Hurricanes exploring options for 2023-24 AHL affiliation after Chicago Wolves end deal

The Carolina Hurricanes figure to have a new American Hockey League affiliation next season, president and general manager Don Waddell said Thursday.

Where? Waddell can’t say for now, but it won’t be in Chicago with the AHL’s Wolves.

“We’re looking at all our options at this point,” Waddell said in an interview Thursday. “We do have options. It’s just happened so quickly here and we’re now exploring those options.”

The Hurricanes and Wolves will finish out a three-year agreement after the 2022-23 season. That contract, signed in September 2020, ended the Hurricanes’ AHL association with the Charlotte Checkers.

The Hockey News and The Athletic reported the Wolves had sent an email to player agents saying the affiliation with the Hurricanes would end. The email said the Wolves would operate as an independent organization.

“I knew our contract was up this year, so it is what it is,” Waddell said.

Waddell said it’s possible the Hurricanes could share an AHL affiliation with another NHL team.

“There might be other options than that and we’re exploring them all,” Waddell said. “We’re not closing any doors or any avenues until we figure out what all our options are.”

When the Hurricanes-Wolves agreement was signed in 2020, Wolves general manager Wendell Young said he and Waddell had a “terrific” professional relationship. Of the Hurricanes, Young said, “They care about their AHL affiliate and they’ve done a great job of drafting and building through trades. We’re excited about the prospects coming here.”

The Wolves won the 2022 Calder Cup, the AHL’s championship, with such players as forwards Stefan Noesen and Jack Drury, defenseman Jalen Chatfield and goalie Pyotr Kochetkov in the lineup.

Noesen, who had an AHL-high 48 goals for the Wolves last season, and Chatfield have been fixtures in the Canes lineup this season, and Drury recently was recalled.

Kochetkov has been recalled from the Wolves at times because of injuries to goalies Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, but is back in Chicago.

Young told The Athletic that in his opinion the Hurricanes’ “philosophy” about the AHL affiliation had changed.

The Wolves’ philosophy, Young told The Athletic, was to develop players and win games, and noted Noesen and Chatfield moving up to the big club this season. The Hurricanes, he indicated, have shifted their priority more to developing players at the AHL level.

The Wolves have not clinched a playoff spot for the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs. Forward Vasily Ponomarev, a second-round pick by Carolina in the 2020 NHL draft, led Chicago in scoring with 23 goals and 44 points through Wednesday’s games.

Waddell said he did not want to comment on Young’s remarks to The Athletic about the Canes’ philosophy. Waddell noted the Checkers won the 2019 Calder Cup while affiliated with the Canes, and the Wolves won last season, as well -- the Calder Cup was not awarded in 2019-20 or 2020-21.

“We’ve won the last two Calders with our affiliates,” Waddell said.