Bad Timing: Jacques Martin Out

So, I'm a few hours late. I had to work today, but I saw this rumor early this morning and heard that it was true a couple hours later.

With Martin out, assistant GM Randy Sexton will take over in the interim and move the team forward as the draft and free agency approaches.

In the meantime, Bill Torrey will be searching for the Florida Panthers next general manager.

According to Michael Yormark, the Panthers were contacted a little over a week ago and team owner Alan Cohen then spoke to Martin about the Canadiens' interest. He gave the Habs permission to speak with Martin - JM loves coaching, and it's clear that his heart is still behind the bench - and last night, Jacques accepted the Canadiens' offer and was released by the Panthers to become the next head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

What's surprising is that quotes surfaced soon after from the agents of both David Booth and Jay Bouwmeester, stating that the two had not yet had any contact with Martin. With the latter, that's no shocker. His agent, Byron Baltimore, said, "Probably not," when asked whether Bouwmeester would reach an agreement in Florida before walking away. Booth, on the other hand, says he loves it here and that he wants to stay here. Since then, it's come out that Randy Sexton has contacted his pending free agents, saying there's a plan in place and that it will be followed as best they can.

The options that exist for the new GM are many, but just how likely some are remains to be seen.

Jack Birch: Birch is currently the director of player personnel with the Panthers, having been with the team for five years. This past season was his first with the new title, however, having worked as a pro scout and director of hockey operations in previous seasons. He's been responsible for overseeing the team in Rochester this past season.

Rick Dudley: Apparently, Dudley wants to finish what he started here in Florida. He was the Panthers' general manager from 2002 to 2004, eventually handling the coaching duties as well, and is currently an assistant general manager with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Jay Feaster: Feaster helped the Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004, but whether the connection is irrelevant or not, some of Feaster's time with the Lightning coincided with current Panthers' president Michael Yormark's tenure as Tampa's Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer.

John Ferguson, Jr.: Toronto's former general manager is currently working with the San Jose Sharks as a scout.

Les Jackson: Along with Brett Hull, Jackson is now a former co-general manager of the Dallas Stars (as of today).

Mike Keenan: If at first, you don't succeed - or the second time - why not hire him a third time and try again? But really, Keenan was recently relieved of his duties in Calgary after being reunited with Olli Jokinen and is once again out of work. Yet the same logic that tells you, "It didn't work out the first two times, so we won't go with Keenan," could also imply: "Cohen must like the guy to have given him another shot after he was fired the first time around. Maybe he'll do it again now that he's available. Again."

Jacques Lemaire: Lemaire was rumored to have an interest in working with an east coast team, and more specific to the rumors, either the Lightning or the Panthers. At the time, Martin was still in the front office and the position rumored was as a consultant. Lemaire lives on the west coast of Florida, so if there was truth to the rumor before, Lemaire may be more inclined to fancy a particular Eastern team now that one needs a new GM.

Doug MacLean: You remember MacLean, most likely. He's been with the Panthers before, coaching them to the Stanley Cup final during the 1995-96 season. But Bill Torrey fired MacLean two years later, and since then, MacLean saw a stint as GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets (their first in team history) end with another firing. The Jackets never posted a winning record with any of MacLean's teams, having finally made the playoffs for the first time ever two years after his departure.

Pierre McGuire: McGuire's name surfaced during the Minnesota Wild's hunt for a new general manager this summer. He's never served in a GM capacity and has only coached briefly in the league (head coach of the Whalers and assistant coach of the Penguins). But McGuire's been one of Florida's biggest cheerleaders this season, praising them and their new direction quite often whenever the opportunity arose. Much like hiring DeBoer to be the coach, McGuire would be an out-of-the-box move, but he's got exceptional hockey knowledge and an infectious (if not at times annoying in its presentation) enthusiasm for the game of hockey. Putting the two together would be a dramatic culture shock to the Panthers we've known for so long.

Mike Milbury: Milbury was the general manager of the New York Islanders for a spell, trading Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen to the Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. He passed on Dany Heatley to select Rick DiPietro, and he traded Zdeno Chara, the second overall in 2001 (Jason Spezza) and Bill Muckalt to the Senators for Alexei Yashin. Not one of his better days. Nor was trading Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi and a third for Trevor Linden - in the mid-90s, when both McCabe and Bertuzzi were still under 22 years old.

Denis Potvin: Potvin was just released from his position as a TV analyst for the Panthers - a position that he held from the very beginning. But Bill Torrey is heading this search, and if he feels Potvin could be the right man for the job, one has to think he'd approach him. After all, they have a bit of a history together: Torrey drafted Potvin in 1973, then turned down a major trade offer from Montreal in order to keep Potvin as an anchor for his franchise long-term. Along with Potvin, Torrey had been with the Panthers from the very beginning.

Randy Sexton: Sexton's currently the assistant GM of the Panthers and he's been here since the beginning of the 2007 calendar year. Prior to joining the Panthers, Sexton helped mold the Ottawa Senators over eight years and was responsible for drafting Daniel Alfredsson and Pavol Demitra, to name a few.

Neil Smith: Smith took over a talented Rangers team and made them even better, drafting guys like Kovalev and Weight in to the league and added Adam Graves, Jeff Beukeboom and Esa Tikkanen to the team - and most notably - traded for Mark Messier. Messier would go on to lead the Rangers to the Cup with his famous promise. Smith signed Wayne Gretzky near the end of his career, and then left the Rangers soon after. He was more recently GM of the Islanders, briefly, and said at the time, "Knowing that I'll be working in the same office where one of my mentors, Bill Torrey, created a dynasty is an unbelievable feeling." Torrey, of course, will be doing the interviews - so Smith might be interested.

The list could go on, with names like Scott Mellanby (now a scout), Doug Risebrough, Dave Nonis and maybe even Scott Luce, but the short answer is that there are many possibilities out there.

The timing, however, couldn't be worse.