According to the Carolina Hurricanes‘ owner, Tom Dundon, the franchise general manager is still Don Waddell despite all talks. All the stories about his future and speculations regarding the contract are not valid, Dundon says.
“He’s employed and he’s not going anywhere as far as I’m concerned. So the whole contract thing, I don’t understand it,”
Dundon stressed out to reporters yesterday.
Right now, Waddell is without a contract. His previous deal with the Hurricanes expired on June 30, and ever since the 60-year old has been working without any signed agreement. Although this is something strange for the NHL, the Hurricanes GM doesn’t give too much attention to it.
The entire fuss about him and his deal started when Minnesota Wild approached Waddell and made inquiries about his services. The franchise from Minneapolis interviewed Carolina’s executive, and it is believed that they have a strong desire to hire him.
When looking at the results during his stint in Raleigh as a general manager, it could be said that the Hurricanes hit the jackpot. Already in his first full season at this position, the team reached the playoffs. It is the first time since 2009 that the franchise managed to enter the postseason.
But not only that, the Hurricanes got into the Eastern Conference finals, where they suffered an elimination against the Boston Bruins. On their way towards the ECF, Carolina managed to conquer the reigning champs at the time, the Washington Capitals, and then the New York Islanders. So, all in all, they had a pretty good year.
Because of all this, Dundon stated that he doesn’t want to have any question marks surrounding his desire to keep Waddell onboard. Simply, the contract isn’t there because nobody talked about one, but he still sees the same person as the GM.
“I’ve told Don I’m not going to walk in and fire Don Waddell, so he doesn’t need a contract,” Dundon said. “If he wants one, he can have one if he asks for one
On the other side, Waddell too, said that there aren’t any problems between the two and that having a contract is not an issue to him. He is exploring options with other teams, but that didn’t have anything to do with his contract status in Carolina.
When Dundon became the owner of the Hurricanes, in January 2018, Waddell was the president of the franchise. One of the first decisions he made was to fire Ron Francis, who was the GM at the time and put Waddell in his spot. That turned out to be the best thing for the organization, because the Hurricanes started moving up the ladder ever since.
In the meantime, Waddell’s results made him a finalist of the NHL General Manager of the Year Award.
The Hurricanes’ fans are expecting that their favorite team continues to rise and become a respectable force for the long term. With Waddell leading them, that just might be the case.
