Kevin Dineen: What Can New Head Coach Bring to the Florida Panthers?

A new era in Florida Panthers franchise history began earlier this week when Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon named Kevin Dineen the team’s 11th head coach.

The Panthers are looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2000. They finished fourth in the Southeast Division for five straight seasons and finished in fifth for the last two seasons. Their struggles include two 40-loss seasons.

Dineen may be able to turn things around in Florida.

Prior to being hired by the Panthers, Dineen was coaching in the American Hockey League with the Portland Pirates. He survived an affiliation change, as Portland was affiliated with the Anaheim Ducks when he began coaching.

Before the 2008-09 season, it was announced that Portland would be affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres.

Dineen coached several members of the Ducks’ 2007 Stanley Cup championship team. One of the most notable players was Corey Perry, who had 34 points in just 19 games with Portland in 2005-06. The next year, Perry had 44 points in the regular season and 15 points in 21 playoff games as the Ducks captured their first Stanley Cup.

Perry has gotten better every year. He topped out this year with 98 points and 50 goals to capture his first Rocket Richard Trophy. He is also nominated for the Hart Trophy and has been named to two NHL All-Star Games (2008 and 2011).

While coaching with Portland under the Buffalo affiliation, Dineen worked with two consecutive AHL Rookie of the Year winners. Nathan Gerbe won the award in 2008-09 after tallying 56 points in 57 games with the Pirates. He has played 74 games with Buffalo the last two seasons and has 36 points. Gerbe has accomplished all of this despite being the shortest player in the NHL (he is 5’5”).

Tyler Ennis took the award in 2009-10, having put up 65 points in 69 games. He played his first full season with the Sabres this year, posting 49 points in the regular season and four points and a plus-four in seven playoff games.

Marc-Andre Gragnani is another former player of Dineen’s who has made an impact on Buffalo. Although he had just three points in nine regular season games, he led the Sabres in postseason scoring with seven points in seven games. He also had a plus-seven rating.

Dineen definitely has the success developing young players, but he has his work cut out for him in Florida.

The Panthers were near the bottom of several statistical categories in 2010-11. They were 28th in the NHL with just 2.33 goals scored per game and last on the power play with just a 13.1 percent success rate.

They are also lacking a true offensive superstar. Stephen Weiss was the team’s scoring leader with 49 points, while David Booth led the team with 23 goals. If the Panthers cannot find a pure scorer in free agency or through trades, Dineen will have limited offensive resources to work with.

However, he could very well have the answers to those problems.

Portland scored the most goals in the AHL during the regular season, tallying 280, or an average of 3.5 goals per game. The Pirates’ power play, which worked at a 21.4 percent success rate, was fifth in the AHL.

Defense may still prove to be an issue. Florida gave up 2.71 goals per game this year (14th in the NHL), and the Pirates were surrendering almost three goals per game. The Panthers, and Dineen, will still need work to fix the defense.

The Panthers are looking at losing some of their best players come July. Sergei Samsonov, who was third on the team in scoring with 40 points, is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent.

However, goaltender Tomas Vokoun looks to be Florida's biggest loss.

Vokoun has played at least 50 games every year for the last four years, and his lowest totals while with Florida (.919 save percentage and 2.68 GAA) were still impressive given the quality of the Panthers team.

While these losses will hurt, the Panthers will also bring back scoring leaders Weiss and Booth. The average age of the Panthers’ team is 30, so Dineen will inherit a squad with ample NHL experience.

Dineen has a strong track record of getting teams to the playoffs. The Pirates made the Calder Cup Playoffs every year he was the coach except in 2006-07. He led them to the Conference Finals twice (2006 and 2008) and led them to two division titles (2006 and 2011). In 2006, he won the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as the AHL’s Coach of the Year.

Personally, I feel the Dineen hire is a good one. He has done a great job of developing future NHL stars, and the Panthers do have some good prospects he can eventually work with. Players such as Evgeny Dadonov and Tim Kennedy have done well in NHL stints, whether with the Panthers or another NHL team. They also have 2010 first round picks Erik Gudbranson and Nick Bjugstad.  

At the same time, I also don’t think Panthers fans should expect results right away.

Scott Clemmensen is far from the best replacement for Vokoun should Vokoun not return, and the team still needs some scoring power and help on the power play if they are to become a true contender.

It’s going to be a long road, but hiring Dineen is a good start.