Mailbag #67: Don Waddell's 2023 State of the Canes

The President & General Manager talks offseason moves, the AHL, and the season ahead

By Walt Ruff

@WaltRuff Hurricanes.com

October 01, 2023

RALEIGH, NC. - At Wednesday's Community Preseason Game, Don Waddell held his yearly "State of the Canes", taking questions sent in from fans.

Here's what the President & General Manager had to say about a few big topics.

Each year you and Rod Brind'Amour say you build your team in the summer, so, how would you assess the moves made in the offseason?

We went into the summer with a few missions. We wanted to get a little more sandpaper on our team. We felt we did that. We also wanted to add more skill.

We lost some players from last year, but I think the replacement players that we have are an upgrade. We're very pleased with how the summer went and we're anxious to get the season started.

You'd said at your end-of-season media availability that the team wanted to get a little bit tougher. Adding the likes of Michael Bunting and Brendan Lemieux, do you feel as though the team was able to accomplish that?

They both can play hockey and score goals. At the end of the day, you have to score goals to win hockey games. They both can do that.

Adding some of the toughness, or as we call it, sandpaper, to the lineup, it's something that we've talked about. We feel it will help our hockey club.

We like this. We like this a lot. pic.twitter.com/FAYxTE4V1t
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) September 28, 2023

Perhaps the biggest move of the summer was a preemptive one, inking Sebastian Aho to an eight-year contract extension and keeping him in Raleigh through the end of the 2032-33 season. Why was it important to get that deal done before the final season of his current contract ended?

When his current deal expires, he would've been an unrestricted free agent. He's one of the better players in the league, obviously and he's a great player for us. We didn't want to take that chance.

If someone would've come in and said that they'd like to give him $12M per year, that makes for a tough decision. The good thing about the start of the summer, was when I talked to Sebastian and his representation, he was committed and he wanted to be here.

Every deal takes a while to get done, but we wanted him here, he wanted to be here, and so we found a middle ground for the both of us.

You've got Sebastian, Andrei Svechnikov, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi all locked up long-term now. What does that say about the core of this locker room, that they all want to be here for such an extended period of time?

Times have changed for us. We don't have to recruit like maybe we had to four or five years ago. We've done a good job of being competitive every year. We've won our division the last three years.

The respect that Rod Brind'Amour gets around the league is phenomenal. Players want to be here. And when you talk to players about signing them to a long-term deal, everyone we've approached, we've been able to get a deal done.

We continue to look at some of our younger players and try to lock them up long-term as well.

Svechnikov fires home a power play goal against Florida

Looking in the net, specifically, how confident are you in having the trio of Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta, and Pyotr Kochetkov once again?

We proved last year that you need three goalies. There's always going to be injuries during the season.

We also feel very comfortable that any of the three could be a starter at any point in time. It's a great luxury to have. We're very comfortable with Pyotr. The more games he plays, the better he's going to be. I think we're in really good shape for a long time.

A big storyline for the season ahead is the club operating without an AHL affiliate. We've seen several European prospects loaned to stay in Europe for the upcoming season, but how will the team navigate not having a primary development partner?

Our Finnish and Swedish players will be playing in elite hockey leagues in their home countries. Their development will not be hurt by playing there. [Not having an AHL partner] is not what we wanted to do and it's not what we expected to do, but we have to deal with it.

We have good partners around the NHL that are going to give us some spots on their farm teams and we have a deal worked out in the ECHL with Norfolk. We're going to be fine. It's not going to be ideal or perfect for this year, but I don't think it's going to hurt the development of our players at all.

We probably have four or five players committed that teams absolutely wanted. We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks with who makes our team and who doesn't and then we'll go from there.

"The long-term plan is for us to have our own affiliate for the 2024-25 season."

With the Chicago Wolves desiring to be an independent American Hockey League team, that leaves the #Canes in a weird spot. Waddell didn't sound too concerned though and said that team is still… pic.twitter.com/ou2fMLXy8E
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) May 31, 2023

Looking quickly at the business perspective, in August it was announced that the Canes and the Centennial Authority have reached a 20-year lease agreement, ensuring that the club remains here until 2043-44. How exciting is that to have that done, and what about the plans to develop the area surrounding the arena are you most thrilled about?

Probably that I won't be asked about relocation anymore. Since Tom Dundon bought the team everyone kept talking about relocation and relocation. We've been working on this lease for over a year and to finally get it done is very exciting. Not only for us internally but more importantly for our fans and for the Triangle area.

The renovations are going to be great. It's a lot of customer-facing things that we're going to do that will make our experience better. The development of the property is going to make it a destination place. It's not just going to be a place to come watch hockey, basketball, or a concert. We want it to be a place where when people say, "I'm going out to dinner tonight", this is where they'll go.

We're excited. It's going to take some time, but it will all be worth it.

With a team that's come so close to its ultimate goal the past few seasons, do you feel as though it adds pressure to the group, or it takes pressure off being that they've come so close?

Every night you go play, you feel pressure. It's how you handle pressure. We're going to lose hockey games during the year, it's how you rebound from those losses. We were very good about not losing multiple games in a row last year. Our rebound was good.

Any time you go into the playoffs, you're going to feel pressure. It's not the pressure that's going to take us down. It's going to be our game, overall. You like to play with pressure, to be honest with you. It brings the best out of you. What's gone on in the past is really going to help us moving forward.

Not to take anything away from our older players, but the bulk of our roster is young players. Getting that experience of playing 15 playoff games last year, those are invaluable. It's only going to help us get to that next level.