'Changing Of The Guard': AHL-Chicago Gives Up Full Control Of Hockey Operations

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It certainly feels like the end of an era for one American Hockey League (AHL) team - and the way they've operated since becoming a franchise in the league - as the Chicago Wolves relinquished their hands-on approach to managing their independently owned franchise and allowing their NHL partner free reigns of all the on-ice decision making similar to that of an NHL-owned AHL franchise.

The Carolina Hurricanes don't own the Chicago Wolves, but under their new three-year affiliation agreement the Hurricanes will have full control of the Chicago Wolves' hockey operations from top-to-bottom - also absorbing all of the financial costs associated therein.

"After 30 years of the Chicago Wolves, we always had some say in who's available. We always paid extra to help [bring in] veterans. We had a bunch of mutually agreed veterans in our affiliation deal. The year we won it, our mutual guys were guys like [Stefan] Noesen, [Jalen] Chatfield, [Alex] Lyon, [Andrew] Poturalski," now former Chicago Wolves general manager Wendell Young explained to InsideAHLHockey.com Friday afternoon. "Now, we're basically out of the hockey player business and [it's about] owning an American Hockey League (AHL) team."

The internal power struggle has ended, and as a result Young will no longer assume the role as the team's general manager, a title in which he held for the previous 15 seasons.

Not long after Hurricanes beat reporter and senior editor of the North State Journal, Cory Lavalette (@corylav), was informed by Canes GM Don Waddell that Young wasn't being brought back in the Wolves' GM role for next season, the Wolves sent out a release announcing that Young had been promoted to a new position within the AHL organization moving forward, with a new title of Vice Chairman/Governor of the Chicago Wolves.

Young, who has been a part of the Wolves organization as a player, coach and executive for all 30 years of the franchise's existence in the AHL, will remain as a bit of an advisor to Wolves Chairman of the Board, Don Levin.

"In his new role, the 60-year-old Young will oversee team operations - including monitoring on-ice team performance on behalf of the Wolves - continue his role with the American Hockey League Board of Governors and become the primary liaison between the Wolves and Carolina Hurricanes," the Wolves' press release Friday noted.

It's also worth noting that Young and those employed by the Wolves organization won't have any say in the day-to-day operation of the hockey team on the hockey side of things.

The Wolves and Hurricanes never stopped trying to find a workable solution even as the 2023-24 regular season began.

In October, Young and Wolves owner Don Levin - as well as Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon and GM Don Waddell - flew to the NHL offices in New York to meet in an attempt to broker some kind of agreement.

"We actually never really stopped trying to figure something out," Young said, adding, "We were always hopeful things would change and we would find a solution. We all knew last spring when this all went down, it wasn't gonna be good for Chicago Wolves, the Carolina Hurricanes, the American Hockey League so we kept going at it."

After having to send several of their defense prospects to the ECHL in Norfolk, it came to a point where they needed to find a place in the AHL for them to properly develop their respective games.

"They needed a spot for their defensemen, and [Vasily] Ponomarev was part of the deal," Young explained of the first batch of Carolina contracted players that Young brokered agreements with Carolina to add them to the Wolves' roster this season.

Goaltender Antti Raanta later appeared in games for the Wolves in net, and Pyotr Kochetkov was also later assigned to Chicago at one point although he never suited up for an AHL game with the Wolves in 2023-24.

There was a lot of things in play that made finding a solution nearly impossible, and even after the biggest hurdle for Carolina was cleared (Wolves owner Don Levin conceding full control of the hockey operations to Carolina) things still weren't as sure of a thing as people were led to believe as the 2023-24 regular season moved along.

Multiple sources confirm to InsideAHLHockey.com that the Chicago Wolves had multiple concrete offers to sell the franchise throughout the season. It's believed that Levin didn't entertain offers from those who would ever have intentions of relocating the AHL franchise out of Rosemont, and the sole focus in any sale would be to keep it locally owned.

The new three-year affiliation agreement provides Carolina an opportunity to prove they're willing to spend the resources necessary to provide an environment conducive to developing their prospects into NHL players in the AHL. With full control also comes the full bill on the hockey operations side of things with the AHL franchise during this agreement.

They have signed quite a few of their recent draft picks to entry level contracts this spring - including goaltender Ruslan Khazheyev (2023-5th round), defenseman Scott Morrow (2021-2nd round) and forwards Jackson Blake (2021-4th round), Bradly Nadeau (2023-1st round) and Gleb Trikozov (2022-2nd round) - but there's skepticism around the AHL and NHL that the Hurricanes will deliver on providing a solid product on the ice at the AHL level.

After all, it was Carolina's change in philosophy - as we reported last August in an exclusive 1-on-1 tell-all with Young that went into why things got to where they did. (That story here, for those who missed it: https://insideahlhockey.com/article/lone-wolves-part-1-how-did-it-come-to-this)

In addition to needing the necessary depth players to round the Hurricanes' depth on the NHL roster to help, they'll also need to sign and pay for AHL veterans and players signed to AHL standard player contracts with the Chicago Wolves. They'll also re-establish a more solid partnership at the ECHL level to have enough depth at the AHL-level to make it through the season when injuries and call ups at both the NHL and AHL levels will inevitably occur.

It will be a very interesting summer for the Carolina Hurricanes, who not to mention are also in the midst of a Stanley Cup playoff run entering a second round matchup with the New York Rangers.

Between all the additions they'll need on the ice in free agency, and all the positions they'll need filled in their soon-to-be formed AHL hockey operations staff, it will be a busy summer for the Hurricanes organization.

One person who was heavily involved in the negotiation of the Hurricanes' current affiliation agreement with the Wolves - and was tasked with finding homes for all the organization's prospects to play this past season - was Carolina's Director of Hockey Operations, Aaron Schwartz.

Some say Schwartz, a Chicago area native, could be in line to take on a larger role and step into the Wolves' currently vacant GM position, though Waddell told Lavalette Friday that other than Young not being in the GM role moving forward they were "otherwise undecided" on the management structure for the Wolves heading into the weekend.

The Hurricanes have no shortage of up-and-coming management types, with assistant GM's Darren Yorke and Eric Tulsky always generating positive feedback whenever their names are mentioned as well.

It also sounds like Wolves head coach Bob Nardella won't be resuming head coaching duties in 2024-25, though he may remain on the coaching staff in some capacity. That remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, though, and that is that the Hurricanes are now running the show in Chicago in a setup that isn't all too unfamiliar to most of the NHL-AHL setups across North America.

Other than reducing their costs in hockey operations to $0, Young, Levin and the Wolves' organization conceding all control over how the AHL roster is both constructed and utilized on a day-to-day basis is mostly about restoring order and balance - doing what's best for the Carolina Hurricanes, the Chicago Wolves, the AHL and NHL moving forward - giving all 32 NHL franchises an AHL franchise to house their pro-level prospects.

"It was a big concession by Don Levin, because he loves the game, he loves the players," Young said. "To give that up was a big thing, but he did it for the betterment of the AHL and [to make] the best of the situation. There was no other way to resolve this situation."

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