Breaking: NHL team fires their head coach immediately following the end of the regular season.

The dominoes begin to fall.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Breaking: NHL team fires their head coach immediately following the end of the regular season.

When you consider how many teams failed to meet the expectations set before them prior to the start of the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season there has been an expectation that many heads will roll after the season comes to an end. Well, we have now officially completed the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season and, unsurprisingly, today for the first time in the postseason an NHL head coach has been fired.

According to a breaking news report from National Hockey League insider Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, the Florida Panthers have just fired head coach Bob Boughner. The Florida Panthers have confirmed that announcement via an official press release on Sunday morning, officially putting an end to Boughner's time with that organization. Additionally the Panthers also revealed that assistant coach Paul McFarland would be relieved of his duties behind the Panther's bench as well, joining Boughner in the unemployment line. 

Here is the statement from the Panthers, unedited and in full:

Florida Panthers President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Dale Tallonannounced today that Bob Boughner has been relieved of his duties as head coach, along with Assistant Coach Paul McFarland.

"We made a tough decision today and have relieved Bob Boughner of his duties as head coach," said Tallon. "We didn't meet expectations this season and share responsibility for that fact. After careful evaluation, we have determined that this is a necessary first step for our young team and we will seek to identify a transformative, experienced head coach with Stanley Cup pedigree to lead our team going forward. We're grateful to Bob, Paul and their families for their hard work and their dedication to the Panthers organization and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors."

There were times this season that it became clear that the relatively inexperienced Boughner was well over his head, this in spite of the fact that he has a head coaching pedigree from his time in the Ontario Hockey League. That being said though not many felt that Boughner was the root of the problem in Florida and although this move does make sense it is undoubtedly a very tough day for Boughner and his loved ones. 

The Florida Panthers are rumored to be making a big push for both Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin this offseason and it is perhaps for that reason that they feel they need a bigger name behind the bench to help entice those players to join their organization. 

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