The South Florida sports landscape has been a hoot this week! What with the Dolphins-Incognito thing, the Jeffrey Loria art sale thing, and now this: After seven straight losses, the Florida Panthers have announced that they've fired pretty much everybody.
Head coach Kevin Dineen has been given the ax, as have his assistants Gord Murphy and Craig Ramsay.
Peter Horachek, head coach of the Panthers' AHL team, San Antonio Rampage, has been upped as the interim coach.
Panthers Executive Vice President & General Manager Dale Tallon said in a statement that the changes have come due to the team not meeting expectations.
"After 16 games it was clear that our team needed a change in philosophy and direction," said Tallon. "We have not met the expectations that we set forth at training camp and it is my responsibility to make the necessary changes to ensure that our club performs at its maximum potential. We thank Kevin, Gord and Craig for their hard work and dedication to our organization and the professionalism that they displayed throughout their tenure."
Tallon then dropped the gauntlet, leaving a veiled threat (or not so veiled) to the players, saying they need to play better... or else.
"Our better players have to start playing better or we will get better players," he said. "We're all responsible for this record, and this marks the first chance as we begin to turn this franchise around and become a winning organization."
The Panthers are dead last in the entire NHL and have been pretty toothless for a while now.
Although they did win the Southeast Division in Dineen's first year, in 2011.
Since then, however, it's been a kind of train wreck.
Back in September, the Panthers were sold for $240 million by Cliff Viner and Sunrise Sports & Entertainment to a group led by business mogul, and possible real-life Bruce Wayne, Vincent Viola.
Something something Kevin Dineen something something Florida Panthers something something deck chairs something something Titanic something.
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) November 8, 2013
And the florida panthers coach takes christmas off of trending #welldone
— Jeff Beauvais (@BeauvaisJeff) November 8, 2013
Wishing Peter Horachek the best of luck as new head coach of Florida Panthers. Great person who deserves this opportunity!
— Steve Sullivan (@Sullivan26) November 8, 2013
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