Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Gerard Gallant Fired By The Florida Panthers

11/28/2016 at 6:28am EST

from Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel at Miami Herald,

The Florida Panthers fired coach Gerard Gallant on Sunday night and general manager Tom Rowe will assume the coaching duties, according to a source.

The move was made Sunday night after the Panthers' 3-2 loss at Carolina. The Panthers fell to 11-10-1 through 22 games, good for only 10th in the Eastern Conference, but just two points out of a wild-card playoff berth.

Gallant confirmed via text that he and longtime friend and assistant coach Mike Kelly had been fired.

Phone calls to Rowe, assistant co-general manager Steve Werier and president of hockey operations Dale Tallon haven't been returned. Bill Torrey, the Panthers special advisor to Rowe and alternate governor, was unaware of the changes as he was tending to a personal matter.

continued

from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

Florida locked up a ton of its core. Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Reilly Smith, Trocheck and Huberdeau signed long-term deals. Can’t imagine anyone had a problem with that. This group will grow together and be very strong. Its other changes definitely added skill — Jonathan Marchessault looks to be a particularly good call — but took away the edge.

Gerard Gallant would never admit it (at least not before Sunday), but he hated seeing Erik Gudbranson traded. In a cap world, someone had to go. Losing him and Willie Mitchell changed the complexion of the blue line. Gallant valued Gudbranson’s game, how hard he could make it on opposing forwards. But Florida’s front office values a different kind of defender, and with one season remaining until his free agency, they weren’t going to ante up for Gudbranson’s skillset.

That, as much as anything else, is why Gallant (and close friend Mike Kelly) are no longer on the Florida bench. There was plenty of anger in the NHL community over the dismissal. There were a lot of surprised and angry texts from people I rarely hear from. Gallant righted a wayward ship and won a franchise-record 47 games last season, getting them to the playoffs for the second time in 15 years.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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