The real reason the Carolina Hurricanes lost their AHL team.
Shocking new details have emerged regarding the split between the Hurricanes and Chicago Wolves.
In what was a stunning move to many, the Chicago Wolves announced this year that they would officially be ending their partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes. The move left the Wolves as the only team in the American Hockey League without an an affiliate in the National Hockey League, a decision that was almost certainly not taken lightly.
In spite of the stunning decision the reason behind the split has remained a mystery, at least up until now. A recent report from Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey has shed some light on what led to the split, with Androckitis going straight to the source and speaking directly with Chicago Wolves GM Wendell Young.
Young's comments give a clear impression that the Wolves felt the Hurricanes were overbearing when it came to exerting control over their personnel decisions, including Carolina threatening to fire the team's then-head coach Ryan Warsofsky during the 2022 Calder Cup Finals if he continued to play goaltender Alex Lyon over Hurricanes prospect goalie Pyotr Kochetkov. Perhaps the most shocking part of this particular detail is that the Wolves would win the Calder Cup as AHL champions that year, a sign that they likely were running a pretty tight ship.
Young says that the following year things would get even worse, with the Hurricanes wanting the team to focus on developing their prospects, even at the expense of winning games.
"Our coach was told: 'don't worry about winning this year'," said Young as per Androckitis.
Young adds that every lineup decision had to be approved by the Hurricanes, a situation that left him feeling that his team would be unable to compete.
"Our coach was being dictated on who to play in goal," said Young. "Lineups had to go through Carolina."
"We were trying to correct it all year. We didn't sign up [for this]," added Young. "We didn't sign up to not be competitive."
Although Young eventually made the decision to go independant, he argues that it was the Carolina Hurricanes who at the end of the day forced his hand.
"We didn't make this decision," said Young of the split. "Carolina did by their actions."
