Was Dale Tallon a good general manager?

The Florida Panthers made a considerable organizational shakeup last week when it was announced general manager Dale Tallon was ‘promoted’ to an executive hockey ops position while Tom Rowe was moved to GM in a series of moves by the club.

The reassignment was reported as the Panthers decreasing Tallon’s influence while embracing a more analytical mindset. Some view the move was a shocking change as the 65-year-old is often considered one of the better front office minds in the game.

In today’s column, I’ll examine Dale Tallon’s history as GM and answer the question: Are we sure Tallon was a good general manager?

Drafting

Drafting is where Tallon gets a ton of credit. He’s drafted a plethora of talented players during his tenure with the Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers.

Hits: 2005: Niklas Hjalmarsson (108) 2006: Jonathan Toews (3) 2007: Patrick Kane (1) 2010: Nick Bjugstad (18) 2011: Jonathan Huberdeau (3) Vincent Trochek (64) 2013: Aleksander Barkov (2), 2013:  Aaron Ekblad (1)

Misses: 2005: Jack Skille (7) 2008: Kyle Beach (11) 2009: Dylen Olsen (28) 1010: Erik Gudbranson (3)

Tallon’s draft history is more about quality than quantity. Tallon’s been fortunate enough to fall into the lottery multiple times, drafting first overall twice.

Tallon made the right moves to land Kane, Toews, and Ekblad and deserves credit in drafting them. He also made a somewhat shrewd move to take Barkov over Jonathan Drouin (3) and Seth Jones (4) in 2013. With Florida, he did well to land depth players in later rounds such as Alex Petrovic (36, 2010), Joonas Donskoi (99, 2010), Zach Hyman (123, 2010) and Logan Shaw (76, 2011).

Since Tallon has put together some rebuilding teams, it was easier for him to land on generational players like Kane, Toews, Barkov and Ekblad since he had first dibs to grab them. Tallon’s draft history features some good hits but also has a few big misses.

Tallon’s had multiple years where a large majority of the players he’s drafted haven’t appeared in a single game. In 2008 and 2009 he had 15 selections and the best player he drafted was Marcus Kruger (149, 2009). Since 2012, he’s only had three drafted players make NHL appearances. He produced three NHLers with his three first round picks in 2010, but Quinton Howden (25) and Gudbranson (3) are depth players. He selected Gudbranson over Ryan Johansen (4), Jeff Skinner (7), Cam Fowler (12) and Vladimir Tarasenko (16).

Ultimately, Tallon has had some huge selections in the lottery. However, he’s done very poorly in the later rounds given the number of draft picks he’s had.

Building a roster

Tallon is definitely responsible for turning the Blackhawks into a dynasty, even if he didn’t get to reap the full rewards of his labor. He drafted Toews, Kane, and Hjalmarsson, brought in Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg for practically nothing and signed Marian Hossa and Brian Campbell. All of those players were key to the team’s multiple Stanley Cup wins. He was also instrumental in bringing Joel Quenneville to the organization. In Florida, aside from the lottery picks, Tallon did well bringing in Brian Campbell and elite goalie Roberto Luongo in essentially salary dump moves. Acquiring Jaromir Jagr for draft picks and Reilly Smith (and Marc Savard’s contract) for Jimmy Hayes has also worked out tremendously.  Tallon turned both Florida and Chicago from lottery teams to contenders, even if he didn’t/not going to see it through with either team.

On the flip side, he was essentially reassigned in the midst of the Blackhawks turnaround for messing up big time in free agency by not offering qualifying offers in time, which cost the team millions. His four-year, $27 million deal to Nikolai Khabibulin was a bust, as was his four-year, $16 million to Adrian Aucoin. In Florida, he used free agency to give mediocre players big contracts to hit the cap floor. He committed a combined $37 million to long-term contracts for Scottie Upshall, Tomas Kopecky and Sean Bergenheim. The Panthers got a combined 89 goals over the life of the contracts from the trio. Tallon also signed one of the worst contracts in free agent history, giving Dave Bolland a stupid five-year, $27.5 million deal. Florida’s needed to spend money at times to hit the cap floor, but Tallon has needlessly wasted some of it. On the coaching front, Florida has gone through three head coaches since Tallon joined the team in 2011.

Tallon’s proved he’s not afraid to spend money, which has yielded mixed-to-positive results.

Team finishes

Chicago:

2005-06: 65 points

2006-07: 71 points

2007-2008: 88 points

2008-2009: 104 points

Florida:

2010-2011: 72 points

2011-2012: 94 points

2012-13: 36 points (48 games)

2013-14: 91 points

2015-2016: 103 points

The pattern among both teams is Tallon built them from lottery teams to playoff contenders. The Blackhawks would win the Stanley Cup in the first season after Tallon exited the team and again, he deserves the credit for getting them there. He wasted draft picks but did more than enough to change the fortune of the team around.

In Florida, he got the Panthers back to the playoffs and has kept them mostly competitive. Last year, the team’s success was miraged by the team’s second-highest 102.1 PDO, but like in Chicago, Tallon has established the team going forward. They have a plethora of good youngsters, but their roster still could use work before they make the next step.

Verdict

I’m on the fence. Tallon has done a great job in his career turning around lottery teams, but he’s had plenty of missteps along the way. Without the lottery picks, his draft record is ugly. Would other GM’s make the same picks in the lottery given the chance? Probably. But – he’s done well enough without the picks to keep his teams relevant in the present. He’s an ideal GM if you need someone to be aggressive in a rebuild. Tallon will make some head scratchers along the way, but generally, he’s done an OK job.

Was Tallon a good GM? I’m leaning towards yes.