Tallon on Kessel, Panthers' future, Blackhawks' model

Florida Panthers GM Dale Tallon was on Toronto’s Sportsnet 590 on Tuesday evening.

On the talk Phil Kessel will be traded to the Florida Panthers:

"I don’t want to pay any big fines. But Phil Kessel is a hell of a player. He can score a lot of goals. I don’t know where that’s coming from.”

On how he would characterize his team at the trade deadline:

“I think we’re going to stay the course. We have a good blueprint. We know what we’re doing. We have a brilliant future ahead of us. We’re still right in the hunt and we’re going to just keep moving forward in the direction that we planned three or four years ago, and we’re just going to keep adding to it.

“We’ve got four UFAs that might be available at the deadline to add some more assets, in prospects or picks. And we have a ton of picks in next year’s draft, which we’re hosting in Florida.

“And we have good kids in the minors that are ready to come up and play. Trocheck, Grimaldi, Howden, Wilson – these kids that are playing really well down there.

“And we have a good crop of guys to sign this summer – Matheson, maybe McCoshen out of Boston College, we don’t know if they’re coming out or not. And Downing in Michigan is another good one. Rau, who’s a senior. Hyman, who’s having a great year in Michigan. Hawrlyuk in Brandon.

“So we’ve got a lot of kids coming. I like to play with kids. I like a young team. We did it in Chicago, we’re going to do it here.”

In Chicago, you're the architect of the team that won the Stanley Cups. You love the Blackhawks organization, but it didn't have that tradition of winning Cups for so many years. What were the key things that you learned from there that you bring to Florida?

"Well, obviously it's character. It has to be a self-motivation. A group of 23 guys that really care and really respect each other and want to win. You can talk until you're blue in the face and try to motivate with new Rocky-type speeches and all of that stuff and with analytics and whatever, but it all comes down to the character of the team. What's inside their guts and their hearts and their brain and how much they want it.

"And if you get that together, if you get 23 guys thinking that way - and I see this happening with our team now. It's really a good group that really respect and care for each other. And adding Willie Mitchell and Thornton and McKenzie and Jokinen from winning organizations has really helped probably expedite the process a little bit for these younger guys."

Source: Sportsnet 590/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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Nichols on Hockey

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