Report: Hurricanes grant GM Waddell permission to speak to other teams

The Carolina Hurricanes have granted president and general manager Don Waddell permission to speak to other teams as his current deal will soon, reports TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

LeBrun added that Waddell interviewed with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. Columbus has been trying to find a new GM since firing longtime executive Jarmo Kekalainen in February.

Waddell joined the Hurricanes as team president in 2014 and was named general manager in 2018.

Carolina has made the playoffs in each of Waddell's six seasons as GM and advanced to the conference finals twice, though both of those ventures ended in four-game sweeps.

The Hurricanes have also been one of the league's top regular-season teams during Waddell's tenure, winning three consecutive divisional titles from 2021-23.

The Hurricanes failed to clinch a playoff spot for nine straight years before Waddell's time at the helm.

Carolina's 2023-24 campaign ended at the hands of the New York Rangers in the second round last Thursday. Waddell attempted to get his team over the hump by acquiring pending unrestricted free-agent star Jake Guentzel before the trade deadline, a big in-season swing typically uncharacteristic of the GM.

Waddell and the Hurricanes inked head coach Rod Brind'Amour to a reported five-year extension on Sunday.