By Jordan Long
The Florida Panthers sit at 11-10-1 with 23 points. They are only two points out of a Wild Card spot in the early going. New Jersey is in the second Wild Card spot at 25 points. The Panthers made a surprising move on Sunday firing Head Coach Gerard Gallant.
Gallant was hired as the Panthers’ Head Coach on June 21st 2014. In his first year, the Panthers went 38-29-15 for 91 points, missing the playoffs by seven points. Last season, Florida was an impressive 47-26-9 with a total of 103 points, winning the Atlantic Division. They were knocked off in the first-round by the New York Islanders 4 games to 2.
This year the expectations were even higher. It was not only to receive a playoff spot, but to go further in the playoffs and possibly play for the Stanley Cup. The Panthers felt a change was needed to get them to that point. According to USAToday.com, owner Vincent J. Viola said, “In seeking to earn a second consecutive playoff berth and bring a Stanley Cup to South Florida, we believe that new leadership is required immediately.”
The reason Gerard Gallant was fired was their power play. The team is 21st on the man advantage, scoring on just 14.7% of those opportunities. At home they can’t seem to score when they go on the power play. They are 25th with a power play percentage of 12.5%. Only 5 teams are worse. That is not getting the job done.
This is a panic move to can Gerard Gallant 22 games into the season. They are still in position to make the postseason, since there are 60 games left. The Panthers shouldn’t have made this move so soon. They could have waited until the end of December to see where they were. If they happened to be still out of a playoff spot then let Gerard Gallant go.
The Panthers announced that Tom Rowe, the Panthers’ General Manager will be the interim head coach. He has never been a head coach in the NHL, but has plenty of experience as an assistant. Rowe was on the Carolina Hurricanes staff from 2008 to 2011. Hopefully, his knowledge will lead the Panthers back to the playoffs. Time will tell if this was the right decision to let Gallant go in favor of Rowe.
What do you think of the decision to fire Gerard Gallant and go with Tom Rowe?
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