Chicago Wolves- the last Independent team in pro sports

[yave1964]

  Wendell Young is one of my favorite people in all of Hockey to follow. He broke in as a 4th round pick of the Canucks in 1981, he took six years of bus rides to get a crack with the Canucks when they were one of the worst teams in the game, going 6-15-4 with awful stats. That shoulda been the end. Players like that usually end up back in the minors, quickly forgotten, going to Europe for a payday if they can secure a job. The end. Case closed.

 

  Instead he went to the minors, worked his way back, became a semi regular in net with the Pens before being drafted by the expansion Bolts to be their first starter.after a year and a half at age 31 he was sent to Chcago in the minors, retirement never entered his mind. Other than a few games with the desperate Penguins he spent the next seven years in Chicago as a part time goalie, an unofficial goalie coach. He retired in 2001 after being named the IHL man of the year for perseverance. He went on to be an assistant coach through 2009 when he became the GM of the most independent team in the AHL, the same Wolves who he has come to love.  

  Many, even most AHL clubs are owned by their parent NHL team but the Wolves have refused to do so for years. They have had working agreements with half a dozen NHL clubs over the years, often clashing with NHL execs who want their players played when the proud Wolves team wants to win, development is often secondary, so they play the guys who give them the best chance to win. Last year it came to a head between Wendell Young who refused to play the young Pyotr Kochetkov instead wanting to run veteran Alex Lyon out their because he gave the team the best chance to make the playoffs. Hurricanes GM Wadell threatened to pull his team away from the Wolves leaving owner Don Levin and GM Wendell Young to make a hard decision. Wadell escalated the feud threatening to have the coach, Warsofsky fired, and then very publicly stating that coach Warsofsky was told that they didnt need to worry about winning, they only needed to worry about development of prospects for the Hurricanes. The year before Warsofsky won the Calder Cup. Last year with all the distractions they missed the playoffs by one point. With a month to go they told the Hurricanes they were not welcome back, they were going to go it alone. Waddell stated he just wanted to develop winners, Young said winning develops winners. It got ugly.

 

 Young, with aproval from ownership told the Hurricanes to get bent. They officially became independent and the Canes ended up out in the cold with no AHL team.

 

  As an independently owned franchise, they need to make money. To make money they need to win. finishing near the bottom of the standings does not draw fans or make money for an owner or an organization.

 

  So without an AHL franchise Dufus Don Waddel, high on my list of overrated GMs in the NHL was forced to loan prospects to other organizations or send them to Europe. 

 

  Meanwhile Wendell  Young quietly and calmly signed veteran minor leaguers to build what honestly looks to be a pretty damn god AHL squad (albeit a bit thin in net). Somewhat familiar names such as Rocco Grimaldi, Cory Conacher, Isaac Ratcliffe, Chris Terry, Matt Donovan, Brendan Perlini and now Max Comtois dot the roster alongside some kids who for whatever reason didnt quite stick with the team that originally drafted them make up a decent, passable AHL roster. They are being paid slightly more than most AHL clubs offer, not all salaries are released at that level but it is about ten to twenty percent higher than most AHL clubs pay veteran players.

 

  All players have been told that if an NHL job opens up, such as someone needs third line scoring and wants Grimaldi they are free to go, as long as the organization they are going to trades a veteran back their way. 

 

  Honestly, i am a bit torn. As much as i dont like Waddel and think he accidently hit the perfect storm with the Canes hiring the perfect coach and inheriting what was mostly drafted from other teams while making one bad signing and trade after another they are still relevant is more a statement of the coach than anything. But i understand why he wants his best player prospects to play top minutes and learn on the job so they can be ready when needed. Part of the problem is the Canes are notorious for not wanting to spend a ton of money on development and have refused to secure a permanent AHL affiliate that is club owned, instead trying to bully the Wolves into bending to their will. That is something Wendell Young has not and never will do. He put his foot down with Vegas who bought their own AHL club in Henderson that they can control. It makes sense for the organization.

 

  But the Wolves get paid based off the gate, off the revenue, so winning now, being entertaining is very important. Butts in the seats, hot dogs sold, all that matters to the ownership. Winning matters to GM Young. Developing a fourth line penalty killer for a parent club by giving him twenty minutes a night when he is not close to being the best player on the team for those minutes, not so much.

 

  Anyway, the last truly stubborn cuss of an organization in any minor league that I can think of anywhere, i am rooting for them to win the Calder Cup this year if the Griffins or Monsters cannot (Parent club owned). Wendell Young may never get a shot at the NHL running a franchise because of the well earned rep he has earned in the AHL of being hard to deal with as he treats winning as the only thing, but i am rooting for him and the Wolves. I seriously think this will be the Wolves last rodeo, they will either agree to be purchased by an NHL parent club (with Wendell Young either immediately being fired or summarily shot, lol) or they will partner up with another organization next season. The third possibility, the one that makes me saddest of all is Carolina does a start up with an AHL team close to home and the Wolves are not invited back to the AHL for next season and they are forced to drop down a runf to the ECHL or simply cease to exist. It is fun to watch a little guy exasperate the big guys every now and then and that is what Wendell Young has done to Waddell. Sadly, i think this is it, the final season for this type of thing. 

 

  

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Wow, @yave1964

Thanks for this!
I have actually been wondering what the deal was with the Wolves and Hurricanes parting ways the way they did, but just hadn't gotten around to doing the research and digging.
And you put this all out there in a very nice narrative package!

I was of the opinion that the AHL Wolves were fools to not want to continue to be part of the NHL Hurricanes, but I never really appreciated the kinds of demands AHL clubs have to put up with when dealing with an NHL affiliate because the NHL team, obviously, cares more about specific players and how they will be helping them at the top level, while the AHL club is looking to also survive, attract fans, and, well, WIN!
And when the goals of the big club and the small club aren't the same, it's usually the small club that takes the beating, while the big club skates away with the better of everything.

I've gained a newfound respect and appreciation for owners and GM's of minor league clubs after reading through this.

I don't know how much steam the Chicago Wolves can gain on their own, but if they can somehow, some way flourish without the aid of any NHL club, who knows, they could reach a point that when Bettman calls for expansion again in a few years, the Wolves may apply to be an NHL TEAM, as a second team in the big city of Chicago.

It's happened before in other leagues, no?
Minor circuits or minor circuit teams either becoming full fledged members of the top league either by application or merger.

Again, thanks for putting this here.
Interesting read and I learned a thing or two.

And yea...go Wendell Young!
The very first goalie I can remember in my kid mind as being one of the early heroes (at least for me) way back.
And during those very early years for me, I of course, had NO CLUE Young was a cast off draft pick by the Bolts....I just thought he was the greatest thing ever, and THAT'S why my Lightning got him! 

Ahh well...journeyman, barely NHL goalie, but apparently, no-nonsense and solid hockey executive!

Edited October 16, 2023 by TropicalFruitGirl26

[yave1964]

12 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Wow, @yave1964

Thanks for this!
I have actually been wondering what the deal was with the Wolves and Hurricanes parting ways the way they did, but just hadn't gotten around to doing the research and digging.
And you put this all out there in a very nice narrative package!

I was of the opinion that the AHL Wolves were fools to not want to continue to be part of the NHL Hurricanes, but I never really appreciated the kinds of demands AHL clubs have to put up with when dealing with an NHL affiliate because the NHL team, obviously, cares more about specific players and how they will be helping them at the top level, while the AHL club is looking to also survive, attract fans, and, well, WIN!
And when the goals of the big club and the small club aren't the same, it's usually the small club that takes the beating, while the big club skates away with the better of everything.

I've gained a newfound respect and appreciation for owners and GM's of minor league clubs after reading through this.

I don't know how much steam the Chicago Wolves can gain on their own, but if they can somehow, some way flourish without the aid of any NHL club, who knows, they could reach a point that when Bettman calls for expansion again in a few years, the Wolves may apply to be an NHL TEAM, as a second team in the big city of Chicago.

It's happened before in other leagues, no?
Minor circuits or minor circuit teams either becoming full fledged members of the top league either by application or merger.

Again, thanks for putting this here.
Interesting read and I learned a thing or two.

And yea...go Wendell Young!
The very first goalie I can remember in my kid mind as being one of the early heroes (at least for me) way back.
And during those very early years for me, I of course, had NO CLUE Young was a cast off draft pick by the Bolts....I just thought he was the greatest thing ever, and THAT'S why my Lightning got him! 

Ahh well...journeyman, barely NHL goalie, but apparently, no-nonsense and solid hockey executive!

Something else about Young, his nickname is 'the ringmaster's because he is the only man in history to have won all four cups, the Stanley cup, memorial cup, turner cup and Calder cup. Won Stanley as a member of the 91 penguins serving as Tom barrasso backup. He has adopted Chicago and they him, in a sport where regular players can go in public with relative anonymity he says he cannot go eat with his family without people asking him for a selfie, lol. A true cult following. In the A H L hall of fame, his number retired by the Wolves, not bad for a guy with a career record of 59-86-12 and a goals against of 3.94. 

  And YES I did think of you when I put this together. Us middle aged fan boys and girls need to stick to lol.