Morning Skate: GM Dale Tallon keeps undoing all of the Panthers’ hard work

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Lace ’em up. Time for the Morning Skate.

Remember when the Florida Panthers were all about the analytics? Two summers ago, the team overhauled their front office, moved general manager Dale Tallon to an executive role, and moved Tom Rowe into the GM position.

Despite analytics being on the brain, the Panthers sputtered in 2016-17. Head coach Gerard Gallant was fired in November and the team went from being first in the Atlantic Division the previous year to finishing sixth last season. This offseason hasn’t been much better for the Panthers, who have lost Jaromir Jagr (did not re-sign), Jussi Jokinen (buyout), Jonathan Marchessault (expansion draft trade), and Reilly Smith (expansion draft trade) heading into training camp.

This weekend, the Panthers traded 29-year-old defenseman Jason Demers to the Coyotes for forward Jamie McGinn. The trade was one-for-one, and has seemingly benefited Arizona more than Florida. Demers was a 28-point defenseman on a bad Panthers team, while McGinn totaled 17 as a hit-or-miss offensive player.

Tallon, back in the driver’s seat as general manager with the Panthers after Rowe was let go, said the trade was made out of necessity for a left winger. Yet, the Panthers gave up one of their only bright spots in a dull 2016-17 season for a plug-in left winger that doesn’t add anything special to the team.

It could have been worse for the Panthers too, as Demers nixed a deal to bring Erik Gudbranson back to Florida. The same Gudbranson was traded in May 2016 when the Panthers were in the midst of their analytics hirings.

After underperforming last season, one would think the Panthers would find ways to shore up their better players and cut the fat. Instead, the players on the outside looking in were the Panthers best options after all was said and done. It took a few solid hirings to get the Panthers back into the playoffs two seasons ago, but bringing back Tallon has seemingly brought it all back to square one.

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