On the Carolina Hurricanes …
- Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: Don Waddell said the situation in Carolina is totally different than that of the Atlanta Thrashers when he was there. Waddell is the president of the Hurricanes parent company. Waddell said they followed the Panthers suit and eliminated free tickets.
“You can’t have a season-ticket holder hearing someone next to them got in for free. They aren’t usually quiet about it,” he said with a smile. “Two years ago, we were at 3,000 free tickets per game, last year was down to 1,400. Now it’s 650 comps, and those you can’t get away from, for staff and players. Our season tickets dropped the last five years, but did not drop this year. Paid attendance is flat, but the building looks worse for that reason. ”
Peter Karmanos is looking to sell the team, but he wants to gradually hand over the power and influence. Charles Wang is doing the same on the Island.
On finances, on-ice decisions involving players like Eric Staal and Cam Ward.
“No,” he replies, but due to the sensitivity of Staal’s local pedigree (and Cam Ward’s), he declines any additional specifics. What he does say is this: “In actual money, we’re going to have more than $20M coming off our cap, including retained salary to Jay Harrison and Tuomo Ruutu. Not everyone is going to be let go, you have to keep someone. But it will give Ron flexibility.”
“We’re a budget team, not a floor team. Our payroll is $60-61M.”
On the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Mike Richards …
- Damien Cox of Sportsnet: There are lots of rumors regarding the job security of head coach Mike Johnston and possibly GM Jim Rutherford.
- The League is not in a big rush to replace chief marketing officer John Collins.
- If the Maple Leafs end up drafting in the five to 10 range, William Nylander’s brother Alex, could be an option for them.
- Once Mike Richards court case gets settled, he’ll have to meet with the league and could be suspended – Jarret Stoll wasn’t suspended for his drug incident. A number of teams will be interested once things are settled.