One Year Ago, the Florida Panthers Fired Gerard Gallant

[Ziggy Stardust]

Shortly after Thanksgiving of last year, the Florida Panthers relieved head coach Gerard Gallant, and their then, highly unqualified general manager, Tom Rowe, stepped in as interim head coach.

Fast forward to today, where Gallant has taken an expansion team and as of today, is coaching the best team in the Western Conference, with the second best overall record in the NHL.

Meanwhile, the Panthers are among the worst teams in the league and will be looking at a lottery selection as they have the 8th worst record in the league.

Not only is the disparity between the two teams a testament to Gallant's abilities as a head coach, but it also brings to attention that the Panthers firing Gerard Gallant may have been the most misguided coaching decision a hockey club has made in recent memory. And they made that call two months into a season after Gallant was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy.

At the time of his firing, Pierre LeBrun wrote the following:
Fired Florida coach Gerard Gallant deserved better

The response I got to Gallant's firing from team executives and coaches around the league was a universal shaking of the head. A coach who was nominated for the Jack Adams Award last season is gone just 22 games into the 2016-17 campaign -- while his team is over .500 and has battled key injuries since the get-go.

The fact that photos surfaced of Gallant having to hail his own cab in Raleigh, North Carolina, after being told he was fired -- well, that just adds to the level of outrage for many.

I suspect that Gallant knew he was on the clock from the moment former GM Dale Tallon was "promoted" to president of hockey operations last spring. Gallant had been Tallon's coach. And now Tallon had been punted from the day-to-day hockey decision-making.

You can't fire a coach right after he has been nominated for coach of the year, can you? But the Panthers canned Gallant. For no justifiable reason.

Surely, this has to rank up there as one of the most misguided and ill informed coaching decisions in recent memory.

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[Classic Devil]

It really is an example of almost unfathomable unfairness and stupidity.

 

[Kale Hulls]

The Panthers management can only be described as erratic.

 

[SladeWilson23]

Gerald?

 

[OVrocks]

Great decision, anything less than 82-0 is uncivilized.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Gerald?

Yeesh, yeah, I shouldn't mix up Gerard with a Canadian contract killer.

Gerald Gallant - Wikipedia

 

[tucker3434]

Once upon a time the Avs “mutually parted ways” with some guy named Joel Quinneville. Whoops.

You know, just in case you’re making a list of stupid coaching decisions.

 

[tony d]

He's done quite good for sure, always questioned why Florida would fire Gallant, the job he is doing in Vegas is amazing, he should be the unaminous Adams award winner at this point.

 

[BruinLVGA]

If Gallant isn’t the run away coach of the year candidate, I don’t know who should be. Top coach.

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

Goofus make poor personnel decisions that hurt his team in the long run.

Gallant is now the head coach of one of the top teams in the NHL.​

 

[Chief Nine]

It was a bad decision to fire him, but that's their prerogative. Treating him like they did making him take a cab was downright disgraceful.

 

[swimmer77]

Remarkable story really. I was aware of the success Gallant was having in Florida but became a "fan" of his, if you will, after he was fired. Thought he handled the situation with class.
He certainly has persevered and good for him.

I keep waiting for VGK to show sign(s) of weakness but they just don't do it. Florida really shot themselves in the foot and it is too bad because it seemed they were turning the corner. I'm truly happy for Gallant and the success he is having.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Saw this whole situation coming from a mile away when I first learned that ownership was interfering with hockey decisions. Which happened to me in the 2016 offseason (the actually interference had started in the middle of the 2015-2016 season, which I totally believe lead to them losing in the first round playoffs to the Islanders). If you want an explanation as to why the Panthers stay bad for 2 decades, just look no further than the actions of their current ownership throughout that whole situation.
And as bad as that is, what's even more amazing to me is that some people still defend this decision and think Gallant is a mediocre coach.

 

[GoodKiwi]

It's the Panthers franchise. They're allowed to make all the stupid decisions they want.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

It's the Panthers franchise. They're allowed to make all the stupid decisions they want.

Lol. I know you're joking, but I wish this were true, if so then we would be at the top of the league. But we get penalized for our mistakes plenty, thanks very much.

 

[Matti_A]

Interesting how things change, around the time Gallant was fired by the Blue Jackets back in '06 I recall the consensus on hfboards was that he was the worst coach in the league.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

The team had just won 6 out of their last 10 games and was beating some good teams, like Montreal (league leading team at the time), Columbus (breakout year), Rangers (one of the hottest teams of the first half) and Tampa (with Stamkos still).

And they didn't even have Huberdeau.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

FWIW he was fired for his non-compliance with the analytics movement the Panthers tried last year, it didn't really have anything to do with team performance.

 

[Deku]

I wish he was coach of the Sens

 

[CuriousGeorge]

Shortly after Thanksgiving of last year, the Florida Panthers relieved head coach Gerard Gallant, and their then, highly unqualified general manager, Tom Rowe, stepped in as interim head coach.

Fast forward to today, where Gallant has taken an expansion team and as of today, is coaching the best team in the Western Conference, with the second best overall record in the NHL.

Meanwhile, the Panthers are among the worst teams in the league and will be looking at a lottery selection as they have the 8th worst record in the league.

Not only is the disparity between the two teams a testament to Gallant's abilities as a head coach, but it also brings to attention that the Panthers firing Gerard Gallant may have been the most misguided coaching decision a hockey club has made in recent memory. And they made that call two months into a season after Gallant was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy.

At the time of his firing, Pierre LeBrun wrote the following:
Fired Florida coach Gerard Gallant deserved better

The response I got to Gallant's firing from team executives and coaches around the league was a universal shaking of the head. A coach who was nominated for the Jack Adams Award last season is gone just 22 games into the 2016-17 campaign -- while his team is over .500 and has battled key injuries since the get-go.

The fact that photos surfaced of Gallant having to hail his own cab in Raleigh, North Carolina, after being told he was fired -- well, that just adds to the level of outrage for many.

I suspect that Gallant knew he was on the clock from the moment former GM Dale Tallon was "promoted" to president of hockey operations last spring. Gallant had been Tallon's coach. And now Tallon had been punted from the day-to-day hockey decision-making.

You can't fire a coach right after he has been nominated for coach of the year, can you? But the Panthers canned Gallant. For no justifiable reason.

Surely, this has to rank up there as one of the most misguided and ill informed coaching decisions in recent memory.

It was the worst mistake in the last five years.

 

[Fatty McLardy]

I still remember going why the hell? when they fired him. A guy that takes you to the playoff in god knows how long, sweet justice for Gallant as his team is one of the best and Florida is back in the basement.

 

[ShootIt]

He's done quite good for sure, always questioned why Florida would fire Gallant, the job he is doing in Vegas is amazing, he should be the unaminous Adams award winner at this point.

He hated that they traded off Gudbranson and wanted Logan Shaw to make the roster. When injuries happened, instead of calling up Shaw, they traded him off for Sgarbossa.

He did embrace some of their analytics but wasn't a fan of their offseason and was vocal about it to them.

 

[PanthersPens62]

Saw this whole situation coming from a mile away when I first learned that ownership was interfering with hockey decisions. Which happened to me in the 2016 offseason (the actually interference had started in the middle of the 2015-2016 season, which I totally believe lead to them losing in the first round playoffs to the Islanders). If you want an explanation as to why the Panthers stay bad for 2 decades, just look no further than the actions of their current ownership throughout that whole situation.
And as bad as that is, what's even more amazing to me is that some people still defend this decision and think Gallant is a mediocre coach.

Those people who defend the decision are called "stat nerds" and is why I have little to no time for that nonsense. Give me someone like Gallant who does not swear by advanced stats any day of the week & twice on Sundays.

 

[RainingRats]

It was a bad decision to fire him, but that's their prerogative. Treating him like they did making him take a cab was downright disgraceful.

They didn't. This was fake news. He didn't want to wait for the car they called him.

 

[RainingRats]

You can also thank Tallon for giving Gallant, March and Smith for a 4th. Those two guys have certainly helped Vegas get to where they are.