Hurricanes president Waddell won't use weather, losing as excuses for lack of revenue

The Carolina Hurricanes hired veteran hockey executive Don Waddell to serve as team president back in July, and his mandate will be to help the franchise avoid the same fate as another Sun Belt team that he was previously associated with: the Thrashers-turned-Jets.

Waddell, named the first general manager of Atlanta's NHL expansion franchise in 1998, later became team president and oversaw the sale and move of the team to Winnipeg in 2011. “That was the first thing I had to address with the staff,” Waddell told Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer, adding his mandate with the Hurricanes is to ensure the success of the franchise in its current location.

The Hurricanes achieved a varied measure of success since moving to Raleigh from Hartford in 1997. The team made two trips to the Stanley Cup Final - winning a championship in 2006 - but failed to make the playoffs over the course of the past five seasons after an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2009.

Waddell, however, is intent on crafting a business model that transcends where the team is located both geographically and in terms of the NHL standings.

I’m a no-excuse guy. Don’t use losing. Don’t use weather. The losing part, it’s frustrating for everybody. But out of 30 teams, only 16 make the playoffs. If you’re only going to base your business model on making the playoffs to be successful financially, you’re going to have a lot of teams that fall short every year.

My biggest focus is how we’re going to generate revenue in the short and long term. This market has proven to be a pretty good hockey city. We have some challenges ahead of us, but I don’t know of any opportunity where you’re going to take over and not have challenges presented to you.

The recent lack of success did affect the team in terms of season ticket sales, and one of Waddell's first tasks was to contact holders both current and former; a competitive 2014-15 season under new head coach Bill Peters will certainly go a long way in regards to generating renewed interest in the Hurricanes, thus making Waddell's job that much easier.