Reported first by Nick Kypreos, the Florida Panthers have fired head coach Gerard Gallant. Brian Compton of NHL.com confirms that Gallant has been relieved of his duties. Elliotte Friedman tweets that general manager Tom Rowe will take over for Gallant. Friedman continues that despite an extension, Gallant and the front office were butting heads over the direction of the team. Panthers beat writer George Richards of the Miami Herald tweets that he tried to reach out to Gallant, but the coach had already the stadium left by taxi. The Associated Press, via a tweet from Luke DeCock, confirmed this with photos of Gallant leaving by taxi.
The Panthers are currently 11-10-1 in the Atlantic Division, good enough for fifth place and 23 points. A very busy offseason, however, ratcheted up expectations in Miami, and Gallant appears to be the first major casualty of those expectations. The move has been met with shock, and questions are already beginning to be asked of the front office and their decision to sack Gallant.
Chip Alexander tweets that Gallant met with the media following the Panthers 2-1 loss to the Hurricanes this evening. Yahoo’s Josh Cooper joins a group of puzzled analysts, tweeting that Gallant led the Panthers to 91 points in his first season behind the bench, and then 103 points last season, which included a division title.
Meanwhile, Martin Biron wonders if the Vegas Golden Knights will swoop in and hire Gallant as its first head coach.
That is an incredibly dumb move by the Panthers and screams desperation from a GM who has never held a management title in his post-playing career. Panthers were actually making strides as an organization but pushing Tallon out in favour of Rowe is going to prove detrimental to the team.
On another note, Marc Bergevin, please oh please get Gallant back onto the coaching staff ASAP.
Wow. This will set back what was a franchise on the rise. Front office is where changes are needed.
Especially since Rowe, the GM, is apparently taking over as coach according to Elliot Friedman.
They have been under performing. Not sure it warrants his job.
Injuries to Huberdeau and Bjugstad have severely limited their options up the middle. They just lost Petrovic to a broken ankle and haven’t had Jussi Jokinen for a month. It’s the Huberdeau and Bjugstad injuries that are hurting the Panthers. That’s their 2nd and 3rd line centres. Barkov had a terrible start but has been much better the last 10-12 games and it’s no coincidence the team is 7-5-0 in that span and they’ve won 6 of their last 8. The team was trending upwards.
Wow. He did a great job with them last year. I know expectations were high but they aren’t exactly floundering and they’ve had some injuries to deal with. Have to wonder if there was something behind the scenes.
He had a lot of injuries, especially at center. The GM made a lot of changes after a good season last year. That effects a team out of the gates. This seems like a quick reaction
Crapuano, you’re next!
The pictures of him getting into the taxi are mind blowing. What a gutless move by the Panthers organization.
Panthers are all in on Analytics. No way Dale Tallon approved of this. Florida wants to reinvent hockey. It’s crazy. They want to have a moneypuck movie made after them
Considering the amount of injuries, no one would be blamed for the Panthers so slow start. Not many, if any, other coaches would be able to do much better considering the injuries the Panthers have suffered thus far. While I know it says that the front office and coach had a difference of opinion, a single difference of opinion should not warrant an early season firing of a coach who just led the team to the playoffs. If Tom Rowe doesn’t find a way to improve their play, then the whole front office should be fired.
Can you name a coach who got fired after a year or 2 and was a good coach.
Ted Nolan comes to mind. Didn’t he win the jack Adams and get caned the next year?