George Richards, FHN Publisher
Dale Tallon and the Florida Panthers are parting ways.
On Monday morning, the team announced what had been rumored for some time: Tallon, the team’s longtime head of their hockey operations, would not be returning as general manager.
According to the team, the two sides mutually agreed to move on.
The Panthers are now searching for a new general manager.
“I would like to thank the South Florida fans and community for the last 10 years,” Tallon said in a statement released by the team.
“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.”
Tallon, originally hired by Torrey and then-owner Cliff Viner in 2010, is believed to have signed a three-year contract in 2017 after being officially reinstated as GM following a shift in the team’s front office.
That contract officially expired July 1, but due to the pandemic, everyone worked through it and apparently Tallon was hopeful for a deep run by the Panthers to return.
“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.
Tallon came to the Panthers in 2010, a year after being moved into an advisory role with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Over the next 10 years, Tallon had hits and misses as GM of the Panthers, but as Viola said, helped build the Panthers into a organization players wanted to play for.
When Tallon took over, the Panthers had not been to the playoffs in a decade and the GM he replaced had casually referred to the team in a postgame interview as ‘the Titanic.’
With Tallon cooling his heels in Vero Beach following losing his GM gig with the Blackhawks, Torrey was given the green light to go and get him.
“When I found out Dale was available and interested, that’s where I went and I never wavered from that,” Torrey, who passed away in 2018, said when Tallon was hired.
“Hiring Dale, I think, as in short a time as I think he can do it, we’re going to have a hell of a lot more exciting days and games in this building in the month of May. It’s been a while since we’ve had it, and I’m firmly convinced he can bring us back to that.”
A few weeks after Tallon joined the Panthers, his former team — and the man he hired to coach them — won the Stanley Cup.
Tallon watched it go down in Torrey’s living room.
“The first phone call I got was from Q, from the locker room with the players,” Tallon recalled last spring when he and Joel Quenneville were officially reunited with the Panthers.
“I cried my eyes out. And I never said it to anyone but I was hopeful that someday I would be on the ice with him when that moment happens. So for this to come together, it’s kind of — I believe in fate and I believe good things happen to good people and this is meant to be. I can’t tell you how excited I am.”
The biggest move of many in his career with the Panthers for Tallon may have been hiring Quenneville — who won the Cup three times with the Blackhawks — for a second time.
Quenneville would prove to be Tallon’s final coaching hiring in Chicago and with the Panthers.
In 2010, Tallon jumped right into trying transform the Panthers, reportedly telling players if they didn’t want to be part of the solution, he would move them out.
His first big move was trading Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell to Boston before having three first-round picks at the 2010 draft.
Florida took Erik Gudbranson third overall and also selected Nick Bjugstad and Quinton Howden.
Over the years, Tallon drafted dozens of players with Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aaron Ekblad becoming the cornerstones of the franchise.
In Tallon’s second season, the Panthers ended a 12-year postseason drought by winning the team’s first divisional title with a completely rebuilt roster.
Florida ended up going to the postseason three times (including this year’s inclusion in the extended version) with Tallon as GM.
As for his replacement, the Panthers are expected to give heavy consideration to Eric Joyce, the team’s assistant GM who has been with the team almost as long as Viola has owned it.
A graduated of West Point and Harvard, Joyce has been a longtime confidant of Viola and has been GM of Florida’s AHL teams the past six years. He was also co-GM of the Panthers during the 2016-17 season and has worked closely with Tallon over the past few years.
Florida is going to look at outside candidates for the job, with former Panthers captain Scott Mellanby — yeah, the guy who killed the rat in 1995 — expected to be looked at as a candidate.
Mellanby is the assistant GM of the Montreal Canadiens.
Current Columbus Blue Jackets assistant GM Bill Zito could be a candidate as would former Pittsburgh and New Jersey GM Ray Shero.
Former Philadelphia GM Ron Hextall would also be a consideration.
Roberto Luongo and Bryan McCabe, two former players who were brought into hockey operations by Tallon, are expected to remain with the organization.
On Monday evening, the Panthers will be one of eight teams who will have the chance to win a special draft lottery for the right to draft top prospect Alexis Lafreniere.
The Panthers will be virtually represented by team president Matt Caldwell.