Confirmed with Link: Don Waddell Resigns not be confused with Re-Sign

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Look. What a performance, am I right? Huge contribution to the Canes across the board. Big Don Waddell fan here, thanks for everything man!

 

[cptjeff]

Look. What a performance, am I right? Huge contribution to the Canes across the board. Big Don Waddell fan here, thanks for everything man!

Absolutely! As much as we argue about playoff exits, we're arguing about playoff exits every single year since he's been GM, and not clusterf***s of lost seasons outside the playoffs. This has been the longest run of sustained success the franchise has had in its history, and he's been a central part of it.

So thank you Don!

 

[Svechhammer]

Look. What a performance, am I right? Huge contribution to the Canes across the board. Big Don Waddell fan here, thanks for everything man!

Yep, complete image reversal from his time in Atlanta. He leaves as looking like one of the better GMs in the league after coming in a complete laughingstock. Couldn't be happier for him.

I've had the chance to talk with him a few times while he was here, and he's just a genuinely good person as well. He will be missed, but I know with the right owner, he'll do well wherever he goes.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

First thing Tulsky needs is a makeover. Guy looks like he's an extra in the next Beetlejuice movie.

 

[bobc222]

I laughed at the pop shots you took at Dundon saying he was difficult to work for and claiming he did not have good character with absolutely no evidence to support it.

I even said earlier in this thread that I heard this was coming last week, but go on

Dundon is very publicly a hard ball negotiator who is difficult to work with and doesn't treat people well. It doesn't matter how loyal you are to this area or organization, if he can find someone to do the same job for a penny less, he will.

Don is by all accounts a great guy, Tom is by all accounts, not.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Wonder if this is 2018 all over again and Tulsky interviews a few people for GM and goes "what a surprise, none of them are better than me!"

 

[The Faulker 27]

First thing Tulsky needs is a makeover. Guy looks like he's an extra in the next Beetlejuice movie.

Tom's so cheap he won't even give his permanent pick a real title. Probably coming with interim pay too. Smh.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Great person. Good gm. We’ll see if we can get better.

 

[Stickpucker]

I saw Waddell speak earlier this year at a STM event. Walking up his face was, "I can't believe have to waste a Saturday morning doing this." And he killed it. Came off as intelligent and charming. I could totally see why he won the power struggle with Ronnie Franchise 6 or 7 years ago.

Don't know why more sports clubs do this. It works for cults. The face who handles the social aspect, and the brains who does the thinking.

I agree....we should run the team like a cult.

I bet it would be an easy sell to Dundon. He could easily get behind all that free labor.

 

[Lucky Lindy]

Thanks Donny for everything!

Also, Tulsky!

 

[LakeLivin]

Wonder if this is 2018 all over again and Tulsky interviews a few people for GM and goes "what a surprise, none of them are better than me!"

The Dick Cheney technique?

I was wondering if maybe going forward, Dundon needed to open up the GM spot in order to retain Tulsky, figured Waddell would be easier to replace in the organization, and maybe gave Waddell a nudge. If so, I'm guessing they'd still do a "search" in order to camouflage the nudge. Wild speculation on my part, but a blurb from the official announcement seems to indicate that they may have been grooming Tulsky.

"Since being named assistant general manager in 2020, Tulsky has been involved in all player personnel decisions, overseen pro scouting and the team’s hockey information department, and assisted with player contract negotiations, salary cap compliance, and other hockey-related matters."

 

[NotOpie]

Dundon is very publicly a hard ball negotiator who is difficult to work with and doesn't treat people well. It doesn't matter how loyal you are to this area or organization, if he can find someone to do the same job for a penny less, he will.

Don is by all accounts a great guy, Tom is by all accounts, not.

"...by all accounts"? The first part on Don is correct. The second part about Tom is notable in its absence of any real proof other than your unfounded speculation.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Lol

 

[Stickpucker]

First thing Tulsky needs is a makeover. Guy looks like he's an extra in the next Beetlejuice movie.

Runner up for the role of Loki or Eric Stoltz nerdy bro. You choose.

 

[moses malone 12]

Yep, complete image reversal from his time in Atlanta. He leaves as looking like one of the better GMs in the league after coming in a complete laughingstock. Couldn't be happier for him.

I've had the chance to talk with him a few times while he was here, and he's just a genuinely good person as well. He will be missed, but I know with the right owner, he'll do well wherever he goes.

let's see if he gets another GM job quickly. seems unnecessary to push the guy out. that would be the 2nd GM tommy dundo pushed out. not sure that happened with DW but let's see what's next for him. I think he did a really nice job on various levels. seemed like he was involved in outdoor game, STH interaction, off ice marketing. Thank you DW.

 

[Svechhammer]

let's see if he gets another GM job quickly. seems unnecessary to push the guy out. that would be the 2nd GM tommy dundo pushed out. not sure that happened with DW but let's see what's next for him. I think he did a really nice job on various levels. seemed like he was involved in outdoor game, STH interaction, off ice marketing. Thank you DW.

He's been interviewing with Columbus recently, and even before then I get the impression there was mutual interest on both sides to have him be their GM next year.

I think the timing of this is just to get it out of the way so we can all move on in an orderly fashion while he shortly is announced as their GM

 

[A Star is Burns]

Being the interim GM could work out great for all sides. Tulsky can have a dry run in the big chair during about as challenging of an offseason as you could ask for. But it also gives him and Dundon time to make sure they work well together in this exact role. If not, there's probably not harm. They hire someone for the Waddell role and Tulsky can either move back to his old role or he can pursue a front office with a more traditional structure.

 

[DaveG]

It could be completely wrong, but just from the interviews and such I've heard from Tulsky, he doesn't feel like the normal GM type and you wonder how he'd do if he would have to be the guy networking with some of the old boys of the league. It does seem like he'd do well to have that other person to be the figurehead even if he's largely the main decision maker. Tulsky is interesting in that he's mentioned over the years in interviews some ways his role has grown but he's also been given credit by folks for things he's pretty much flat out said he does nothing with. I'm not exactly sure he's irreplaceable if they went another direction and Tulsky left because he didn't get the job. He seems to have built out a good analytics department and you'd think it would be easy enough to get the next Tulsky in to manage that or from that group. As long as they maintain useage of analytics at some level, I don't think it'd be a big deal.

I think from what we know Waddell has been good in the figurehead role and the networking role. He seems like he's done well enough on the business side even if he didn't really love that part. And we know he typically did pretty well with the managing up to Dundon part. Being able to collaborate and manage up with Dundon is probably the biggest part of the job and not one you could just pull anyone in to do. A guy like Weekes probably would have less than zero interest in that.

So, now that Tulsky is the interim GM, this is where things get interesting. I still see Williams as being the more public face here if he's still around because literally who in hockey, from GMs to players to agents, doesn't know Justin friggin Williams.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

In truth, we have little idea about how things actually work there. We assume based on tidbits of information, vibes and particularly with Tlusky, the desire for them to have a competitive advantage over other teams.

It’s like in the LeBrun article about the UFAs, he framed it as Pesce’s agent negotiating with Dundon direct.

 

[Justicebork]

You know, our new boy Tulsky is going to need his very own wikipedia page pretty soon.

 

[Unsustainable]

Rumor has it, DW leaving because RBA kept making him finishing his day with Billy.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Interesting. So this was Don's choice, not Dundon's

 

[Joe McGrath]

Lol

TD put into Chat GPT what available former GMs have similair traits to Rod Brind’amour?

 

[MinJaBen]

Interesting. So this was Don's choice, not Dundon's

It could be he has had a falling out over something. Or, it could be it is just time to move on for him. He's been with the organization for 10 years. Unless you are an athletic trainer, that is a long time for an organization.

 

[Brock Anton]

Turtlenecks are just more fashionable in Columbus, what ya gonna do?