Florida Panthers deny report of Dale Tallon management restructure

Since the firing of head coach Gerrard Gallant, the Florida Panthers have been on a 2-3-3 slump and sliding toward last place in the Atlantic Division. General manager Tom Rowe replaced Gallant behind the bench as an interim head coach, but the Panthers have clearly checked out on the season with five losses in their last six games.

Things came to a head on Wednesday evening when reports of some movement at the top of the Panthers organization came down.

Dale Tallon was the general manager of the Panthers from 2010 up until this season, where back in May he was moved to the fancy position of President of Hockey Operations. It’s a position many NHL teams have in their front office, and one that’s less hands-on than a general manager position.

Rowe took over for Tallon before the start of this season, though with his move to interim head coach, assistants Eric Joyce and Steve Werier were taking on the role in his absence.

Now, according to a report, Tallon was moving back into a management position to help the Panthers right the ship.

Except, Florida has denied that rumor, stating that there’s “no truth to [Wednesday’s] reports of changes in [their] hockey operations department.”

Confused? You have every right to be.

Sportsnet confirmed the denial after talking to Panthers’ owner Vinny Viola:

“As far as I am concerned, Dale has always had final say over hockey decisions,” Viola said by telephone. “What we had done is bifurcate Dale from some things he didn’t need to worry about anymore [negotiating contracts, for example]. But, in terms of player decisions, it is his call.”

Yet, something has seemed off with the Panthers’ top management since Tallon’s movement in May. Florida’s move to a more analytics-driven management has not come easily, especially considering Gallant’s firing ruffled feathers due to a potential disagreement in team direction.

As such, the Panthers have suffered with a middling 13-13-4 record after making the playoffs last year for just the second time in 15 seasons.