Florida Panthers: Top Five Worst Moves Made by Dale Tallon
While he may be a huge part of the Panthers’ recent success, Dale Tallon has made a fair few mistakes as GM.
Dale Tallon’s time spent trying to get the Florida Panthers out of the basement has seen him make dozens of draft pick trades, cap moves, and free agency signings that may not have all panned out. Multiple times the asset management by Tallon has completely busted in hindsight.
There have also been some foiled draft picks that could’ve seen the team emerge further if taken separately. Some of these moves left me shaking my head seeing what players the Panthers could have had if it wasn’t for a trade or bad signing.
Keep in mind that one offseason, the 2016 offseason, was not directed by Dale Tallon. This is why certain bad mistakes such as trading for Jason Demers, signing James Reimer for four years, and Keith Yandle’s contract size are not on this list.
Without further ado, here are Dale Tallon’s top five worst moves as GM of the Florida Panthers.
#5: Trading Zach Hyman
Believe it or not, the Panthers once had Toronto Maple Leafs winger Zach Hyman in their arsenal. The Panthers selected the University of Michigan forward in the fifth round of the 2010 draft, but he never wanted to sign for the Panthers.
Hyman was uncomfortable actually being drafted in total. His initial goal was to go through college, whether it be at Princeton, Michigan, or Penn State, and grow more before signing for an NHL team. Despite that, Florida still drafted the forward.
What makes the whole thing worse is the trust that the Panthers had in Hyman would turn reality over the span of his career. Scott Luce, director of scouting at the time, believed that Hyman would develop into a top-six forward for a team in the NHL based on his play in the CJHL.
In the end, Hyman refused to sign for Florida and was traded for Toronto’s Greg McKegg. McKegg’s Panther career was relatively short.
He played in just 46 games and put up just 8 points for the club before being claimed from waivers. Since moving on from Florida, McKegg has played for three NHL teams and has just 17 points in the regular season.
Hyman, on the other hand, hasn’t quite hit the heights Luce had for him, but has grown into a consistent depth piece for a playoff team.
Hyman just had his best NHL season to date, with 42 points (22G & 22A) in 78 games for the Leafs stretching across regular season and playoffs.
At just 26-years-old, there’s a chance that Hyman still grows into a 2nd liner in Toronto, especially with rumors of Patrick Marleau leaving.
Hyman definitely would’ve been a nice fit with Vincent Trocheck on the second line in Florida, and was a big miss by Dale Tallon back in 2015.
#4: Drafting Lawson Crouse
The date is June 26th, the first night of the 2015 NHL Draft being hosted in Sunrise. The Panthers are fresh off an encouraging 2014-15 season and need just that one more playmaker to become a stable playoff contender for years to come.
That playmaker did not come with the 11th pick, as the Panthers selected Kingston Frontenacs left winger Lawson Crouse.
It seemed to be a good moment in Panthers history, a 6’3″ forward who would go on to contribute 62 points in 49 games that next season being cheered on by his future fans inside of what he hoped was his future home. This future did not happen…
Crouse is traded the following offseason to Arizona, in an effort to rid the Cats of Dave Bolland’s contract. The Panthers received two second-round picks to get Bolland’s contract off the table.
Crouse’s time in the NHL so far hasn’t been worth Bolland’s contract. Crouse has just 38 points (17G & 21A) in 164 games for Arizona; however, is still only 21-years-old. The issue with this selection for Florida lies with what could’ve been, not with what happened.
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The Florida Panthers, with selecting Crouse, passed on two all-star forwards, Mathew Barzal and Brock Boeser. Both Barzal and Boeser were taken 12 picks within the Panthers’ selection and both have turned into world-class NHL talents.
Barzal led the Islanders to the playoffs this past season as their first-line center, while Boeser already has 116 points across 140 NHL games.
To go along with those two, the Panthers also passed on two talented wingers on playoff teams. Jake DeBrusk, to the surprise of many, would go just two picks later to Boston. DeBrusk has 85 points across 135 NHL games and is a key part of the Bruins.
Kyle Connor would go six picks later to the Winnipeg Jets, where he has 128 points in 178 games and looks ready to receive a hefty payday from Winnipeg this offseason.
So, if the Panthers could’ve had at least Kyle Connor these past two seasons over Denis Malgin or Jamie McGinn, the team could’ve made a return to the playoffs earlier than in reality.
#3: Not Protecting Jonathan Marchessault
Yeah, this decision still confuses me too. In Tallon’s first offseason back as general manager, he chose not to protect Jonathan Marchessault in the Vegas Expansion Draft back in the 2017 offseason.
This wasn’t even a bad decision in hindsight; it was a bad decision in that exact moment. Marchessault had just finished his first season with the Panthers in 2016-17, an abysmal season filled with bad moves and injuries to key players which saw the team miss the playoffs by 14 points immediately after winning the division. In that season, Marchessault was one of the lone bright spots.
Marchessault was third on the team in points with 51 and was the club’s top goal scorer with 30 goals. Whether it comes with an asterisk because Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov missed significant lengths of the season is your decision, but in my eyes, 30 goals in 75 games is impressive no matter where you get it.
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Marchessault was also on one of the best contracts in the NHL at the time, making just $725,000 to score 30 goals and was penciled into that contract for one more season.
To put that into perspective, the best non-rookie making less than $800,000 in the NHL this past season was Washington’s Nic Dowd. His stats? 8 goals and 14 goals in 64 games, not even close to Marchessault’s 30 goals and 21 assists in 75 games.
To make matters worse, Marchessault would improve even more as a top liner for the Vegas Golden Knights, posting 75 points (27G & 48A) in 77 NHL games that next season, leading Vegas to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Panthers that season missed the playoffs by a single point.
If the Panthers could’ve had Marchessault instead of Frank Vatrano or Radim Vrbata on the top six that season, they not only would’ve qualified for the playoffs, but made a deep playoff run that season.
Instead, they sat on their couches in early April while Marchessault helped Vegas pull one of the greatest playoff runs in NHL history.
The only reason that this is left at No. 3 and not higher up on the list is due to the contract extension Marchessault received in Vegas. If he got this paycheck with Florida, the Panthers wouldn’t have the cap space to bring in Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman.
#2: Trading Shayne Gostisbehere’s Draft Pick
For a team that has struggled so much on the defensive end these past two seasons, a face like Shayne Gostisbehere on the blue line would’ve been immensely helpful. The Panthers had that option in their grasp and decided to throw it away.
If Gostisbehere’s pick had not been traded to Philadelphia, this would’ve easily cracked Dale Tallon’s top five best moves as GM.
Tallon traded out of the 47th pick in the 2011 Draft, giving the selection to San Jose in exchange for the Sharks’ second-round pick twelve selections later and their third-round pick in 2012.
This 2012 third rounder would wind up being the South Floridian defenseman, who would go on to make the all-rookie team in 2016 and lead the Flyers to the playoffs in two of his four NHL seasons. The 47th pick wound up being Matt Nieto, an average NHL player who the Sharks moved on from in 2016.
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This pick would’ve been so helpful for Florida, but alas, it was traded to Philadelphia. The Panthers’ return for Gostisbehere? Kris Versteeg.
In all fairness, Versteeg was a very good player in his debut season, scoring 23 goals and 31 assists as the Panthers returned to the playoffs in 2011-12.
After that, it was all downhill from there as Versteeg suffered a bad injury which limited him to ten games in 2012-13, and was traded the season after that to Chicago for Jimmy Hayes.
In total, after his solid debut season, Versteeg had just 11 points in 28 games for Florida. Gostisbehere, in his worst full NHL season thus far, had 36 points in 78 games. Those, as his worst numbers, are still relatively good for a defenseman.
Not to mention, Gostisbehere’s best season saw him put up 65 points (13G & 52A) in 78 games with a +10 rating at just 24 years of age.
While the Panthers may still be able to move for the defenseman this offseason with the rumor mill churning trade rumors surrounding Gostisbehere’s future as a Flyer, the cost is now much more than it was when the Cats initially had his draft rights.
Instead, the Panthers missed out on a promising young defenseman, who could’ve seriously helped the Cats in these last four seasons in exchange for Versteeg’s one good season. Not Tallon’s finest hour…
#1: The 2010 NHL Draft
While all the other items on this list have been singular events, this entire draft deserves to be at No. 1 on this list. The Florida Panthers had three first-round picks in the 2010 NHL Draft and not one of those players is on the Panthers’ current roster.
This draft seemed to be an optimistic one for Panthers’ expectations. This was Tallon’s first draft as GM and the Panthers held the third overall pick, which they could use to draft a transcendent talent as the face of Dale Tallon’s Florida Panthers.
They would be missing out on Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, who were the unanimous top 2 picks amongst major mock drafts, but these same mock drafts had the Panthers with the chance to draft solid forwards such as Ryan Johansen, Jeff Skinner, or Mikael Granlund – all projected to go top 10.
The Panthers, however, were content with their forward core, and looked to draft defense. Surely the Panthers would take Cam Fowler, a sturdy, all-star caliber defenseman, capable of leading a defensive core to the playoffs. Nope, the Panthers would use the third overall pick on Erik Gudbranson.
Gudbranson, a fan favorite for his grit and big hits may have been apart of both playoff teams this decade, but that only papers over his cracks.
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At his best, Gudbranson is a rotational defenseman best used as the sixth best option or a healthy scratch. He doesn’t have the offensive talent to make up for his defensive errors, and in term, is now playing for his third NHL team in the last four seasons. The pick has been an absolute flop, and arguably one of the worst draft picks in the last decade.
The Panthers then moved down five spots from 14 to 19 after Los Angeles sent their first and second-round picks to Florida. The Panthers now looked to go with a forward, and lucky for them, plenty of top-tier talent were still available.
Kevin Hayes, Charlie Coyle, and Evgeny Kuznetsov were all still available at 19; surely Tallon secures one of them? Nope, in term, Tallon selects Minnesota native Nick Bjugstad.
Florida Panthers
The pick wasn’t awful as Bjugstad’s draft stock had actually slipped a few picks and he turned out better than the two forwards chosen immediately after Bjugstad: Beau Bennett and Riley Sheahan.
Still, Bjugstad hasn’t lived up to the hype of a first-round pick, with an average 191 points in 394 games for Florida before being traded to Pittsburgh.
Just when they were seemingly done, the Panthers traded back into the first round, securing the 25th pick from Vancouver. Hayes is gone, but surely now Tallon selects Kuznetsov or Coyle as future faces of the franchise…
The Panthers select Quinton Howden. Howden spends just three seasons with the Panthers and scores just 17 points in 92 games.
To this day, Howden recorded more penalty minutes than points in the NHL. This season, Kuznetsov scored 17 points in the month of February alone. Kuznetsov is taken with the very next pick and goes on to win a Stanley Cup with the Capitals.
As if it couldn’t get any worse after that, the Panthers have two picks inside the opening five picks of the second round. Tallon passes up on Justin Faulk twice to draft John McFarland and Alexander Petrovic.
To recap, the Panthers could’ve selected Mikael Granlund, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Charlie Coyle, and Justin Faulk in the same draft, and instead wound up with five players who aren’t even on the roster anymore.
Next. Top Five Moves That Were Steals Made by Dale Tallon. dark
Looking back at all 13 selections made back in 2010, in hindsight, the Panthers’ best selection was made in the fifth round. This player was Zach Hyman. Tallon, this was not your prettiest moment…