Confirmed with Link: Chicago Wolves AHL Affiliate

[DaveG]

Thanks, I hate it.

 

[hockeynjune]

I guess that’s a solution

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Well, there it is officially. better than our situation last year and potentially even better than our last affiliation with them as I would bet we were able to get them to cede some control to us. Really wish Dundon could've bought a team, but of course you need someone willing to sell/the AHL willing to allow expansion, which were out of our control. Hopefully we continue to explore that option and can set up to have our own AHL team in 3 years. But for now this is certainly a positive development.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Chicago wins too because they will get to roster the next wave of excellent Canes young talent.

 

[Unsustainable]

Hope they have Russian translators for this coming season

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I’m sure the NHL told both Carolina and Chicago to put their big boy pants on and work it out.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Hurricanes, Chicago Wolves to reunite in AHL partnership

The two teams have agreed to a three-year contract for the Wolves to become the Hurricanes' AHL affiliate again, per league a source.

theathletic.com

Chicago accepting a 3 year contract instead of 1-2 years gives me the feeling that Chicago's ownership cried home to Mommy. As much as the Canes ownership got a lot of shit for it, it was one season of slight inconveniences for them and still being top contenders. For Chicago, OTOH, they became the second-worst team in the league and, especially for a club who prides itself as winners, embarrassed themselves around the AHL.

 

[NotOpie]

We will play whoever the f*** we want to, whenever we want to.....

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Chicago learned that guys aren’t that interested in signing without a chance at a call up

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

So canes have full control of hockey operations. Nice

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

We will play whoever the f*** we want to, whenever we want to.....

Well, it's official. If the Canes got full operational control, that means the Wolves truly did give up and are sucking on pacifiers. The whole thing feels like a 16 year old teenager, with daddy issues, trying to runaway from his or her parents' house.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Wolves are going to fun to follow again

 

[DaveG]

We will play whoever the f*** we want to, whenever we want to.....

so basically Chicago f***ed around and found out the hard way. You just can't compete in an affiliation-based league without ELC players and players on two-way contracts. You might be able to pick up some older AAAA players that know their time is up like Chris Terry making a hundred K more than they were going to with the Toronto Marlies or whoever the f***, but anyone that still has hope of making it to the show (say, Stef Noesen) isn't going to give you the time of day when they have an NHL organization giving them a shot.

 

[Svechhammer]

We will play whoever the f*** we want to, whenever we want to.....

That Found Out bus hits hard, doesn't it

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

While it's fun to thump our chests about getting control over hockey operation decisions and believe Chicago came crawling back, one of the reasons Carolina went with Chicago in the first place was financial, in that the Wolves were going to take more of the financial burden than what the Canes had previously with Charlotte.

This decision to part ways had an impact on our own prospects and while it wasn't a huge deal for 1 season, it would have been had it persisted. I would be surprised if Dundon and co. didn't give up some of that financial gain they previously had to get that control so I suspect both sides had to give up something. We needed an affiliate as much as they needed an NHL team.

 

[To Be Determined]

i don't mind it. they handled things pissy last year, but it is business - f your feelings. they went for it, failed spectacularly, and clearly learned / got appropriately chastened by the experience. they'll be fun and more competive next year, and the canes have their hands on the wheel. a reunion can easily be win-win.

i also kind of really like having the affiliate be in chicago. awesome town that can be attractive to the aaaa guys, as well as the young guys. i feel like a city like that likely has some areas to give our euro guys a little taste of home that isn't so easily found in other markets. there are worse places to be 20ish with signing bonus money and pro athlete on your tinder account.

just don't have too much fun.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

While it's fun to thump our chests about getting control over hockey operation decisions and believe Chicago came crawling back, one of the reasons Carolina went with Chicago in the first place was financial, in that the Wolves were going to take more of the financial burden than what the Canes had previously with Charlotte.

This decision to part ways had an impact on our own prospects and while it wasn't a huge deal for 1 season, it would have been had it persisted. I would be surprised if Dundon and co. didn't give up some of that financial gain they previously had to get that control so I suspect both sides had to give up something. We needed an affiliate as much as they needed an NHL team.

A lot of that can be true. It's good for our prospects to have a stable affiliate. The point that I'm making above is that Chicago's move last year was disproportionately catastrophic for them and the product that they placed on their ice.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

A lot of that can be true. It's good for our prospects to have a stable affiliate. The point that I'm making above is that Chicago's move last year was disproportionately catastrophic for them and the product that they placed on their ice.

I don't know about disproportionately catastrophic. They were bad for 1 season and it was bad for us too by not having a place for our prospects to play for 1 season. We sent legit AHL level prospects to the ECHL and had to send guys all over the place having even less control on their development. Like I said at the time, for 1 year, it probably wasn't a big deal, but it couldn't go on longer than 1 year.

 

[A Star is Burns]

BBA is right. Both sides suffered from how this went down this season. I'm sure Chicago is getting some things they desired out of this as well. Walt is obviously going to lead with the good part for us and it's possible there's even some kind of nuance to his claim of full control.

I personally just hope it works out well for both sides and we don't have to worry about this stuff anymore. We need a partnership with an affiliate like this, not to feel like "we really showed them who's boss."

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

We didn’t show them whose boss but Chicago was the one who pulled out of the affiliation because they didn’t want an overlord. Life isn’t as simple as they think without an overlord. They really sank a lot farther than they felt comfortable by trying to be bigger than they are.

Sure we suffered some too but we didn’t can the relationship.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

We didn’t show them whose boss but Chicago was the one who pulled out of the affiliation because they didn’t want an overlord. Life isn’t as simple as they think without an overlord. They really sank a lot farther than they felt comfortable by trying to be bigger than they are.

Sure we suffered some too but we didn’t can the relationship.

Yes, we didn't can it, but we were complicit.

Here's my view:

We all knew how Chicago operated and it was lamented on this board when we signed on with them. Winning and playing more veteran guys over development was a concern by many and repeated on this board a lot. There's no chance that Waddell and Dundon didn't know that as well, yet the financials made sense to them to align with an AHL team that operated like Chicago operated.

But, then, IMO we wanted to change how they operated and still reap the benefits of the financial arrangement.

I'm not blaming the Canes. I think an AHL affiliate should primarily develop our young players. I'm only saying that the expectations that we could get them to pay for more and then have full say in how they operate probably wasn't realistic.

The fact that they are back together tells me they both had to alter the operating model.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

The last two days I had a sour taste in my mouth about this reunion, but the “full control of hockey operations” piece means they truly did come crawling back which satisfies the vengeful, nasty side of me.

 

[bleedgreen]

I don’t give a flying fornication who f’d around and found out what from who, or who won the battle of stubborn jackasses. We have a team, and we have prospects coming in to play on it, and we have the operational control to make sure our kids play.

This hurt us, and it bothers me a guy like Rees got left behind in the storm it created but it’s over and we move on. We’ll see how guys like Blake, Nadeau and Morrow do as top six/top four players against men soon enough. Let’s get some more Euros over here. Heimosalmi, Tieksola, Gunler, Pashin….hell let’s offer Boychuk and Bowman spots.

 

[Svechhammer]

Yes, we didn't can it, but we were complicit.

Here's my view:

We all knew how Chicago operated and it was lamented on this board when we signed on with them. Winning and playing more veteran guys over development was a concern by many and repeated on this board a lot. There's no chance that Waddell and Dundon didn't know that as well, yet the financials made sense to them to align with an AHL team that operated like Chicago operated.

But, then, IMO we wanted to change how they operated and still reap the benefits of the financial arrangement.

I'm not blaming the Canes. I think an AHL affiliate should primarily develop our young players. I'm only saying that the expectations that we could get them to pay for more and then have full say in how they operate probably wasn't realistic.

The fact that they are back together tells me they both had to alter the operating model.

I get that and all but this whole thing soured because they refused to play Kochetkov over Lyons when we specifically instructed them that they needed to keep Kooch fresh, with them going to the media about us telling our own employee that he would be fired if he didn't comply with our orders.

So to see that we now have full control over hockey decisions? Yeah, they came crawling back. Major concessions on their end to make this affiliation work.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

So to see that we now have full control over hockey decisions? Yeah, they came crawling back. Major concessions on their end to make this affiliation work.

Unless you can tell me all of the terms, including financials, vs the prior deal, then you have no clue what concessions were made by both sides.

Negotiations aren’t one sided.