Florida Panthers Name Tom Rowe General Manager and Promote Dale Tallon to President of Hockey Operations

The Florida Panthers restructured their hockey operations department on Monday, although they insist that the changes are just in title alone. 

Executive Vice President and General Manager, Dale Tallon has been promoted to President of Hockey Operations, while Associate General Manager, Tom Rowe was promoted to General Manager. In his new role Tallon will continue to oversee all of the aspects of the team’s hockey operations, including the player acquisition, development and scouting. 

In addition, Eric Joyce and Steve Werier were named Assistant General Managers by the organization. Joyce had previously served as a Vice President and Assistant to the General Manager and General Manager of their American Hockey League affiliate, the Portland Pirates. Joyce will continue to serve as general manager of the Pirates. 

Werier, had been the Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, and will continue to serve as the Vice President of Legal Affairs for the organization.   

Panthers Owner, Chairman and Governor, Vincent Viola said, “This is a great day for the organization as it ensures continuity within the hockey operations department. I have the utmost confidence in Dale’s vision and leadership and this group’s ability to build on this year’s playoff appearance, and make the Panthers a Stanley Cup contender for years to come.”

Tallon added, “I am looking forward to continuing to work with Tom, Eric and Steve. Our organization took a big step forward this season, and these moves made in hockey operations continue to strengthen the future of our front office.” 

Tallon, who just signed a contract extension on January 1^st, just completed his sixth season with the Panthers. Rowe has been with the organization since 2013-2014 season, when he served as the head coach for their AHL affiliate before being named Associate General Manager in January. 

Rowe, who replaced former coach Peter Horachek in San Antonio when Horachek was named the interim coach in Sunrise during the 2013-2014 season said, “I think this is the opportunity of a lifetime for myself to have the opportunity to work with Dale. All my role is going to be is to continue to building the vision that Dale set out and to continue to execute the long-term plan.”

 

He added, “It is certainly an expanded front office at this point after today but it is going to be a group effort. We will make decisions as a group; The best decisions are made as a group. Make no mistake about it, this is Dale’s team. He is the one who built it. He is the one that found the players, and I am here to support Dale, and be loyal to Dale.”   

Panthers Executive Chariman, Peter Luukko said, “This is really a formalization of the way we have been operating frankly. Dale has been here the longest and has put this team together through the draft and some trades. We believed it was time to formalize the way we have frankly been operations.”

He added, “It is very much a collaborative effort here. With that salary cap you really need people with varied specializations. From our standpoint our organization is evolving. We have had success, and we want to continue that success and strengthen our bench, and put together a first class organization.”

Luukko also noted that while Tallon will oversee all aspects of the hockey operations department, he will be less involved in the business aspects, which Tallon supports. He also mentioned that while the decisions will be a group effort, Tallon will make the final decisions. 

Tallon added, “I am happy to do that, I was not a very big fan of doing contracts. You do what you have to do, but now we have a great staff in Tom, Eric and Steve and all of us together, it frees me up to do what I think I do best, and that is go scout, evaluate talent, mentor our young guys and help develop them. That is basically what I love to do. I like going to the rinks. I like freezing my rear end off in a rink. That is what I enjoy most about this job.”