Kevin Dineen and coaching staff fired!

[WESEERED]

I hope this is only the beginning of the changes. They NEED to bring in at least one really good player to take some of the pressure off the young guys and to be a mentor to them. They need someone with some real talent.

 

[Crossbar]

Screwy was an assistant coach with Calgary, so this will be nothing new for him. Not surprised with naming Horachek as interim coach, he shows a lot of promise. Still hoping for Peter Laviolette, don't remember if Versteeg was with the Flyers when he was named Flyers coach, maybe we're going to ship him off before we hire him.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun
Tallon: trying ``extremely hard'' to make a trade and will keep trying, hopes something will hit ``in the near future''

Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun
Tallon, ``This is just the beginning of the changes we want to make.''

George Richards @GeorgeRichards
#FlaPanthers Dale Tallon on firing Kevin Dineen: Dino will be afforded the opportunity to remain with the organization if he wants it.

George Richards @GeorgeRichards
#FlaPanthers Dale Tallon on firing Kevin Dineen: This is the first of many changes we're making.

Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun
Tallon on media call says the team's best players need to play better or else he'll get other players...

George Richards @GeorgeRichards
#FlaPanthers Dale Tallon on firing Kevin Dineen: They worked very hard, message not getting through. We're all responsible for this record

 

[EnforceTheLaus]

Bring him in as an assistant, and then just have him beat the **** out of anyone in the locker room after a game that deserves a whuppin'!! How's THAT for some motivation?

Just don't make him a skating coach ! lol

 

[Crossbar]

Saw this reply on FB. Louis Molina: "Panthers are all about scraping by at the bottom of the NHL while spending as little money as possible and hoping the northerners will show up to games to see their favorite teams beat the Panthers. Prove me wrong Panthers, I dare you!" Is this guy on here? He knows the Cats as well as we do!

Hah I know Louis, very true.

 

[Egblad]

George Richards ‏@GeorgeRichards 2m

Interim @ZaslowShow: Is Horachek the interim coach, or new Head Coach?

So this is interim only, new head coach at some point.

 

[Erick*]

Tallon realizes this is his fault, right? Tallon's leash can't be too long. We have a new owner and new people usually like to bring in their own guys. You better make some changes, Dale...

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Tallon realizes this is his fault, right? Tallon's leash can't be too long. We have a new owner and new people usually like to bring in their own guys. You better make some changes, Dale...

What, Dineen or the players we have is his fault?

I mean, do we really need to bring up how handcuffed he's been as far as spending goes before Viola took over?

 

[Crossbar]

Tallon is hoping we'll turn our season around like CBJ did last year, anything is possible with the right moves.

 

[hockeydude1]

It's about time. This needed to be done. I've been saying this for weeks.

 

[Chino Oscar]

Tallon realizes this is his fault, right? Tallon's leash can't be too long. We have a new owner and new people usually like to bring in their own guys. You better make some changes, Dale...

By all accounts he has been trying. Like he said on his interview, it is not easy at this point in the season, but phones are ringing.

 

[DrMom9900]

Maybe Tallon saw the new ownership change as a threat to his golfing schedule. Y'know, he must be pretty upset that the new owner expects a professional hockey team on the ice day in day out, man, poor Tallon, he actually has to fire people and make moves that shoulda happened way before the ownership change. F- this 11th hour ******** Tallon. Dineen might have just been fired, but your job is in as much jeopardy as it ever was.

 

[RogerRoger]

By all accounts he has been trying. Like he said on his interview, it is not easy at this point in the season, but phones are ringing.

Yeah, obviously GM are going to assume Tallon is desesperate and will send them the youngster to safe his job. Hopefully Tallon doesn't bite.

 

[Erick*]

What, Dineen or the players we have is his fault?

I mean, do we really need to bring up how handcuffed he's been as far as spending goes before Viola took over?

Both are his fault.

He wasn't handcuffed two offseasons ago when he gave all of these players ridiculous contracts.

This whole team (with the exception of Markstrom and Kulikov) was brought in by him. Let's stop making excuses for him.

 

[zeroG]

Well glad they cleaned house if Dineen was getting canned.

Now time to dump our veteran underachievers.

actually, now it's time to see how the underachievers look under a different coach.

Love the idea of Madden and Screwy coming in.

we loved the idea of murph coming in.

What specifically did you guys think Dineen did wrong? What would you have changed?

Thanks guys. Loved him on the Pirates, and I never got the impression from watching the Panthers that this was a poorly coached team. I always blamed the sub-par talent.

But losing the mythical room is certainly something I can understand. If the players aren't listening, it's a lot easier to fire one man (or a few more in this case).

i never felt his teams were well-coached. i didn't like him even in 2011 based on what i saw on the ice. that's *despite* the playoff berth. i think kevin is a player's coach and one of the reasons (beyond his success in the AHL) was that he was easy going, which was something tallon needed after deboer had worn the shambles of a roster he had out trying to squeeze a few extra Ws from them. (this is not just me making stuff up, it's a combination of what tallon, deboer and the players said after deboer was fired).

outside of the magical start of 2011 when our top line was the hottest in the league and theodore was carrying us whenever they couldn't (neither is anything i'd give dineen much if any credit for), this team has been abysmal. undisciplined, unorganized, unprepared, uncompetitive. what would i change? tallon just did it.

i do feel a bit sorry for dineen. he seems like a nice guy but he won't coach again in the NHL.

Move is many games overdue.

No the onus is on the players to respond to this change. If they can't, then it's on them and people will have to be moved.

agreed.

 

[Erick*]

By all accounts he has been trying. Like he said on his interview, it is not easy at this point in the season, but phones are ringing.

Dineen was trying too. Trying isn't good enough in life.

 

[Erick*]

actually, now it's time to see how the underachievers look under a different coach.

You think this guy is going to change the way this team plays? I'm sure the results are going to look very similar.

The only thing that can make this team look better is Tim Thomas coming back and maybe stealing some games. Then again, it's not Dineen's fault that Tim Thomas couldn't stay healthy for him.

 

[Panthers607]

Told myself I was done with this team for the season and I wouldn't post here anymore.

But hey, **** just got interesting....

 

[Chino Oscar]

Dineen was trying too. Trying isn't good enough in life.

You make it sound so easy, just pick up the phone and trade huh?

 

[zeroG]

You think this guy is going to change the way this team plays? I'm sure the results are going to look very similar.

The only thing that can make this team look better is Tim Thomas coming back and maybe stealing some games. Then again, it's not Dineen's fault that Tim Thomas couldn't stay healthy for him.

you misinterpreted.

i don't know enough about horachek to confidently say they will play better but, as i'm sure you are aware, i hold dineen mostly responsible for what we're seeing. i expect we'll get a bump from this and i hope we'll see some better hockey over the next few weeks as horachek gets the opportunity to start doing some real coaching. that said, my point was simply that we need to give the players a chance to respond to the change. if some or all do not, then i'd start dealing.

so we're both on record. let's see how it plays out.

 

[Erick*]

Dineen doesn't tell Kris Versteeg to skate backwards when he has a clear lane to shoot the puck. He doesn't tell Versteeg to deke three defenders and turn the puck over relentlessly.

He doesn't tell Brian Campbell to give up in his own zone.

He doesn't tell Tomas Kopecky and Shawn Matthias to not convert on their scoring opportunities.

He doesn't tell Tomas Fleischmann to turn the puck over like he did last night toward the end of the game.

He doesn't tell his goalies to open their 5-hole at least once a game and allow a stupid goal.

He doesn't tell his goalies that they're not allowed to stop shots in shootouts.

He doesn't tell Erik Gudbranson to have no offensive ability.

He doesn't tell Dmitry Kulikov to miss the net half the time he takes a shot.

He doesn't tell Tom Gilbert to play like an AHL talent.

He doesn't tell Dale Tallon to make Marcel Goc his first line center on Opening Night.

He doesn't tell Scottie Upshall to do nothing for a handful of games and then get injured.

He doesn't tell Tim Thomas to try and get injured every time he stretches.

Can't make chicken salad out of chicken ****.

 

[adam graves]

Thank you, Kevin Dineen, for getting this franchise to the playoffs. Something no other coach has been able to do in the past decade.

It's a shame you had crappy talent on your roster as was the case for every coach that's been here. You'll get another job and do way better. It's a blessing in disguise for you!

That about sums it up. Got us to the playoffs in his only full year of coaching.

He's not the one who picked up Gomes etal over the winter.

That said I get it. its the nature of sports. KD will get picked up sooner rather than later and I too thank him for reminding me what playoff hockey looks like.

I just wish they hired someone with NHL experience which they didn't.

 

[Erick*]

You make it sound so easy, just pick up the phone and trade huh?

No. I'm just saying that "Tallon is trying" isn't good enough. It's not as if he inherited someone else's roster. These are his guys. Dineen, too, was his guy.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Both are his fault.

He wasn't handcuffed two offseasons ago when he gave all of these players ridiculous contracts.

This whole team (with the exception of Markstrom and Kulikov) was brought in by him. Let's stop making excuses for him.

What choice did we have? We had to get to the cap floor and the other way to attract players to our miserable hockey hell was to overpay them. The grand prize of Free Agency that year (if I remember correctly) was Brad Richards, imagine how much we would have to give him to even look at us.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

From GR

DALE TALLON

"After 16 games it was clear we needed a change in our message and philosophy. This was a joint decision not made easily between ownership and hockey ops. It's my responsibility to get our team to play to its maximum potential.

"Vinnie Viola demands excellence at every level within the organization. He's committed to winning and putting a winning product on the ice for our fans.
"Our better players need to start playing better or we'll get better players.
"Kevin, Gord and Craig worked very hard. But for some reason the message was not getting through. I thank them for their hard work and professionalism. They displayed that on a daily basis.
"We're all responsible for this record. This marks the first change to start turning this franchise around and become a winning organization.

-- When was decision made?

"I've been stewing on it for a long time. It's never easy. We don't make rash decisions; make decisions for the future of our franchise based where we're at currently. With many discussions with our ownership group and our hockey ops, we came to the decision and decided this was the best course of action.
"[Thursday] was one straw of many. We're 3-9-4 and that's unacceptable.

-- When did you tell Kevin & Co.

"This morning. First thing this morning.
"He was unhappy and I don't blame him. He's a fiery guy and a fiery competitor and an emotional coach and I don't blame him for being upset. I didn't expect anything less from him. He's a class guy, hard working guy.
"It's one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make.

-- Will Kevin be retained to work with the team in a different role?

"This was an emotional morning but he'll have the time to sit back and see. He's been offered the opportunity to stay with our organization.

-- This isn't just coaching

"This is the first of many changes that we're making. It's the old saying: It's easier to fire the coach than 23 players. We're on the phone constantly and we'll make changes as we go. We want people who want to be with the Panthers. If they don't want to be, we'll accommodate them.

"Right now I'm dissatisfied with the effort from most of the guys. We need to be better.

-- Have you tried to make trades?

"I've tried extremely hard every day. There have been numerous phone calls with numerous teams. Hopefully something will hit in the near future.

-- About the new coaches

"Peter Horachek was hired to coach our affiliate in San Antonio after a successful run with Nashville. Peter has had success at every level he's coached at. He's going to come in and hopefully turn this thing around. Peter is free to hire another assistant if he wants.

"This is just the beginning of the changes that we need to make. If the players don't respond to this, well, they won't be Panthers for very long.

-- Peter's term

"He's an interim coach. Obviously if he does well, he'll stay. We'll evaluate after the season. We need to get back into the hunt here. I'm not giving up by any means here. We need to do anything we can to get back in the playoff hunt without jeopardizing our future.

-- Was Kevin's job in jeopardy all season?

"[Horachek] was brought in to help our young players and bring success to our farm team.

-- No one thinks of you as a playoff team; why you doing this?

"We always go to training camp trying to make the playoffs. People can evaluate your team from afar, but we still have high hopes.

-- Did you address the team?

"I will at 11:30.

-- Leadership on the Panthers

"We'll address that today at 11:30.

-- Will you change captains?

"No. Jovo will be back in a week-10 days and we miss him. We miss that leadership. That's what he brings to us. That's why we made the playoffs two years ago. We miss him. Hopefully he gets back sooner than later so he can help some of our young guys become leaders as well.

-- Not just wins and losses but environment?

"That's a big part of it. We want them in a winning environment and have them led by players with strong leadership ability and work ethic. I'm not seeing that right now from our so-called better players.

-- Horachek's reaction

"He's excited to get the opportunity. His lifelong goal has been to be a head coach in the NHL. He's coached everywhere. He had success in Nashville. He's a no nonsense guy. He's a good communicator. We'll give him every opportunity to show his wares.

-- Was he told of this last night?

"Yes."

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