The Florida Panthers are still without a head coach after parting ways with Peter Horachek, but GM Dale Tallon is building up a list of candidates.
Harvey Fialkov of The Sun Sentinel reports the team will talk with Montreal Canadiens assistant Gerard Gallant and Detroit Red Wings assistant Bill Peters about their coaching opening.
Those two are added to a list including former Stanley Cup winning coach Marc Crawford and former Rangers/Oilers coach and current Wings assistant Tom Renney.
Tallon has history with Peters from his days with the Chicago Blackhawks organization. Peters was hired to coach the ‘Hawks’ farm team in Rockford in 2008 while Tallon was the GM in Chicago.
Gallant has some NHL coaching history as he was an assistant in Columbus and with the New York Islanders and was head coach of the Blue Jackets for parts of three seasons. He replaced Doug MacLean during the 2003-04 season and was fired after 20 games in 2006 before being replaced by Ken Hitchcock.
Since then, he spent three years coaching the St. John Sea Dogs in the QMJHL and has been Michel Therrien’s assistant the past two seasons in Montreal.