The Tallon touch: New GM's flurry scores for Panthers
Near the end of the draft's first round, Florida's Dale Tallon was asked by a rival general manager if he wanted to trade for one more pick before it was over.
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| Florida's new GM Dale Tallon drafts 13 players, including 10 selected among the first 100 picks. (Getty Images) |
What Wilson probably didn't realize at the time was that the Panthers new general manager was on his way to doing just that, making a draft-high 13 picks during the two days in Los Angeles. Three were in the first round, three more in the second round, including a pair that were rated by many to go in the first round, and 10 were among the first 100 players drafted.
Tallon's remarkable haul capped off a week that saw him swing two big trades as well and essentially lay down the foundation for a major and much-needed talent overhaul of the organization. The blueprint came from his former team in Chicago where Tallon built the Blackhawks into a Stanley Cup champion by going heavy on drafting and then filling in holes through trades, in this case for skilled NHL players, one a defenseman and the others young forwards.
"We feel it was a great turning point for our franchise," Tallon said.
It needs to be. The Florida franchise had as much potential for success as any that joined under the NHL southern strategy that began in the early 90s, thanks to its built-in and affluent base of transplants and winter visitors from deep-rooted traditional markets. The organization even tasted success early with a trip to the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals in Season 3, but it was fleeting because since then the Panthers have been to the playoffs twice, never advancing beyond the first round.
And even that hasn't happened in 10 years.
Making matters worse, the franchise has been a model of instability since its 2000 playoff appearance. It is now on its seventh coach, eighth general manager and has changed ownership hands a couple of times. On the bright side, the Panthers have a small but devoted core of season ticket holders and one of the league's best arena facilities, and they have even developed some grass roots for the sport (Andrew Yogan of Boca Raton became the first player born and trained in South Florida to be drafted when the New York Rangers selected him in Los Angeles). But for the most part, the Panthers' losing ways have made them an afterthought on the local sports scene over the last several years.
So while the idea of rebuilding from the ground up seems like the sound way to go, Tallon does have to move things along a little quicker for the franchise to survive.
"We'll do it with youth, size and creativity," Tallon said. "I love young players, I like innovative, creative players, I like good kids, guys I can have fun with. That's what I'm all about. I'm a relationship guy. I like to develop relationships with these guys. I like to develop and see these guys have success."
It'll help if Tallon finds a productive way to use the extra few million in cap space he cleared with his moves last week. Florida now has 20 players under contract and is still about $13 million under the limit, a good place to be as Thursday's free-agent market opening approaches.
Truth is the period immediately preceding the draft and leading into the opening of the free-agent market is arguably the most crucial time to set up rosters for next season. But cap problems, mostly the result of ill-advised contracts, are posing serious challenges for many teams these days. That's why many general managers eager to wheel and deal were unable to get anything done at the draft.
"As it sits right now, we're going to go through free agency and build our team in the summer," said Vancouver Mike Gillis, echoing a refrain of many of his colleagues. "I thought there would be more trades but there weren't. I'm just happy we were able to make one."
In fact, Vancouver's deal was the only one of significance over the weekend, and not surprisingly it involved Tallon. Florida sent veteran defenseman Keith Ballard to the Canucks in a package for young forwards Steve Bernier and Michael Grabner. But Florida's other big trade involving Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell going to Boston and Dennis Wideman coming back happened days before the draft as did the other notable deals that saw players like playoff star Jaroslav Halak, veteran Jason Arnott and a trio of Blackhawks change teams.
The reality is that making the big flashy deals everyone seems to hope for at drafts are next to impossible unless a lot of groundwork has been done ahead of time. No one wants to make a spur of the moment decision on someone they haven't carefully considered in terms of impact both on the ice and the salary structure.
"The biggest influence is the [cap] floor, going up and up and up teams are looking at internal budgets a lot more closely," Gillis said. "That's why there is so little player movement. You have to basically match dollar for dollar, and it's really difficult to do."
And this offseason in particular did not lend itself to going the extra mile. The unrestricted market really has only one marquee name in Ilya Kovalchuk and very few teams with the money or the room to afford him. There will be a few 1-As and many second-tier types available though, some of them who were in line to become unrestricted and others who got there because their former teams needed less expensive options and did not make qualifying offers.
And for teams looking with available money and assets, like the Panthers, that bodes well.
"[But] people have to come in and earn their stripes," Tallon said. "I watched a lot of Panthers games when I was in Florida on television, and it was an easy game. We don't want to give anyone an easy game. We want a real solid team with players who care and are passionate and pay the price to win."
