Rick Dudley knows the end of his long and remarkable life in hockey is looming.
The 76-year-old Lewiston resident, a senior advisor to Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito, is one of game’s oldest and most respected executives.
The Stanley Cup eluded Dudley, who has spent 56 years in hockey as a player, coach and executive, until last season. Now, the septuagenarian has won back-to-back championships as part of the Panthers’ brain trust.
“As you come to the end of your journey, sometimes it makes you think this would be a good time to depart,” said Dudley, who on Thursday will hold a public celebration with the Cup beginning at 5 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel Rainforest Cafe on 300 3rd St. in Niagara Falls. “And then you say, ‘Oh, it wouldn’t be so bad going out with three in a row.’ That’s the arrogance.”
It’s hardly arrogant to think the Panthers can become the first team to win three consecutive Cups since the New York Islanders captured four straight titles from 1980 to 1983.
The word ‘dynasty’ can be thrown around liberally, but the Panthers, who will be have nearly every regular back after winning the Cup on June 17, have a chance to become one of hockey’s all-time great teams.
Right now, Dudley isn’t ready to retire. The hockey lifer said he plans to finish his contract with the Panthers and “see after that.”
“I get bored easily,” the popular former Buffalo Sabres player and coach told the Times Herald earlier this month. “I still have way too much energy.”
Still, Dudley holds back that energy during the Panthers’ celebrations. Last year, at Zito’s prodding, he joined the team and raised hockey’s holy grail above his head. This year, however, he did not stay long on the ice.
He wanted the team’s European staff members to enjoy the special moment after missing out last year, so he purchased a couple bottles of wine – “Really good wine,” he noted – and brought them into an office in Amerant Bank Arena.
The crowd eventually swelled to about 35 people.
“You couldn’t move in there,” Dudley said. “Oh, it was ridiculous. But we had some good wine and a couple of toasts, and that’s all I needed for that.”
Dudley, who last year brought the Cup to the Griffon Brewery and Gastropub, wants fans to enjoy some time with the iconic trophy again. He stressed Thursday’s celebration is open to the public.
“People might not know a hell of a lot about hockey, but they usually know what the Stanley Cup is,” he said. “And last year was everything. They like the chance to see it, get their picture taken. I think that’s wonderful. It’s good for the game, makes me feel good, and I like meeting people that I didn’t meet before that are hockey fans.”
Dudley, having coached and been a GM in the NHL, has a unique understanding of the special relationship Zito and coach Paul Maurice have developed and how it buoyed the Panthers’ recent success.
“They’re in such sync,” Dudley said. “The general manager, he talks to the coach all the time. They’re both very, very bright guys, and they’re on the same page. And when the coach tells him what he thinks he can win with, the general manager says, ‘That’s what I got to get him,’ and he does.
Skill, of course, is nice to have, but Maurice covets competitiveness and size.
“He doesn’t necessarily want the most talented (players),” Dudley said. “He wants the guy who will execute what we’re trying to do, and we play a hard game. There are people in the game, they’re wonderful players that couldn’t function in our system, I don’t think.”
But Dudley said some talented players have transformed their style to fit in Florida by getting “swept up in the culture.” He believes franchise cornerstones like Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and others “drag you into the fight.”
“I look at our team and … I don’t know of any single player that hasn’t come in there and played at or near his optimal level. None,” Dudley said. “It’s incredible, and I think that’s because of the culture.”
Dudley has compiled a list of traits critical to being a member of the Panthers he uses and teaches others.
“Now, when I go out and I’m watching a game, I’m looking at it through a different lens, because I don’t expect Paul Maurice to go anywhere,” he said. “So what I’m looking at is I want to find a player that will fit.”