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MIAMI - Rick Dudley built the roster that helped turn Tampa Bay from perennial also-ran to Stanley Cup finalist. He won't get the chance to finish transforming the Panthers.
Dudley was fired as Florida's general manager Monday, after holding the job for two seasons in which the team failed to make the playoffs. He was summoned to the office of team owner Alan Cohen for a two-minute meeting, and said he was not given an explanation for his dismissal.
"Sometimes your senses tell you things," Dudley, who was offered another job in the organization, said in a phone interview from his home. "Sometimes you get the feeling that you're not as appreciated as you once were, and I had that feeling."
The team scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to announce the hiring of a GM and coach. The Miami Herald reported that former Ottawa coach Jacques Martin will take over as coach, and former Panthers coach Mike Keenan will return as general manager. Cohen still thinks well of Keenan, despite giving Dudley permission to fire Keenan.
The Panthers were 5-8-2 under Keenan before he was fired Nov. 9. Dudley replaced him and guided Florida to a 13-15-9-3 record doing both jobs. He hired John Torchetti as interim coach and he went 10-12-4-1.
"That's shocking," said Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle, whom Dudley acquired from the Panthers Jan. 7, 2002, a month before Dudley was replaced as Lightning GM by Jay Feaster. "He's obviously a man who knows his hockey, and I thought he was starting to get things going over there. They were a very young team, but it's shocking."
"I'm just kind of taken aback by it," John Tortorella, whom Dudley hired to be Lightning coach Jan. 6, 2001, said of Dudley's firing. "The best thing I can say about Rick Dudley is how hard he works at the game, and not just grunt work but intelligence. I hope he gets back in because he's too good a man to be out of this business."
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- Times staff writer Damian Cristodero contributed to this report.