deadhead
Registered User
- Feb 26, 2014
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The Canes missed the playoffs 9 straight seasons, blew practically all their high first rd picks, then hired Waddell.
(See below, turns out this was more luck than design).
Ironically, those years came under Rutherford and Francis, Rutherford then went to the Pens and engineered two SC winners.
Before turning Carolina into a loser, Rutherford built a team that won a Cup (after the lockout with a rested veteran team) and lost in the finals. Though in 17 years, his teams only garnered 100 points once.
"The deal was finalized on January 11, 2018, with Dundon becoming majority owner and having a 61 percent stake in the team, while Karmanos retained a minority interest.[29]
Dundon wasted little time in overhauling the Hurricanes' front office. On March 8, 2018, the team announced that general manager Ron Francis had been moved to the role of president of hockey operations.[30] However, Sportsnet reporter Elliotte Friedman reported that the "promotion" was likely in name only, noting that there were rumblings Francis and Dundon did not see "eye-to-eye".[31][non-primary source needed] Subsequently, coach Bill Peters resigned from his position on April 20, 2018,[32] to pursue a similar opportunity with the Calgary Flames (he ultimately replaced Glen Gulutzan as the Flames' head coach three days later),[33] and the Hurricanes officially fired Francis from the organization altogether on April 30, 2018,[34] leaving vacancies in both the head coach and general manager positions.
Early in the Hurricanes' search for a replacement general manager, it was reported that Dundon's salary offerings for the position could be prohibitive in attracting quality candidates.[35] Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reported that the Hurricanes were offering "in the ballpark of $400,000 a year",[36] a fraction of the salary figures of many other teams' coaches,[37] let alone those of their general managers, who serve in a higher-ranking position. Leading up to Kypreos' report, candidates such as Nashville Predators assistant general manager Paul Fenton, New Jersey Devils assistant general manager Tom Fitzgerald, and Los Angeles Kings assistant general manager Mike Futa had all reportedly passed on the position.[35]
Ultimately, on May 8, 2018, the Hurricanes announced the hiring of former Atlanta Thrashers general manager Don Waddell as team president and general manager. Waddell had previously been serving as the team's interim general manager since the promotion of Francis. At the same time, it was announced that former team captain Rod Brind'Amour had been named head coach, after serving with the team as an assistant coach since 2011.[38]
