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2024-25 Canes Miscellaneous Thread

CanadaCanes said:
One thing I will say on Warf is that the guy is a stand up human being and a great guy and the Canes were always dear to his heart, not just because he worked for them twice but he loved the team and it always seemed genuine. No shade on Dundon but I can’t imagine he’s easy to work for, sometimes it’s easier on your wellbeing to take the high road.
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Dundon's reputation as some sort of hard-ass is built out of tissue paper. He's the head of an organization who has opinions on how that organization should be operated. This is basic stuff everywhere except in sports where we expect people to spend truck loads of money and then shut up and watch from a corner.

Maybe the reason Doug Warf "took the high road" is because he actually is leaving over an honest disagreement between colleagues over how to operate the franchise. It appears that this is what actually happened and while the details matter ... they don't matter that much.
 
I first met Doug when I was on the RYHA Board. He and Jason Karmanos came a meeting and pitched the idea of the Canes taking over travel hockey. At the time, we were fighting battles with other travel hockey programs, especially the East Coast Eagles, and considering a merger with Team Impact, which was based out of the IcePlex. And there was a rumor that Impact was going to build their own rink. The USA Hockey district had granted Tier II status to a couple of independent teams and that was causing an enrollment bleed too. So we told the Canes “thanks but no thanks”. A few years later, the Canes brokered a deal, got Tier I status and the Jr. Hurricanes were born. I ran into Doug and we shared a laugh about how short sighted we were when we turned them down.

I doubt there is any part of the business side of things that he didn’t work in at some point. When he left the first time, he was running the marketing team and not really doing a great job of it, you remember who poorly the team was marketed in the last few years of Karmanos. But he was probably hamstrung by a broke owner. His biggest achievement was probably overseeing the Kids n Community Foundation and laying the groundwork for how big it has gotten.
 
Doug Warf did a massive job at the Foundation and the Canes owe him a debt of gratitude for helping an organization that struggled to connect with their fan base begin to gain some real traction in something that wasn't connected directly to the NHL standings.
 
Have always liked Doug and worked with him for a time, supporting the Canes and Community effort. I have no idea what happened, but I wish him all the best.
 
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