Panthers' Tallon ready to make up for lost season

The Florida Panthers are going back to the future.

Firing general manager and interim head coach Tom Rowe on Monday, the Panthers handed the reins back to former GM-turned-president Dale Tallon.

Tallon served as GM of the Panthers from 2010 to 2016, a stretch that included two division wins. Florida's 2012 playoff appearance marked its first trip to the postseason since 2000, ending the league's longest playoff drought.

Given that success, it was unexpected when Tallon was ousted from the GM post following their playoff exit last spring, given the Panthers were finally on the upward trajectory after more than a decade in the hockey wilderness.

Tallon's dismissal aligned with the ascension of Rowe, who previously served as head coach of the Panthers' AHL squad before a promotion to associate GM and then the top job.

Rowe doubled as the interim bench boss this season following a poorly executed firing of Tallon's hand-picked coach in Gerald Gallant, whose 103-point finish with Florida in 2015-16 marked the best season in franchise history. Rowe will remain with the Panthers in an advisory role.

Much of the team's struggles this season - one in which the Panthers finished with 81 points - draw back to Tallon's removal from the GM post.

Arriving in South Florida after building a championship club with the Blackhawks, Tallon came with all the credentials, having drafted and developed a Stanley Cup-winning team in Chicago.

The tenured GM implemented a similar vision with the Panthers, building up the team's crop at the draft tables with key selections in Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, Aleksander Barkov, and Aaron Ekblad, among others.

Now back in the GM chair, Tallon's focus is hiring the Florida's next head coach. Some stability is sorely needed, as the franchise has gone through 14 bench bosses in its 23-year history. Only Jacques Martin and Peter DeBoer have recorded more than 100 wins as Panthers coach.

Tallon told Craig Davis of the Sun-Sentinel the search for the team's next head coach could be in the "months" category, describing his ideal candidate as "a contemporary guy that can handle the younger player today and understands that they still have to be coached and mentored and taught and yet still have that passion to win."

"We're turning the page on a disappointing season. From today, we're moving forward with a singular voice under my leadership in hockey operations," Tallon added. "We're going to learn from our mistakes and we're going to turn this around quickly."