Carolina/AHL-Chicago Closing In On New Multi-Year Affiliation Agreement

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Both sides have been hinting at it publicly in recent weeks, but now multiple sources have confirmed that the Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Wolves are finalizing a new affiliation agreement that will see the Hurricanes and Wolves working together again.

One source tells InsideAHLHockey.com that when the agreement is finalized it will be a three-year affiliation agreement with two one-year options that could extend the affiliation further.

Earlier Wednesday in a regularly scheduled media availability, Canes GM Don Waddell said:

"We're working on it daily. We've been working on it," adding that he had another call later today regarding finalizing an AHL affiliation agreement. "I feel that there's a very quick timeline that we are going to have a deal to be able to announce and get back to where we all need to be," Waddell told local media via conference call Wednesday.

In a team released end of season interview with Wolves GM Wendell Young, Young hinted a similar sentiment in regards to a potential future affiliation agreement.

"We're trying to get some stuff done with a possible NHL affiliation very soon," Young said back on April 24. "Hopefully, it all falls into place again and we get back to some normalcy of the Chicago Wolves and winning.”

This hasn't exactly been a breakthrough.

In fact, one source told InsideAHLHockey.com earlier this week they thought a deal was going to be finalized last week but a late issue popped up that needed to be resolved.

Going as far back as late-March, both AHL and NHL sources were indicating that Carolina and AHL-Chicago were in the final stages of a new affiliation - though I received pushback from a source close to the situation on March 26, informing me that while progress might have been made that there wasn't any affiliation agreement in its final stages.

Carolina has kind of been saying the quiet part out loud in recent weeks, signing several of their prospects to entry level contracts.

"We've been signing these prospects, knowing that we were going to be able to get reach a deal and just get some of the finer points negotiated out," Waddell explained, revealing how close to the finish line this affiliation agreement might be. "I feel very confident that we're going to have a place for all our prospects to play."

Compared to how quick the NHL was able to complete a sale and relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to Ryan Smith and Utah, hammering out the legalese and final details has been quite a drag over the past month or so.

It's been a slog to the finish, but the end is near.