{"id":85801,"date":"2020-09-15T21:27:16","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T01:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=85801"},"modified":"2020-12-26T16:30:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T21:30:01","slug":"mike-kitchen-panthers-part-ways-after-alleged-kicking-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/09\/15\/mike-kitchen-panthers-part-ways-after-alleged-kicking-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Kitchen, Florida Panthers Part Ways After Alleged Kicking Incident"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TSN&#8217;s Frank Seravalli reported that the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/panthers\/\" target=\"_self\">Florida Panthers<\/a> and assistant coach <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kitchmi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Kitchen<\/a><\/strong> have parted ways after Kitchen is alleged to have kicked a player on the bench sometime during the regular season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Full story with details &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FlaPanthers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#FlaPanthers<\/a> are expected to part ways with assistant coach Mike Kitchen after he allegedly kicked a Panthers player on the bench during an <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NHL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NHL<\/a> game this season:<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RgxkAf6K3W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/RgxkAf6K3W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/frank_seravalli\/status\/1305979812985688064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 15, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Mike Kitchen Leaves the Panthers<\/h2>\n<p>In Seravalli&#8217;s report he writes that the alleged incident occurred on Jan. 20 during the third period when the Panthers were visiting the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/wild\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota Wild.<\/a> A player threw his water bottle on the bench in frustration and the water sprayed on Mike Kitchen. Kitchen kicked the player in response.<\/p>\n<p>A source said Kitchen&#8217;s kick was &#8220;full on&#8221; and the source also said Kitchen &#8220;reared back and booted\u00a0 [him] in the lower back in anger.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kitchen didn&#8217;t respond to Seravalli for comment and the Panthers denied to comment. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/panthers\/news\/florida-panthers-announce-new-additions-changes-to-hockey-operations-staff\/c-319046126\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">news release<\/a> the team stated that Kitchen will not return as assistant coach.<\/p>\n<p>An NHL official confirmed they have been informed of an internal investigation by the Panthers.<\/p>\n<p>Sources confirmed to Seravalli that Panthers former general manager <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/talloda01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dale Tallon<\/a><\/strong> and current head coach <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/q\/quennjo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Quenneville<\/a><\/strong> were notified of the incident following the game. Kitchen was allowed to continue coaching.\u00a0 According to Seravalli, Quenneville\u00a0 said he didn&#8217;t foresee any coaching changes after the season.<\/p>\n<p>Kitchen, 64,\u00a0 joined Quenneville behind the Panthers bench this season after spending seven seasons with him with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/blackhawks\/\" target=\"_self\">Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>. They won two Stanley Cups in Chicago. Kitchen also played in 474 NHL games with the Colorado Rockies and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/devils\/\" target=\"_self\">New Jersey Devils.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A few weeks earlier, the Panthers and general manager Tallon mutually agreed to part ways as well. Soon after, it was reported that Tallon is<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/08\/28\/nhl-investigation-former-florida-panthers-dale-tallon-racial-slur\/\" target=\"_self\"> under investigation<\/a> for allegedly using racist language in the Toronto bubble. <strong>Bill Zito<\/strong> was hired as their new general manager on Sept. 2.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for the Future<\/h3>\n<p>In the immediate future, it means the Panthers need a new assistant coach. It&#8217;s unclear how significant of an impact a new assistant coach will have while most of the coaching staff remains the same.<\/p>\n<p>The bigger impact is how this changes what is acceptable in coaching. Kitchen is not the first coach to be removed over alleged abuse. Former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/nhl-teams\/flames\/\" target=\"_self\">Calgary Flames<\/a> head coach <strong>Bill Peters<\/strong> allegedly kicked defencemen <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michal Jordan<\/a><\/strong> during a game when he was coaching with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/hurricanes\/\" target=\"_self\">Carolina Hurricanes.<\/a> Peters is also under investigation for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/11\/29\/calgary-flames-bill-peters\/\" target=\"_self\">allegedly uttering<\/a> a racist slur in front of\u00a0 former player <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/a\/aliuak01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Akim Aliu<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s in 2009-10. These alleged instances being brought up shows that abuse by coaches isn&#8217;t tolerated anymore.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/93096768\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/93096768?et=crOMqUOVS-ZFP5qRW_6xEw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=RTPoKEbq76G3nJW0pO7k50iaJQrrvTVnu4IQHcyTyzs=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TSN&#8217;s Frank Seravalli reported that the Florida Panthers and assistant coach Mike Kitchen have parted ways after Kitchen is alleged to have kicked a player on the bench sometime during the regular season. Full story with details &#8211; #FlaPanthers are expected to part ways with assistant coach Mike Kitchen after he allegedly kicked a Panthers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3331,"featured_media":85806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4547,4548],"tags":[836,1008,106,5738,1501,5295,2569,955],"class_list":["post-85801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-panthers","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-bill-peters","tag-dale-tallon","tag-florida-panthers","tag-hockey-news","tag-joel-quenneville","tag-mike-kitchen","tag-news","tag-nhl-news"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}