it never translated into significant results.
In his 10 years with Florida, the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup playoffs twice, in 2012 and 2016, and lost in the first round both times. Florida also went to the qualifying round of the expanded postseason this year, but lost to the New York Islanders in a best-of-5 series, falling short of reaching the traditional 16-team Cup playoffs.
In Tallon’s decade with the franchise, Florida went 347-317-109 in the regular season.
In 2016, the Panthers promoted Tallon to an executive role as president of hockey operations, although he always had final say on hockey decisions, even when Tom Rowe was technically general manager. Tallon resumed the title of general manager in 2017 and held it until Monday.
“I would like to thank the South Florida fans and community for the last 10 years, and the Viola family for the last seven with this franchise,” Tallon said in a statement.
“I have had the opportunity to work with a group of first-class individuals including a mentor of mine, the late William A. Torrey, and I’ve had the privilege of watching the development of the organization’s young talent who have become great players and even better people.”
His rebuilding effort began in earnest in 2011, when Florida landed the No. 3 pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and selected left wing Jonathan Huberdeau, who was an All-Star for the first time this season. After a trip to the postseason in 2012, the Panthers landed the No. 3 pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and selected Aleksander Barkov, who was an All-Star last season.
Florida then landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and selected defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who hasn’t been an All-Star since 2016. Those three formed the young core of a team which returned to the postseason in 2016 before losing in the first round to the Islanders.
The Panthers, however, have been unable to sustain any of the early success, both because those players’ own developments stalled and because management failed to put a strong supporting cast around them.
The three top-three picks have combined for just four All-Star appearances and only one other player drafted by Tallon in Florida — center Vincent Trocheck, a former third-round pick now with the Carolina Hurricanes — went to an All-Star Game with the Panthers. Of the 12 firstround picks Tallon made in his tenure, only Huberdeau, Barkov, Ekblad and defenseman Mike Matheson suited up in the NHL for Florida this season.
Tallon’s successor will be tasked with doing the same thing he was tasked with: turning around a franchise mired in two decades of mediocrity. The Panthers haven’t won a playoff series since 1996 and they had the third-worst attendance in the NHL this season despite entering the year with lofty expectations because of their still-young core and several highprofile acquisitions in the offseason.
Last year, Florida hired coach Joel Quenneville, who won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, to a six-year deal worth more than $30 million. Tallon also signed goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to a seven-year, $70-million deal, only to have the twotime Vezina Trophy winner have his worst season since his second in the league.
At times this year, Tallon’s splashy moves paid off. The Panthers played well before the All-Star break before tumbling out of the playoff picture with an extended losing skid following the All-Star Game. Florida got second life, though, when the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly halted the regular season in March and prompted the NHL to expand its postseason to 24 teams, including the Panthers.
Florida traveled to Toronto last month for an
East qualifying series with New York and lost in four games, eliminated in a 5-1 loss Friday, effectively marking the end of Tallon’s tenure.
On Monday, the Panthers also found out they will pick 12th in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Florida had a 12.5-percent chance to land the No. 1 pick.