Hurricanes likely to cut ties with Checkers next week, but leave door open for return
For a decade, the Carolina Hurricanes and Charlotte Checkers have been pulling on the same rope when it came to hockey in North Carolina. What was good for the NHL team was good for the AHL team and vice versa — especially last spring, when the Checkers won the Calder Cup and the Hurricanes got within a round of the Stanley Cup with help from several Checkers call-ups.
After a breakdown in the relationship between the two franchises, the Hurricanes are close to a long-rumored deal to move their AHL affiliation to the Chicago Wolves, with the Checkers presumably becoming the Florida Panthers’ top affiliate. The deal is expected to be finalized when the AHL season is officially canceled, which could come as soon as next week. That league has a conference call scheduled for May 8.
“Nothing’s done yet, but certainly we’re looking at all of our options,” Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said Wednesday. “Chicago is certainly one of them.”
The Hurricanes would have an out clause after each season in any new agreement with the Wolves, and Waddell did not rule out returning to Charlotte at some point.
“We’re going to keep all of our options open,” Waddell said. “Take each year at a time and see how things play out.”
Checkers owner Michael Kahn did not respond to messages left on his cellphone.
Later Wednesday, the Checkers released a statement: “While we are aware that the Carolina Hurricanes are nearing an affiliation agreement with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, the Hurricanes have had little dialogue with us regarding this matter. In an era when NHL teams are placing great value on affiliations with closer proximity between the two clubs, we understand the confusion such a move would cause.”
While the Wolves would pay the Hurricanes a larger affiliation fee than the Checkers, there were other factors that went into the Hurricanes’ willingness to change affiliates. The Hurricanes and Checkers went into this season without an affiliation agreement until the middle of training camp, when they settled on a last-minute, one-year extension of their existing deals. Negotiations over an agreement beyond this season remained stalled when the Vegas Golden Knights bought the San Antonio AHL franchise in February, opening up the Wolves as a potential AHL affiliate for the Hurricanes.
At that point, Waddell said, the Hurricanes were willing to listen to the Wolves’ approach, even though the Hurricanes would be the fourth NHL team to affiliate with the Wolves since 2011. Prior to that, Waddell’s Atlanta Thrashers were affiliated with the Wolves from 2001-11. The Wolves have been notorious over the years for prioritizing minor-league veterans over player development, but Waddell said the Hurricanes would have control over the staff, including current Checkers coach Ryan Warsofsky.
“Regardless of where we go, we feel we’ve got a real good coaching staff and that staff will continue wherever we go,” Waddell said. “We think Ryan and his crew have done a really good job for us. Either way, Ryan will be the coach of our farm team next year.”
The past two seasons have been the most successful on the ice for the Checkers in Charlotte. Not only did the Checkers win the first Calder Cup of any Hurricanes affiliate in 2019, beating the Wolves in five games in the finals, they were in position to make the AHL playoffs again this spring despite losing AHL coach of the year Mike Vellucci and more than a dozen players in the offseason, then several other players to injuries, call-ups and trades during the season. At one point, the Checkers won six games in a row with six different goalies, making Warsofsky, 32, a top candidate for AHL coach-of-the-year honors this season.
There are also intangible benefits to the Raleigh-Charlotte shuttle the Hurricanes will forgo. Proximity is one, with travel not restricted by flights or weather. Chicago isn’t as remote as previous affiliate locations such as Albany, N.Y., or Lowell, Mass., but its airports aren’t exactly immune to delays. There’s also the in-state synergy between the two franchises, united in pursuit of a common goal.
“It’s always made sense from a business standpoint,” Waddell said. “I’ve been to games down there where you see our jerseys and I’ve seen some Checkers jerseys up here. Being three hours apart, there’s certainly some cross promotion.”
Because of that, there may actually be more risk in this for the Checkers, who would no longer be able to market some of the Hurricanes’ best young talent. If they end up with Florida, the only NHL team still standing in the annual game of minor-league musical chairs, the Panthers’ top farm team has not made the AHL playoffs since 2016.
The Hurricanes and Checkers have had more than a year to secure their futures together. The only question now is whether this will be a trial separation or a full divorce.
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Hurricanes likely to cut ties with Checkers next week, but leave door open for return."
