Florida Panthers name Shane Churla as director of amateur scouting

The Florida Panthers have hired Shane Churla as their director of amateur scouting, making the official announcement on Monday morning.

Churla spent seven seasons with the Montreal Canadiens scouting staff (2013-14 to 2019-20) including the past four seasons as the club’s Director of Amateur Scouting and three as Chief of Amateur Scouting.

There have been rumblings of several members of the Canadiens organization getting looks at promotions elsewhere, including assistant GM Scott Mellanby, and scout Sean Burke. Churla is the second member to leave the organization in recent years, joining Rick Dudley. Dudley left for the Carolina Hurricanes.

It will remain to be seen whether someone will be promoted to replace Churla from within the organization, if someone else will be hired, or if Trevor Timmins — currently the Assistant GM in charge of amateur scouting — will take more responsibility.

The Canadiens amateur scouting department currently has 12 members now that Churla has left.