Florida Panthers "move forward" by going back to Dale Tallon as GM again

The Florida Panthers are going back to the formula that proved successful in 2015-16, re-installing Dale Tallon as the team's general manager on Monday.

Tallon, named the Panthers' president of hockey operations while giving up control to general manager Tom Rowe last summer, will hold both titles and be the unquestioned voice of the franchise.

"I am confident that we have the necessary talent throughout our organization to win the Stanley Cup," owner Vincent Viola said in a statement. "Dale will continue to be our principle leader as we pursue this single goal."

Tallon had served as the team's general manager since 2010 before he was bumped upstairs last summer, which came on the heels of Florida winning the Atlantic Division.

The Panthers failed to make the playoffs this season during a turbulent campaign in which Rowe fired coach Gerard Gallant 22 games into the season and took over behind the bench on an interim basis.

Rowe was stripped of his coaching and general manager's duties following the elevation of Tallon, but will remain with the team in an advisory role.

"We're turning the page on a disappointing season," Tallon said at a press conference on Monday. "From today, we're moving forward with a singular voice under my leadership in hockey operations.

"We're going to have one agenda and one agenda only, and that is winning."

Panthers team president Matthew Caldwell disputed the notion that Tallon was "pushed aside" during the front-office reshuffling last year that led to Rowe taking the general manager's job and the promotions of Eric Joyce and Steve Werier as Rowe's assistants.

Joyce and Werier will remain as assistant general managers.

"Everything was done with the best intentions," Caldwell said. "We want to win. We want to look at a lot of things that were out there, a lot of voices, but I think what we learned is that having a singular voice who listens to everything -- listens to analytics, listens to scouts, listens to his gut for many, many years -- and have one single voice that reports to ownership is most important.

"So we live and learn, and still have a lot of great things going on with the company and we're looking forward."

Florida finished 35-36-11 and 14 points out of the final playoff in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers were 11-10-1 at the time of Gallant's dismissal and went 24-26-10 under Rowe.