Despite a season of huge successes, the Florida Panthers continue to remake their front office. Monday, the team confirmed that they have fired Scott Luce, the team’s Director of Player Personnel.
Luce has received a lot of praise in recent years as one of the architects of the current roster and a key voice in team drafts, which won the Atlantic Division and is full of young talent, setting up the team for success for years to come.
Incoming general manager Tim Rowe told the Sun Sentinel’s George Richards, “We wanted a different voice.”
“Scott’s a good man and obviously brought in some players who have helped us over the years, but I felt we wanted to expand the roles of [scouts] Jason Bakula, Peter Mahovlich and our guy in Minnesota, Fred Bandel,” he said.
Under Luce’s direction the Panthers have selected the core of the current roster, including Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Erik Gudbranson, Dmitry Kulikov, Nick Bjugstad, Michael Matheson and Vincent Trocheck. Many of those, even the top picks, weren’t always the obvious pick and they have become the young leaders of this team.
“It’s more of a collaborative effort and it’s not that Scott didn’t agree with it, I just wanted to get a different voice at the top,” Rowe told the Sentinel. “We’re going through a process of bringing in new people, changing things up a little.”
Luce isn’t expect to be out of work long, with a strong track record and a ton of experience, there will be teams interested in his services.