On the Florida Panthers …
Darren Dreger: “Dale Tallon is resuming control of management duties and Hockey Ops in Florida. Panthers need to get back on track and stabilize things … There won’t be an overhaul in Florida, but Tallon will likely want to make some changes and add pieces after the holiday roster freeze … Bad firing . However, Tom Rowe deserves some time to figure things out. Players need one management voice … Many reminding Tallon is the pres of hockey ops, but anyone in the know understands his role had been diminished in Florida…until now… …he will now actively manage day to day which is a great move by the Panthers. Players need the stability and trust Tallon … Not saying Tallon will disregard analytic move in FLA, but expect moves made to better team D and make them tougher to play against.”
Harvey Fialkov: “Nothing but respect for @DarrenDreger who rarely reports anything but facts, but my source says nothing has changed … This regime is very high on having a lot of voices and opinions be4 reaching consensus.So 1 voice is against their core values … Confidential source assures me that nothing has changed in Panthers management pecking order.
Panthers president/CEO Matt Caldwell called me to put this story to bed that nothing has changed in hierarchy .. Caldwell did say that Dale Tallon has always been “main,” voice in personnel decisions … Owner Vinnie Viola told SN Elliotte Friedman the same, but his co-horts on the dias didn’t buy it … Caldwell denied Viola met with Tallon and gave him the personnel reins … The Panthers regime makes decisions in group discussions. One asst gm told me they welcome arguments.”
Elliotte Friedman: Panthers owner Vinny Viola met with Dale Tallon yesterday morning. It was reported that Tallon had taken over the control of the day-to-day options. Some agents and executives were under the same impression, though Viola said last night that nothing has changed.
“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 . But, in terms of player decisions, it is his call.”
Not sure why there was a report that there was a change if nothing has changed. One theory is that maybe Tallon was asked to take a bigger role but ownership wanted to keep it quiet.