Quoting: justaBoss
I think the owners are problematic as well. In a timespan of half a year they give the ok for spending huge buck to bring a legendary coach in (worst choice possible imo, he has nothing to give for a young team lacking leadership and talent) and a superstar goalie, and then just half a year later they apparently are in the process of saving money and need to sell one of their long-term greats in Trocheck.
I don't think anyone have a clue of any kind whatsoever with how this teams should be operated with. I mean the team isn't filled with old guys, yet the most saddest fact with the team is that in their current roster there is a whopping 3 players they've actually drafted starting from 2013 (Barkov, Ekblad and Weegar)... I don't know how big of a failure you need to be to suck this bad in drafting assets.
This team is a train wreck and a complete waste of space. The owner should just sell this mess and they should relocate to Quebec.
Did Viola kick your dog or something?
Drafting players is on the GM. Tallon has been in charge of drafting since 2010 (except that 9 months when Rowe took over). As you say, aside from a few franchise players, he has done a fairly terrible job at it, so now he's being shown the door.
Florida isn't a profitable team. They've been bad for a long time, so they don't sell a bunch of tickets, and with the economic downturn that came along with COVID-19, it shouldn't be surprising that the team wants to save money, especially if they're not on the cusp of being good again. I don't know that you can fault the owner for that decision.
Given a new GM and a couple seasons to right the ship, I don't see why this team couldn't be competitive and profitable in 4-5 years. They have a solid core to build around and a lot of quality assets that they can move to acquire picks and prospects.