National Hockey League: Florida Panthers make “Massive” changes
The Florida Panthers are shaking things up in the locker room and above. The new Panther General Manager, Dale Tallon, has promised to build a formidable franchise and he has delivered on his word. He said that teams would play Florida expecting not to be pushed and going away with two easy points. “That’s not going to happen anymore,” he said.
Tallon first made headway in the Drafts bringing massive changes to the Panthers roster, emphasis on ‘massive.’ Tallon brought to Panthers 10 of the first 100 draft picks. Standing out among the additions to the Panthers in the draft were players like the 6’ 4” defence man Gudbranson, 6’ 2” centre Howden, 6’ 4” centre Bjugstad, 6’ centre McFarland, 6’ 4” defenseman Petrovic and 6’ center Brickley. I say again, emphasis on ‘massive.’ “This was a very good couple of days,” Tallon said as the conclusion of the drafts approached.
The rebuilding of the Panthers didn’t stop there. On the first day of free agency, Tallon watched and waited. He said that he didn’t want to get swept away in the frenzied hunt. “People always overpay. We have to be patient and prudent. We've been active on the phone, trying to make deals that make sense”, he said. Florida is almost 12 million dollars under the Salary Cap but he is still shopping cautiously. “We are going to look at everyone and everything”, he said adding that because of the trend of offering long term contracts, high end players were difficult to find at the right price. The Panthers are looking and those efforts haven’t been in vain as Tallon signed veteran offensive left winger, the 6 foot, 200 lb Christopher Higgins.
Chris might have had a streak of slow seasons but there is no denying his potential. For his first three seasons with the Canadiens, he scored over 20 goals in each. The next three years he scored 20 in total. Higgins hasn’t been able to perform since 2008-2009 Season in wake of a string of injuries. Higgins believes, and Panthers, are hoping that this would be his year to shine once again. Higgins said that he wanted to prove himself again to all those who counted him out.
"Chris is a big and hard-working forward who possesses a scoring touch," Dale Tallon said. He was 14th overall in 2002 draft. That however does not mean his poor performance in the past couple of years is not being accounted for. Chris was signed for a 1 year, 1.6 million dollars deal, in contrast to the 2.25 million dollars salary last season.
Chris is expected to be play behind David Booth on the left wing. Tallon said that the arrangement was “Pretty good”, and that Chris would be a top-six forward for the Panthers. It has to be pretty good if the Panthers hope to make it to the playoffs, something they haven’t been able to do since 1997. Tallon wasn’t done with the shake up just yet, “There are some possibilities out there. We’ll keep pursuing and looking and trying to improve”, he said.
Another change to the Florida Panthers, but not in the arena, was the hiring of Mike Santos as the new assistant General Manager. His predecessor, Randy Sexton, was also considered by Dale but in the end it was Santos who Dale picked. Sexton will no longer be with the team.
Santos spent the last four years with the Nashville Predators acting as the director of Hockey Operations. Tallon said that Santos’s contributions in assembling a team for Nashville that qualified for the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years, cannot but be recognized. “Mike brings to our team more than 20 years of hockey experience after working in a variety of capacities in the National Hockey League”, he added.
Among his responsibilities as General Manager would be negotiating contracts and salary arbitration. He would also be managing the Panther’s minor league affiliates and its hockey operations.
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