20 years ago this month

[HisIceness]

So I think the actual date has passed but it's been 20 years now since Karmanos announced he was moving the Whalers to Raleigh.

Does anyone here remember that day, or the days after or before? I can't really find much of anything about it. It seems like it caught a lot of people off guard. At least with the Panthers and Hornets, those were for the most part to be expected.

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[Roboturner913]

I remember it fairly well, not like I was living in either Hartford or NC at the time but the Whalers were one of my 2-3 favorite teams at that point and so I followed it with a good bit of interest.

I don't think it caught very many people off guard. Maybe the choice of N.C. surprised people because they had been flirting with Connecticut and Virginia, but it was pretty well assumed they were leaving by the end of that season. There's Youtube footage of the final game in Hartford and it's all teary farewells and such.

 

[BrindAmours Army]

So I think the actual date has passed but it's been 20 years now since Karmanos announced he was moving the Whalers to Raleigh.

Does anyone here remember that day, or the days after or before? I can't really find much of anything about it. It seems like it caught a lot of people off guard. At least with the Panthers and Hornets, those were for the most part to be expected.

May 6, 1997.

Newspaper Article

And as far as I can tell it wasn't particularly unexpected, at least in the weeks leading up to it.

Article from April 13, 1997, which lists Carolina as one of three expected destinations.

By April 23, 1997, Karmanos Had narrowed the possible destinations to two.

And lastly... The only article I found about the relocation the day after it was announced.

 

[TheOllieC]

i do not remember anything


probably because i was two and a half years old

 

[Roboturner913]

Cassels and Sanderson sure could tear **** up. It was really nice to see them get reunited in CBJ a few years later. Picked up right where they left off too.

 

[bleedgreen]

The date they announced they were moving in the first place, but not the location was a February date I believe. It was after a home game against the avs. Right before the game he told the players about it, and that the media would know the following day. The players held a meeting and vowed to make the playoffs for the fans, which was a tough thing for that team to promise. They came out and played the best first period I think I'd ever seen them play against a far superior team. They were flying. Think they still came up short that night, which was no embarrassment, the avs were the best. I was there on a date, remember it well. It was only time I've ever seen any team get a full on standing ovation for a first period intermission, I don't even think they were leading. We had no idea what was going on of course. Made sense in a really sad way the next day when I read the paper the next day.

The rumors had been rampant for while. They missed the playoffs by one point, and I was living in Colorado six months later.

The Raliegh announcement was later obviously, but honestly was far less of an impact to me. It felt over from the first announcement on.

I was off by a month! March 25, so announced on the 26th. Makes sense, it was a rainy night instead of snow.

 

[HisIceness]

May 6, 1997.

Newspaper Article

And as far as I can tell it wasn't particularly unexpected, at least in the weeks leading up to it.

Article from April 13, 1997, which lists Carolina as one of three expected destinations.

By April 23, 1997, Karmanos Had narrowed the possible destinations to two.

And lastly... The only article I found about the relocation the day after it was announced.

Appreciate that. I know Karmanos was interested in Columbus but I didn't know it came down to them and Raleigh. I'm guessing playing temporarily at the Greensboro Coliseum was more attractive than playing in an air hanger.

Someone on this board had a link to an Internet forum topic in 1996 about the mayor of Raleigh being in talks with the NHL about an expansion team. If I remember right, a lot of them didn't think it would work.

 

[Jets4Life]

Karmanos actually stated to the Columbus press that he planned to move the team io the city, but later reneged on his word. This may have led to the NHL choosing Columbus as one of the last four expansion teams in 1997. I was a bit jaded when the NHL announced the Whalers would move to North Carolina, as I was still recovering from the loss of the Winnipeg Jets the year before. There was quite a bit of negative publicity regarding the Canes choice to play two seasons in Greensboro, where crowds averaged 5,000 in a 20,000 seat arena.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Karmanos actually stated to the Columbus press that he planned to move the team io the city, but later reneged on his word. This may have led to the NHL choosing Columbus as one of the last four expansion teams in 1997. I was a bit jaded when the NHL announced the Whalers would move to North Carolina, as I was still recovering from the loss of the Winnipeg Jets the year before. There was quite a bit of negative publicity regarding the Canes choice to play two seasons in Greensboro, where crowds averaged 5,000 in a 20,000 seat arena.

Were you also bit jaded when the NHL announced the Thrashers would move?

 

[gocanes88]

Still blows my mind that Fayetteville almost filled Greensboro's role for the first two years. We would've had NHL hockey down here, and I wouldn't have even cared.

 

[geehaad]

Were you also bit jaded when the NHL announced the Thrashers would move?

The Thrashers didn't move, the Jets simply returned home where they belong.

 

[HisIceness]

I'm convinced all of us on HF Canes could have done a better job managing the Thrashers than ASG ever did.

 

[Jets4Life]

Were you also bit jaded when the NHL announced the Thrashers would move?

Not at all.

I was ecstatic. It was the greatest day of my life.

 

[Jets4Life]

A very good source to how the situation unfolded (the best one, by fat, in the internet IMO), is this:

How's it goin' Pete?

It is well written by a Hartford Whalers fan that had a grudge against Karmanos. It's very interesting read. The website, which went up sometime in 1997, is now defunct, but someone has preserved the entries. I'm not going to lie, being in the same boat as Whaler fans, I disliked Karmanos, and secretly wished the Carolina experiment would fail. However, the Canes' Stanley Cup run in 2002 won me over. I especially liked their 2009 run, when the Canes defeated the Devils and Bruins.

Snippet:

Doctor Karmanos' Traveling Road Show debuts. "Anywhere But Hartford" seems to be opening number. Columbus, Raleigh, Minneapolis, St. Paul, even Las Vegas are mentioned as possible relocation sites. Eyes roll when Karmanos announces that the team is considering renovating a 55-year-old, abandoned Ohio aircraft hangar as a temporary home until a new arena can be built in Columbus.

Karmanos calls the Columbus proposal -- a 25-year lease under which the operator would pay $3 million in annual rent to the convention facilities authority and $200,000 a year to the community -- a "significantly better deal" than the offer he received to stay in Hartford.

"That's a situation I don't want to find myself in ever again," he says. "I'm going to put myself in a market that will work financially."

Karmanos tells an Ohio TV station that Columbus is his number one choice. The broadcaster asks him to repeat it. He does. A week later in North Carolina, Karmanos denies Columbus is the front-runner. Karmanos also notes his team now is "formerly the Hartford Whalers." Asked to propose some new names, Karmanos smiles, suggesting Cyclones or Hurricanes. Karmanos tours the Greensboro Coliseum, a possible interim site where the team will play for two seasons while a new arena is built in Raleigh, and pronounces it a "first-class facility."

 

[Jets4Life]

To this date, I never understood why the Canes' thought having Greensboro as a temporary home would be a good idea. It's never worked. The Houston Oilers thought playing in Houston for two seasons until the Nashville stadium was built would be adequate, but people stopped coming to games, and the team was forced to break their lease a year early. The same thing happened with Seattle in their last season in the NBA before moving. The Montreal Expos would average around 7,000 people in their final year, since it was well known the team was relocating.

Even the Winnipeg Jets only averaged 11,400 fans/game as it's hard to get excited for a lame duck team that is going to move to Arizona within a year. Did anyone here make the commute to Greensboro when the Canes' were playing there from 1997-99? Is that not a far drive for a NHL game?

 

[geehaad]

Not at all.

I was ecstatic. It was the greatest day of my life.

Wow. Didn't even bat an eye.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

To this date, I never understood why the Canes' thought having Greensboro as a temporary home would be a good idea. It's never worked. The Houston Oilers thought playing in Houston for two seasons until the Nashville stadium was built would be adequate, but people stopped coming to games, and the team was forced to break their lease a year early. The same thing happened with Seattle in their last season in the NBA before moving. The Montreal Expos would average around 7,000 people in their final year, since it was well known the team was relocating.

Even the Winnipeg Jets only averaged 11,400 fans/game as it's hard to get excited for a lame duck team that is going to move to Arizona within a year. Did anyone here make the commute to Greensboro when the Canes' were playing there from 1997-99? Is that not a far drive for a NHL game?

i was 6-8 years old at the time

my family has had season tickets from the day they went on sale. my dad and i made that drive for every home game.

it was worth it to see nhl hockey live consistently, but it was pretty damn miserable. especially weeks with 3+ home games

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Not at all.

Of course not. I'm sure Winnipeg was a "worthy" destination.

 

[Jets4Life]

Of course not. I'm sure Winnipeg was a "worthy" destination.

Winnipeg is a very worthy destination. Atlanta still is a worthy destination too. Unfortunately, ASG ruined the Thrashers.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Meh....if Winnipeg was so "very" worthy, the NHL would have never left in the 1st place.

 

[Jets4Life]

Meh....if Winnipeg was so "very" worthy, the NHL would have never left in the 1st place.

Ok then...

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Ok then...

I'm yanking your chain, on purpose, but what do you expect? You come into a forum dedicated to Carolina Hurricanes fans (not Hartford Whalers fans) and start talking about being "jaded" when the move to Carolina was made and how it was the "best day of your life" when the Thrasher's moved to Winnipeg.

Moves of a franchise are always absolutely terrible for the location that loses the franchise. When it benefits you personally though, it's just fine.

 

[Jets4Life]

I'm yanking your chain, on purpose, but what do you expect? You come into a forum dedicated to Carolina Hurricanes fans (not Hartford Whalers fans) and start talking about being "jaded" when the move to Carolina was made and how it was the "best day of your life" when the Thrasher's moved to Winnipeg.

Moves of a franchise are always absolutely terrible for the location that loses the franchise. When it benefits you personally though, it's just fine.

You are taking a single sentence out of context. You should read the full paragraph of what I wrote. It will provide better context, unless of course, you are just looking for an internet fight. I come in peace. I provided a link to how the whole situation went down at the time. Sorry if I offended anyone...

I make no apologies for being ecstatic that the NHL returned to Winnipeg. May 31, 2011 is a historic day in the City of Winnipeg. 10,000 people were celebrating downtown. It was perhaps the greatest day in Winnipeg history. Our Jets were back.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I'm yanking your chain, on purpose, but what do you expect? You come into a forum dedicated to Carolina Hurricanes fans (not Hartford Whalers fans) and start talking about being "jaded" when the move to Carolina was made and how it was the "best day of your life" when the Thrasher's moved to Winnipeg.

Moves of a franchise are always absolutely terrible for the location that loses the franchise. When it benefits you personally though, it's just fine.

I'm not going to lie to you, if a team came back to Hartford it would be in the top 10 days of my life. Being able to bring my son to an NHL game regularly would be a dream come true, and I live close enough where I could drive comfortably to Boston or New York. For someone in GD Winnipeg the distance to another NHL team is what, 500 miles?

I'm not going to revel in someone else's misery, because I know what it's like.

Also it's never going to happen because Hartford never really was in that "worthy" category to begin with. Howard Baldwin that magnificent scheister snuck them in to the chagrin of the Rangers and Bruins ownership.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

You are taking a single sentence out of context. You should read the full paragraph of what I wrote. It will provide better context, unless of course, you are just looking for an internet fight. I come in peace. I provided a link to how the whole situation went down at the time. Sorry if I offended anyone...

Fair enough. While I admit it's always difficult to understand a poster's full meaning from the written word, not sure how I could take this out of context.

"I was a bit jaded when the NHL announced the Whalers would move to North Carolina, as I was still recovering from the loss of the Winnipeg Jets the year before."

I took that to mean that you were not particularly happy with the Whalers moving to Carolina, partially because you were still upset with the Jets moving. That was your intent, was it not? Thus why I asked how you felt about the Thrasher's moving, to which you responded it was the happiest day of your life.

Thus my point. And no, not at all looking for an internet fight (although I do enjoy the discorse, as long as it's civil). I hold no ill will towards you and think I understand where you are coming from. No worries.