I'm pretty sure the Canes will get their AHL affiliate next season, and will likely own their team this time. By all accounts, Chicago has been far more hurt as an organization than the Canes have with their behavior and practices now known league-wide and with their record and roster suffering. Chicago really did flush what was one of the better non-rebuilding AHL situations in the league into the toilet just because their lust for control was that great.
As for our farm system, both Jarvis and Drury successfully became NHL players and our ranking only dropped by one spot. That implies that a bunch of players are well out-performing draft stock. For a team who has drafted late for 5 straight drafts, you can't get much better than the high-teens.