The Hurricanes have signed President & GM Don Waddell to a "three-year contract extension," according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. No other terms of the extension were disclosed. Waddell had been "without a contract since June 30 and recently interviewed" for the Wild's GM opening. NHL bylaws "require teams" to have a GM "under contract on Sept. 1" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 8/12). Waddell said of Hurricanes Owner Tom Dundon, "My contract expired on June 30 and we've talked about it and neither one of us thought it was a pressing matter. He said, 'We'll get to it in time.' I wasn't worried about it. I've worked so many years with one-year deals, no contracts at times." He added of talking to the Wild for their open GM role, "Because of the situation happening in Minnesota, all of a sudden they're without a GM and they called to see if I'd be interested in talking to them. My first call was to Tom to talk to him about it. He said, 'No, you should go talk and at least see what they have to say.'" Waddell: "But the whole time, Tom and I continued to talk and finally today inked the deal" ("NHL Tonight," NHL Network, 8/12).
DUNDON'S DOCUMENTS: THE ATHLETIC's Sara Civian noted Dundon "made clear" that he is "not a fan of contracts." He said, "It's probably less drama to have a contract. But I'm comfortable with what we're doing and how we're doing it." Dundon added, "Contracts don't help me that much, candidly. I understand that I'm alone on this one but that's how I feel." Civian wondered what this "could mean for future negotiations" between the team and its staff. Dundon said, "If somebody wants a contract, if that's important to them, I'm open-minded to it. If that job (Wild GM) hadn't opened up and he (Waddell) hadn't called, I wouldn't have thought twice about this. I don't think (writing it down) changes the outcome of what he's going to do or how long he's going to do it." Dundon noted the Hurricanes "have a couple guys on contract right now," including VP/Hockey Management & Strategy Eric Tulsky. Dundon said of Tulsky, "Don and I really value him, he's got kids and he wanted security so I gave him a [four]-year contract. There's others who aren't on contracts. Every situation is different" (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/12).
