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Hotstove: Thoughts on the Panthers' changes behind the bench?

November 28, 2016, 11:16 AM ET [22 Comments]
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In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on the coaching changes the Florida Panthers made late Sunday night.

Todd Cordell

You never want to see anyone lose their job, but from a strictly hockey perspective I have no problem with the decision to move on from Gerard Gallant.

The Panthers are going all-in with an analytically driven decision-making process and it's clear they weren't on the same page with Gallant. They had differing opinions on personnel and that has been no secret.

With the change behind the bench, the guys up top won't have to worry about clashing heads or having their players utilized in a different way than they want them to be. The organization appears to now be on the same page from top-to-bottom.

Whether their approach works out or not remains to be seen (I think it will) but there is nothing stopping them from executing their plan the way they wish.

James Tanner

I don't know much about Tom Rowe, as far as his philosophies and ideas, but I do know that the Panthers were not meeting expectations after a summer which saw them put together a roster many people figured would rival Tampa for best in the Atlantic.

Add in the confounding decline in the play of Aaron Ekblad, and it seems like a move that had to be made. Don't forget, also, that Gallant was leftover from their pre-analytics obsession.

So while I can't say with confidence they made a good hire, it does make sense to change coaches for them at this time.

Peter Tessier

Well it sure was curious. Why on the road? Why not let the team come back and do it with some civility?

By some accounts and guesswork it appears there was a rift between management and coach and when the subordinate does not follow the orders of his/her superior they usually pay the price in any job. But why on the road after a game?

There's more to this situation but it will revolve around the process and direction the Panthers want to take and how Gallant was not adhering to the process. That's my guess. Lots of hot takes out there how the nerds cost him his job and yeah we can make some jokes about that but it's probably wildly inaccurate.

In the end a strategic plan is put into place and rosters are created to adhere to that strategy and agreed upon tactics. That was likely not happening. Last year the Panthers had 3-4 players shooting way higher than average and career average percent, now they are all under. Is that the coach in either situation? Maybe, maybe not but something was amiss and the Panthers acted quickly. How this dismissal went down may say more about the organization than the coach, process, or players do.

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