Cross One Off The List

I spoke a little about the goal of the ECHL's recent expansions in the article written Friday about Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and I spoke about how there were only three NHL franchises without official ECHL affiliates at that time with the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Ottawa Senators being those teams. The one-to-one ratio that the ECHL is hoping to eventually reach with NHL affiliations is getting closer to being achieved after the Carolina Hurricanes formally announced that they will affiliate with the expansion Grensboro Gargoyles next season!

"We're thrilled to affiliate with the Gargoyles and reconnect with our franchise's history in Greensboro," Darren Yorke, Associate General Manager of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes and General Manager of the AHL's Chicago Wolves, announced in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with the Gargoyles staff to develop players who could someday make an impact here in Raleigh."

This affiliation makes sense from a distance perspective as the Gargoyles will be just over an hour away via car from Raleigh in North Carolina. The Gargoyles may be able to benefit from the fanbase cultivated by the Hurricanes, and having their prospects playing in Greenboro should give the Gargoyles an immediate boost for that team's fans. Those factors alone make this affilition a win-win for both sides, and I'll be curious to see if the Hurricanes come to their senses regarding the AHL's Charlotte Checkers in the future.

The Hurricanes, you see, ended a ten-year affiliation agreement with the Checkers in 2020 when reports surfaced that the Hurricanes had been chatting with the Chicago Wolves about an AHL affiliation. The Checkers even called out their NHL affiliate over these rumours, publishing a statement on April 29, 2020 that read,

"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 that such a move would cause. We will explore other options for our affiliation and look forward to continuing in the American Hockey League when play resumes."

That shot across the bow, so to speak, certainly caught the attention of the Hurricanes and, in particular, GM Don Waddell. The Checkers had captured the 2019 Calder Cup while providing the Hurricanes with excellent development for their prospects, and Waddell seemed surprised by the Checkers' statement after their recent success.

"We thought everything was good, there," he told The Athletic's Sara Civian in September 2020, "until January or so — then things fell apart. I can't say what they're thinking, obviously we've been there almost 10 years (since 2010-11), we enjoyed ourselves there. We thank them for taking care of our players and obviously winning the (Calder) Cup last year. I can't speak for them, but it was a business decision that we eventually had to make."

That last bit - "that we eventually had to make" - sounds ominous, and seems to indicate that the Hurricanes walked away from the affiliation with the Checkers. Add in the "things fell apart" statement that Waddell made and it feels worse, but it's hard to understand how two teams separated by 2.5 hours with the same general fanbase and all sorts of success between them could fracture their affiliation relationship past the point of no return.

"I'm not here to knock anything... every relationship has bumps and ups and downs," Waddell told Civian. "But this one just got to a point where it was time to move on."

With the Hurricanes feeling like the relationship had soured thanks to the Checkers demanding more money in the affiliation agreement following their 2019 Calder Cup championship, Waddell turned to his old friend in Chicago, Wolves general manager Don Levin. The two men had worked together when Waddell was with the Atlanta Thrashers who had the AHL's Chicago Wolves as their affiliate, and the two men got to talking about a potential affiliation after things began breaking down in January 2020 with the Checkers.

"We won a championship in Charlotte last year, and all was good," Waddell explained to Civian about how the affilation change happened. "We sat down in January and tried to make a deal to move this forward and it wasn't there to be, for me at this point. Then the season dragged on, and then (the season paused because of COVID-19), it got to a point where we had to look at our other options — we knew Chicago would be an option, so we started talking with them... Don and I started talking shortly after the whole virus started, just about what was going to happen in hockey in general. That continued on and we realized this made a lot of sense to pursue."

That's when the Checkers released their statement where they questioned the status of their affiliation with the Hurricanes. With the Hurricanes needing to sign Andrei Svechnikov and Dougie Hamilton that season to what would be very big amounts, having the Checkers demand more more for development was part of the deal that didn't make sense to Waddell financially. Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon would have given Waddell a number he was willing to pay, and it was up to Waddell to make the deal based on that figure.

On September 10, 2020, the Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Wolves announced an affiliation agreement, leaving Charlotte in the rear-view mirror. Charlotte, meanwhile, was without an affiliate for all of a few hours as they announced a brand-new affiliation with the Florida Panthers on the same day. Checkers owner Michael A. Kahn wrote in his statement that "we had previously hoped to continue our affiliation with the Hurricanes," but that simply wasn't to be.

Carolina is now affiliated with the newest North Carolina-based hockey team in the ECHL's Greensboro Gargoyles, so, as Meatloaf sang, two out of three ain't bad. It could have been a united front for the three largest cities in North Carolina had the relationship between the Hurricanes and Checkers not deteriorated, but we'll have to see what happens in the future. With the agreement for the Checkers to remain in Bojangles Arena in place until 2030, that could be when the Florida-Charlotte affiliation agreement expires as well. Could there be a reunion between these once-affiliated teams?

The Panthers may have something to say about that, but never say "never". It could be North Carolina-vs-the-world if the Checkers join the Hurricanes and Gargoyles in an affiliation agreement. Wouldn't that be something if all three North Carolina hockey clubs made a run at their respective league championships in the same season?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!