The Carolina Hurricanes are still looking for a new general manager, but today added an experienced voice into the front office. Rick Dudley has been named Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations, leaving his post as an assistant GM with the Montreal Canadiens.
Dudley has been around the NHL for several decades, first as a player and then as a coach and executive. With a deep scouting background, he’s served as GM of four different franchises, and worked closely with Carolina interim GM Don Waddell in Atlanta. Hurricanes owner Thomas Dundon praised this experience in the press release announcing the hiring:
Rick brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our management group. He has been a part of building championship teams on every level of professional hockey, and will play an important role in helping us build a winner in Raleigh.
Working with the Canadiens since 2012, Dudley will undertake a new challenge in Carolina where there currently is no permanent GM or head coach. With that in mind, bringing on an experienced scout and manager ahead of the upcoming draft can only benefit the Hurricanes. The team moved up in the draft lottery to second overall, and needs to make sure they select a star talent that can help their group in the short term.
Well damn. Dudley’s a great hockey mind and leaves a huge hole in the Habs front office. Met him by chance at the Habs-Leafs-Pens-Sens rookie tournament 2 years ago. We talked hockey for a good half hour or more and pretty much all the players he was really high on(Juulsen, Lindgren, Scherbak, Lehkonen and Sergachev) are starting to have success in the NHL.
Dundon is such a buffoon. He’s on his way to The Cleveland Browns on Ice.
Is his the same Rick Dudley that was the former Whalers’ coach?
Never mind. I was thinking if Rick Let.