Confirmed with Link: CBJ hire Don Waddell as President of Hockey Operations and General Manager. JD to serve as Senior Advisor

[NotWendell]

Someone needs more experience than a doctor does to be a general manager of a hockey team?

They used to sit quarterbacks for three or four years before they gave them a chance to start and now they put them in there day one.

I don’t think experience means a thing as a GM, you either have it or you don’t.

Well, he will have to resuscitate the franchise.

 

[majormajor]

He had the foresight to hire Eric Tulsky, or put him in an advantageous position to begin with.

The biggest thing I wanted was someone who knew what it takes to put together an organization. Waddell, unequivocally, has what it takes to hire the right people to turn around and run a high level hockey operation.

This is a major win for the Jackets, IMO. This is even better than my preferred choice of Zito and MacFarland. They are getting THE GUY to build a Carolina type of organization.

Pretty exciting, imo.

I picked up from Canes fans that Tulsky was hired years before Waddell became GM.

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

Was Waddell the one that hired Tulsky, or are you just assuming that?

It's not straightforward with Carolina. Dundon was the one who hired Brind'Amour, for example.

Havent seen any real info on that. Would have to see the exact timeline of the year when Tulsky and Waddell joined to make better guesses on the subject.

I do think it's pretty safe to assume Waddell was the one who kept promoting him, which is maybe even better sign good evaluation skills than the hiring.

I picked up from Canes fans that Tulsky was hired years before Waddell became GM.

Waddell and Tulsky both joined in 14-15, no? Before that Tulsky wrote analytics blogs online.

Eric Tulsky - Carolina Hurricanes | LinkedIn

Even found a confirmation by the man himself. It's possible they hired Tulsky before Waddell but the gap being years is bad info

 

[ClevelandJacketFan]

Ok, well regardless of who hired him, Waddell promoted him and gave him a big voice in the organization

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Ok, well regardless of who hired him, Waddell promoted him and gave him a big voice in the organization

Yup. Even though Waddell is an older man he clearly knows what he wants to surround himself with on his staff, and takes everything (especially analytics) in mind.

Usually you don’t see GMs when they’re let go be held in high regard by the team they are leaving. That’s not the case with Carolina fans. I’m aware of the Atlanta history, but in many ways that’s not on him.

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

Havent seen any real info on that. Would have to see the exact timeline of the year when Tulsky and Waddell joined to make better guesses on the subject.

I do think it's pretty safe to assume Waddell was the one who kept promoting him, which is maybe even better sign good evaluation skills than the hiring.

Waddell and Tulsky both joined in 14-15, no? Before that Tulsky wrote analytics blogs online.

Eric Tulsky - Carolina Hurricanes | LinkedIn

Even found a confirmation by the man himself. It's possible they hired Tulsky before Waddell but the gap being years is bad info

Tulsky hired as Consultant somewhere in July 2014. Probably to test waters since he was just a highly educated blogger. Promoted to Hockey Analyst in June 2015.

Eric Tulsky - Carolina Hurricanes | LinkedIn

My training is in inorganic chemistry, and I spent ten years working as a researcher… · Experience: Carolina Hurricanes · Location: Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Eric Tulsky’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.

www.linkedin.com

Waddell hired July 2nd 2014.
Hurricanes hire Don Waddell as new team president

 

[majormajor]

Havent seen any real info on that. Would have to see the exact timeline of the year when Tulsky and Waddell joined to make better guesses on the subject.

I do think it's pretty safe to assume Waddell was the one who kept promoting him, which is maybe even better sign good evaluation skills than the hiring.

Waddell and Tulsky both joined in 14-15, no? Before that Tulsky wrote analytics blogs online.

Eric Tulsky - Carolina Hurricanes | LinkedIn

Even found a confirmation by the man himself. It's possible they hired Tulsky before Waddell but the gap being years is bad info

Ok, well regardless of who hired him, Waddell promoted him and gave him a big voice in the organization

We don't actually know who promoted Tulsky, it's absolutely not a safe assumption that it was Waddell. Dundon has involved himself in everything and made some of these hiring decisions. The only person I know for sure who hired who was Dundon hiring Brind'Amour, which is normally the GM's prerogative.

Tulsky hired as Consultant somewhere in July 2014. Probably to test waters since he was just a highly educated blogger. Promoted to Hockey Analyst in June 2015.

Eric Tulsky - Carolina Hurricanes | LinkedIn

My training is in inorganic chemistry, and I spent ten years working as a researcher… · Experience: Carolina Hurricanes · Location: Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Eric Tulsky’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.

www.linkedin.com

Waddell hired July 2nd 2014.
Hurricanes hire Don Waddell as new team president

That was Waddell being hired as president of the Canes parent company, presumably a business side role.

He was hired as GM and President of hockey ops of the Canes in 2018, three years after Tulsky started there.

Per Canes fans Francis hired Tulsky.

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

That was Waddell being hired as president of the Canes parent company, presumably a business side role.

He was hired as GM and President of hockey ops of the Canes in 2018, three years after Tulsky started there.

Ah, some strange stuff they do there in Carolina.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Man we need something better and more concrete to talk about. Who cares who hired him?

 

[ColumbusTrill]

So everything Waddell has done on his own has been a disaster and what success he’s had is when he’s been carried by the rest of his staff. And now he wants to run things all on his own. Do I have that right?

 

[majormajor]

Man we need something better and more concrete to talk about. Who cares who hired him?

The people who think Waddell will bring geniuses to the Columbus organization should certainly care whether he was the one who actually did that in Carolina.

 

[koteka]

So everything Waddell has done on his own has been a disaster and what success he’s had is when he’s been carried by the rest of his staff. And now he wants to run things all on his own. Do I have that right?

I think the rules are you can’t assume incompetence with the guys we have watched up close for years who have demonstrated incompetence, but you must assume incompetence with anyone we would hire from the outside. But I am not sure.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I think the rules are you can’t assume incompetence with the guys we have watched up close for years who have demonstrated incompetence, but you must assume incompetence with anyone we would hire from the outside. But I am not sure.

I'm not sure what we are assuming except everyone is finding reasons why anyone who is hired will fail and can't possibly succeed.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

The people who think Waddell will bring geniuses to the Columbus organization should certainly care whether he was the one who actually did that in Carolina.

I don't think his job is to bring geniuses. His job is make the people he works with successful. He might try to bring in people he's familiar with. He might try to take people who work here already and make them better. That's what good managers do. It's not exclusively one or the other. It is both.

 

[squashmaple]

So everything Waddell has done on his own has been a disaster and what success he’s had is when he’s been carried by the rest of his staff. And now he wants to run things all on his own. Do I have that right?

It’s the Blue Jackets, so no matter what, the choice is going to be the wrong one. Might as well save time and assume the worst now. Gotta say I didn’t expect that consensus to be reached before he was even officially hired. I figured we’d have at least til, like, Thursday to get in agreement with the rest of the fanbases who are already mocking us (just search “columbus” on this website and sort by date—Chicago, Vancouver, Montreal, and Colorado have already reached the same conclusion we are here). We could hire Yzerman and it would be nothing but “the Yzerplan failed, he’s trash who depends on his Euro scouts and name recognition from being good at hockey thirty years ago.”

 

[koteka]

It’s the Blue Jackets, so no matter what, the choice is going to be the wrong one. Might as well save time and assume the worst now.

I am just happy we will have new morons to complain about. I am so sick of the old morons. And what if they are morons, but slightly smarter and/or luckier morons than we have had before, and we somehow have a little bit of playoff success? Won’t that be wonderful?

 

[majormajor]

I'm not sure what we are assuming except everyone is finding reasons why anyone who is hired will fail and can't possibly succeed.

Personally I think Waddell might be a good hire.

I made one factual correction though and the reaction in the last few posts is incredibly telling on the mentality of the fanbase.

I don't think his job is to bring geniuses. His job is make the people he works with successful. He might try to bring in people he's familiar with. He might try to take people who work here already and make them better. That's what good managers do. It's not exclusively one or the other. It is both.

That sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I never implied one or the other. I suspect he'll work well with whatever FO talent we have, to whatever degree we may have it. And though it wasn't his doing in Carolina he might be able to bring smart people here.

I am just happy we will have new morons to complain about. I am so sick of the old morons. And what if they are morons, but slightly smarter and/or luckier morons than we have had before, and we somehow have a little bit of playoff success? Won’t that be wonderful?

One thing we can rest our world on, in a few years you'll be calling him incompetent and talking about ways you prefer to do business, and @Cyclones Rock will be calling Waddell "the porta-potty man".

 

[CannonFire1]

Who cares what any other fanbase thinks? Assuming Waddell is hired by Columbus (which hasn't happened yet), he will be judged by the team's success on the ice. Maybe it works and maybe it doesn't but I am more optimistic about the chances under DW than I am many of the other names bandied about. Carolina has been very consistent and much better than CBJ over the last 6 years so I would be fully on board with giving him a shot.

 

[stevo61]

If he comes in and is part of replacing the coaching staff I'll be on board

 

[Viqsi]

So everything Waddell has done on his own has been a disaster and what success he’s had is when he’s been carried by the rest of his staff. And now he wants to run things all on his own. Do I have that right?

I think the rules are you can’t assume incompetence with the guys we have watched up close for years who have demonstrated incompetence, but you must assume incompetence with anyone we would hire from the outside. But I am not sure.

Today I learned that expressing personal misgivings in a few posts about one guy - but not criticizing the team or anyone who disagrees, and even repeatedly expressing hope that those misgivings are misplaced - is completely identical to hijacking multiple threads with complaints about everything under the sun, insisting that the predicted doom is absolute and inevitable, and snapping at people who ever claim otherwise and therefore justifies a comparable response.

 

[koteka]

One thing we can rest our world on, in a few years you'll be calling him incompetent and talking about ways you prefer to do business,

If we suck, you are correct. But right now I am just happy major changes that are long overdue are finally happening. BTW, I expect an acknowledgement from you that I actually know how the world works if JD ends up as an advisor to the Panthers in the next few years.

 

[Viqsi]

Personally I think Waddell might be a good hire.

Maybe it works and maybe it doesn't but I am more optimistic about the chances under DW than I am many of the other names bandied about.

I'm admittedly getting by almost entirely on other people's optimism, but the fact that it's there is a refreshing breath of fresh air. I still don't share it but I'm happy to feed off of it and maybe attempt to hope.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I was adamantly against hiring Babcock in the beginning but even I was wiling to give him the benefit of the doubt that he could change and it could work. Of course he failed us all.

But really Waddell is not that bad but I also think anyone who gets hired for this job will have most of the people on this board finding reasons to hate him instead of hoping for success. it's our loser mentality established over 20+ years driving it.

I mean the amount of people on here simply trying to find reasons to discredit him from having any hand in another small market like Carolina having success is mind boggling to me.

 

[majormajor]

I mean the amount of people on here simply trying to find reasons to discredit him from having any hand in another small market like Carolina having success is mind boggling to me.

Who are these people on here you are talking about? Name them.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Who are these people on here you are talking about? Name them.

I'm not blacklisting anybody here by naming names but I am convinced that any one who get hired for any job will get a list full of negative comments about how they aren't good enough and going to fail. Just read the last couple of pages full of debate if Waddell was responsible for hiring Tulsky or not. People are searching for reason to find negatives.

It's like reliving my childhood with my parents all over again.