Horachek out; Florida shops for new coach
Devils
With a relatively young team, Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon believes the club needs an experienced coach. And with that, Peter Horachek’s time as interim coach is over.
The Panthers fired Horachek Tuesday, after Florida went 26-36-4 under him this past season. Horachek had no previous NHL coaching experience before replacing Kevin Dineen Nov. 8, and, while Tallon lauded the interim coach’s work, he thinks that a change in direction is needed.
“We just felt as a group that it wasn’t quite the right fit with the direction that we’re headed in,” Tallon said.
The Panthers have had seven different coaches in their past 10 seasons.
Tallon said there’s no timetable for finding a new coach, other than that the team wants to make a hire before the draft in late June. He said Peter Laviolette — fired by Philadelphia after three games this season — is on his list of candidates. There’s also speculation that he could target former Nashville coach Barry Trotz.
Horachek had been the coach of Florida’s AHL affiliate in San Antonio before being summoned to lead the Panthers. Tallon said Horachek will not remain with the organization in any capacity, but said the team’s top brass will urge the next coach to keep assistant coaches John Madden and Brian Skrudland, both of whom Tallon holds in high regard.
The Panthers have stockpiled plenty of picks in the next two drafts and hold the rights to draft No. 1 overall this year.
According to multiple reports, former Penguins star Jaromir Jagr, 42, has an agreement in place to return to the New Jersey Devils next season. The contract reportedly is a one-year deal worth between $5 million and $6 million. Jagr’s agent, Petr Svoboda, told the Newark Star-Ledger that the deal will become official soon. Jagr led the Devils in scoring with a 24-goal, 67-point season.
Flyers
Philadelphia defenseman Nicklas Grossmann’s playoffs are over. The Flyers announced Grossmann had surgery Tuesday to repair tendon damage in his right ankle and will be out for the next eight to 10 weeks. Grossmann was injured in Game 4 of the Flyers’ first-round series against the New York Rangers.
Lightning
For Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop, the 2013-14 season was a breakthrough campaign, but it also was a painful one. That can be seen in the fact that he had successful wrist surgery on a torn ligament in his right wrist Tuesday. The team expects Bishop to be ready for the 201415 season’s training camp. The wrist, however, was not the issue that forced him to miss out on the Lightning’s playoff series (in which, largely because of Bishop’s absence, Tampa Bay was swept by Montreal). Instead, he said the problem was an elbow he dislocated April 8.
Bruins
Boston forward Daniel Paille has been medically cleared to play, and he’ll be ready for the second-round playoff series against Montreal. Meanwhile, defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who tore an ACL and MCL in late December and had surgery Jan. 7, participated in his first team practice in four months.
Elsewhere
Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown, Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews are finalists for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. The NHL announced the finalists who exemplify “great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season.” The Hockey Hall of Famer will determine which of the three wins the award.