The Carolina Hurricanes are slated to kick off their 2023-24 season tonight, but before the game, Canes' general manager Don Waddell spoke to the media following his team's morning skate on Wednesday.
Waddell discussed a range of topics from player reassignments, the current AHL situation, growth of fan support and more.
Here's what he had to say:
On reassigning players to the AHL to help accrue cap space: “Last year was different because we knew that going into the season, we were going to be in LTIR with [Max] Pacioretty. This year, the plan wasn’t to go into LTIR. We carried over some bonuses from last year from [Seth] Jarvis and so the plan was to just see how things would go, but to remain under the cap. If you look, we’re accruing cap space every day and if you take it all the way out to the deadline, it’s about $13 million of cap space. Things are going to happen and it’s going to change during the year, but certainly that’s part of the plan.”
On sending Pyotr Kochetkov down to the AHL: “Those conversations are not easy when you’re sending players away because they want to play here. In his case, the explanation to him and to his agent who was very supportive, was that he needs to play right now. Three guys aren’t going to share the net. We told him to go play and we’ll see how things start here for us. We’ve got both [Frederik Andersen] and [Antti Raanta] who are healthy and so let’s just see. It wouldn’t do any good to try and practice three goalies and play three goalies because nobody gets in a streak or a rhythm. At some point we know that we’re going to need another goalie so it’s more important to have Kochetkov playing some place rather than just practicing.”
On going into the season as betting favorites: “Five years ago when we started, it was all about making the playoffs. It’s not about making the playoffs anymore, it’s about trying to get to the finish line. You still have to play the regular season and compete every night to get to the playoffs, but certainly with what we have going on right now, we want to make a deep run.”
On the fan support: “We had 33 sellouts last year in the regular season and sold out every playoff game. We think we’re going to pretty much sellout every night now. It’s a different atmosphere for sure. What we’ve created and been able to continue to build off of... we had to give the community, the Triangle-area, something to be proud of and we’ve done that on the ice. Rod’s done a tremendous job, and the fans have responded. It’s one thing to do it and have people come back slowly. Well, everybody’s come back quickly. I can remember when I got here in 2014, people knew about the Canes but nobody cared about the Canes and certainly it’s a lot different in the community these days when you’re out and about.”
On becoming a destination: “It used to be where we were getting free agents and players if we overpaid them. Money certainly always is a big factor when you’re signing players, but it’s also that players want to be here now. When players call me and ask me about the city, I say, ‘Don’t ask me. Call Jordan Staal. Call some of the guys that have been here,' because they are our best sellers. I can tell them whatever I want, but talk to the players that live it every day. We all knew that this was a great community, great place to raise your family and all that, but players want to win. They want to compete for the Stanley Cup and now that we have that going on, we’ve become more of a destination place rather than a place where we were begging players to come.”
On the PTOs: “We had some guys who performed pretty well, but we made the decision to, for right now, hang tight."
On where he imagines the team's depth will come from: "Our depth is the American Hockey League. We looked at all the players that are on AHL contracts that can be signed to NHL contracts and there’s probably 20 players that, if we needed a player, we wouldn’t have any problem putting them in our lineup. Instead of having one team as your American League affiliate, right now, we have the whole league where any player that is on an American League contract, we could sign at any point and bring them to our team. As we all know, it is not ideal that we don’t have an affiliation. We didn’t choose to be in this spot, but we have to make the best of it. We’ll get through this year and have it all figured out."
On talks with the AHL about acquiring a new affiliate: “We’ve had multiple discussions with both the AHL and NHL. They’re ongoing. There’s 32 NHL teams and 32 American League teams and when you have a team that wants to go independent, it just makes for an unfair situation. Everybody knows that this can’t continue on forward. We’re just all working toward what the solution will be.”
On the comments made by Chicago Wolves general manager Wendell Young about the organization not being committed to winning at the AHL level: “We missed the last day of the season by a point and the two previous Calder Cups that were awarded, we won them both. I haven’t gotten too much into the comments made about what has happened in Chicago. Obviously we’re disappointed about the situation and disappointed in how it’s been handled, but we’re just moving on. We’re worried about winning hockey games in Carolina for the rest of the year.”
On bringing Coach K in to talk to the players: “He’s a tremendous coach as we all know, but he’s an even better person. When you have good people, not only his time at Duke and USA basketball with all he’s done there and all these things he’s doing after coaching... he’s just a remarkable person and he’s just so humble and loves to tell stories and remember every story. I met him years ago and he’s just one of those guys that, especially living in the Triangle area here, we all knew him before we came here, but once you get into this atmosphere... I just cant say enough good things and what it meant to our players. I had a couple of players say yesterday that it was just unbelievable. He’s an icon to anybody who follows sports and to have him in your locker room and have him talking to your players, it was a great thing.”
On Felix Unger Sorum: “I won’t say we didn’t kick [the idea of keeping him for a few NHL games] around. He needs to play. He’s a great prospect and looks like he’s going to be a great player. But he’s 175 pounds. He needs to work on his game. You get excited about these guys, but you also have to remember that he just turned 18. We’ve got to let him develop and grow and if we do it the right way, he’ll be a player for us for a long time to come.”
On if he expected Andrei Svechnikov to be available for opening night: “We kind of knew that it may not be possible. This isn’t a Rod or Don decision. This is a doctor decision. Until his strength gets to where everybody is comfortable… He does everything out on the ice except for contact right now. He looks great, but we’re not, and I said it all along when it happened in the summer and two weeks ago, this decision is out of our hands and we’re not going to push it. It’s October. Games are all important in October, but they become even more important even later on.”
On having seven NHL defensemen and managing egos: “Guys want to be part of this team. They want to win. If a player was to sit for a great length of time, then it might not sit well, but everybody knows the situation. There’s been lots of communication and there hasn’t been any secrets with these guys. They all know what they’re competing for and what they’re up against. I expect that if we go 11/7 or 12/6, however we go, that whoever is not playing will handle it professionally and we’ll continue to move forward.”
On if he's still considering moving a defenseman: “I would never say never, because that would be the wrong thing to say, but I’m not actively pursuing anything. If someone decides to call Don and make us an offer, it’s my job as the general manager to listen to it. But we’re not being proactive in trying to move guys at this point.”
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