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2019-20 Canes Miscellaneous News Thread

Oh well, as long as Canes prospects develop I don't care too much where they play. It will be hard to evaluate the immediate impact for the Checkers in terms of attendance (if any) with Covid also factoring in.
I mean, they'll lose the Raleigh-based Canes fans who came down for weekend jaunts, but I can't Imagine that will impact the bottom line very much. Otherwise, minor league hockey is its own draw ... or else you're not going to last in a market anyway.
 
I mean, they'll lose the Raleigh-based Canes fans who came down for weekend jaunts, but I can't Imagine that will impact the bottom line very much. Otherwise, minor league hockey is its own draw ... or else you're not going to last in a market anyway.

Yeah, I don’t think they’ll miss the $100 or so I spent between tickets, concessions and parking per season.
 
Yeah, I don’t think they’ll miss the $100 or so I spent between tickets, concessions and parking per season.
The thing is, there's a lot of people like you who went down for a game or two every year ... but they all spent similarly. That's far from the core of their business. They've got a small-ish core of hardcore season ticket holders, but the bulk of their gate is built on family weekend packs and group sales. That stuff isn't affiliate dependent in any way.
 
Cory Pronman at The Athletic is out with his organizational rankings. It’s any player 22 or younger as of 9/15/20, regardless of whether they’ve played in the NHL or not. Aho dropped off the list, but Svech is clearly #1. He has the Canes 6th, up from 8th last year.

 
Cory Pronman at The Athletic is out with his organizational rankings. It’s any player 22 or younger as of 9/15/20, regardless of whether they’ve played in the NHL or not. Aho dropped off the list, but Svech is clearly #1. He has the Canes 6th, up from 8th last year.

I kind of hoped the Canes would stick in the Top 5, even with Aho graduating off the list, but it appears they fell just short. I've always thought that Pronman underrates Necas a bit, and I do think he ought to be on the High End/Elite bubble here as I don't think it's all that much of a stretch to see him develop into a Top 15% type player. For comparison, that's where he has Dylan Cozens rated in Buffalo's review and I think Necas is a vastly better playmaker and passer than Cozens. At least he has him pegged as a first liner, because I think that's all but a given. The good thing about the top end of Carolina's list is that I see at least 3 guys (Bokk, Suzuki and Puistola) who could be poised to jump up a notch. They all had weird development years for different reasons, but they all fought through their issues without falling into too much of a hole. I like this group and with 3 picks out of the first 53 in the upcoming draft, the Canes are well positioned to add some more sizzle this summer.
 
I kind of hoped the Canes would stick in the Top 5, even with Aho graduating off the list but it appears they fell just short. I've always thought that Pronman underrates Necas a bit, and I do think he ought to be on the High End/Elite bubble here as I don't think it's all that much of a stretch to see him develop into a Top 15% type player. At least he has him pegged as a first liner, because I think that's all but a given. The good thing about the top end of Carolina's list is that I see at least 3 guys (Bokk, Suzuki and Puistola) who could be poised to take a step up a notch. They all had weird development years for different reasons, but they all fought through their issues without falling into too much of a hole. I like this group and with 3 picks out of the first 53 in the upcoming draft, the Canes are well positioned to add some more sizzle this summer.

Bokk is an interesting case. He’s not on Rögle’s preseason roster. He‘s signed to an NHL contract and technically was loaned there last season. I guess the plan is for him to play in the AHL this year? Still, depending on the loan terms, I’d think it would be beneficial for him to be playing in Sweden now and then come to camp in November. If the loan could be structured that way, of course.
 
Bokk is an interesting case. He’s not on Rögle’s preseason roster. He‘s signed to an NHL contract and technically was loaned there last season. I guess the plan is for him to play in the AHL this year? Still, depending on the loan terms, I’d think it would be beneficial for him to be playing in Sweden now and then come to camp in November. If the loan could be structured that way, of course.
I've seen some speculation that Carolina's intention was to have him in the A next season. I think they want to gain a bit more control of his usage after the way his last season went. Rogle had him buried in the bottom 6 until he lit it up at World Juniors and they realized he could actually play. You don't need that crap with a guy who's already 20. He needs to play somewhere that actually cares about the process a bit.

I'd like to see Puistola come over ASAP as well, for much the same reasons.
 
Chicago Wolves presser at 11 am tomorrow. They didn’t specify eastern or central time, so I suspect it’s noon eastern, 11 central.
 
Chicago Wolves presser at 11 am tomorrow. They didn’t specify eastern or central time, so I suspect it’s noon eastern, 11 central.
Well, they managed to drag this out until there's absolutely no suspense involved. So, congrats on that.

And I'll restate my position on this ... I don't care where the affiliate franchise is located so long as they provide a good environment for developing the Canes pro prospects.
 
Quoting that Q&A WQith Don Waddell that is linked above:

"
How does this make the Carolina Hurricanes better as an organization?

Waddell: The Wolves are willing to invest in players with us. From that standpoint, we'll be able to do more with our players for less cost. Some of the players we've brought in - what I would call our depth, veteran NHL players - we'll still need to sign those players, and we have a partner that realizes the importance of that and is willing to help financially support bringing in those quality veterans."

==========

I think that statement by itself is enough to answer why the Canes made this move. I really don't know all of the logistics behind how what Waddell is referring to works, but I'm assuming he is referring to players like Max McCormick and Brian Gibbons and Gustav Forsling and Fredrik Claesson. Those players with NHL experience who are willing to sign 2 way deals while providing the Canes organizational depth.

From the way Waddell phrased that statement, it sound like the Wolves are willing to cover more of the cost of having those type of players on the AHL roster than Charlotte did. I'm not aware of what the typical NHL/AHL affiliation includes in terms of 'financially supporting bringing in quality veteran NHL depth." but apparently Chicago provides a better situation in that regards in addition to being a highly desirable location to play for those types of players.
 
From Sara Civian’s Bag of Jerks on The Athletic yesterday. Emphasis mine.

What is the probability that the Canes re-sign with Charlotte? — Jayson C.

As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards reported that the Panthers will be the Checkers’ new NHL affiliate.

My sources still indicate (as I and others have previously reported) that it looks like the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate will be the Chicago Wolves. Without saying too much too soon, though, don’t jump to conclusions about why this is happening. It’s a fluid situation with moving pieces and the Canes are more in the right than you might think. Sorry, I’ve been saying this for months regarding this situation, but there will be more to come.
 
I think that statement by itself is enough to answer why the Canes made this move. I really don't know all of the logistics behind how what Waddell is referring to works, but I'm assuming he is referring to players like Max McCormick and Brian Gibbons and Gustav Forsling and Fredrik Claesson. Those players with NHL experience who are willing to sign 2 way deals while providing the Canes organizational depth.

From the way Waddell phrased that statement, it sound like the Wolves are willing to cover more of the cost of having those type of players on the AHL roster than Charlotte did. I'm not aware of what the typical NHL/AHL affiliation includes in terms of 'financially supporting bringing in quality veteran NHL depth." but apparently Chicago provides a better situation in that regards in addition to being a highly desirable location to play for those types of players.

That's a big part of it and always has been. It's my understanding that the Canes annual financial investment in the Wolves affiliation will be almost half of what it was in Charlotte. Add on that the Wolves are much more willing to augment the roster with veteran AHL players on minor pro contracts to fill out the roster, and that's well beyond enough reasoning to make the switch.

But that's not all ... you're going to start to see reports soon that Carolina's front office and Charlotte's front office had been at odds over player call-ups and allocation over the last couple of years. Charlotte's folks wanted to compete for the Calder year to year, while Carolina runs a more lean operation and focused on player development as a priority over winning in the A. Apparently there was some complaining when the Canes called up depth guys that were in leadership roles with the Checkers, and they complained fairly loudly about Fleury being called up and then not used much last spring. That set the stage for what is being announced today, because .... duh. The Canes are in the freaking NHL playoffs and their AHL affiliate is whinging about not having a player the big club ended up putting in the lineup. That is patently ridiculous, of course. The needs of the NHL team STRONGLY trump those of the AHL team ... but Charlotte didn't see it that way. There's a reason Donny started his comments with "Chicago is a first class organization" ... because by the end he didn't see Charlotte as fitting that description.

Bottom line ... screw that noise. Let whoever is going to complain get on with it and move on down the road.
 
Also remember that the Canes and Checkers didn’t reach an extension of the affiliation agreement for the 2019-20 season until training camp.
 
Also remember that the Canes and Checkers didn’t reach an extension of the affiliation agreement for the 2019-20 season until training camp.
There was a reason for that. They were ticked off about Vellucci and players that weren't re-signed, but not willing to share any additional costs. Charlotte turned into a bit of a drama pit after they got a taste of a little success.
 
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