Dale Tallon was rewarded for putting together the best young team in hockey by getting fired by the Chicago Blackhawks. Florida Panther ownership stepped in to sign him.
The Florida Panthers have drifted since Alan Cohen put together a group to buy the team in 2001 for a reported $101 million. Throughout that, despite a lack of success, Panther management insisted on paying, often over-paying, their own draft picks. Somehow a team that has been out of the playoffs since 2001 and has managed to carry one of the most expensive rosters in the league year after year. The money was spent on a roster of high-priced young talent that was either never evaluated properly when they were drafted or not developed properly by the organization.
Florida general managers seemed terrified to lose "any" of their draft picks, perhaps fearing embarrassment or unemployment, if struggling Florida youngsters shone in another market. Worse still there seemed no mechanism in place to separate the wheat from the chaff. There seemed to be no analysis of what the team's actual needs were and no effort made to fill them.
The Florida Panthers were the weakest defe ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Scott Weldon
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