I’m dead serious when I say: this was announced so abruptly and with so little detail that I think Dundon may actually have just taken the idea from last night’s NCSU/UNC game.
I assume he was in attendance for that event and saw what happens to the atmosphere when you cram the crowd into a small space.
I just went to a luncheon with Peters and Dundon as speakers. Dundon said his first goal is to make an amazing experience for the 12,000 in the lower bowl and then worry about the upper bowl. Greensboro's "black hole" was mentioned and Dundon said that he doesn't care if the team is a laughing stock league-wide as long as every single Hurricanes fan in the arena is getting high value for their money.
It's time to get hyped y'all. Peters said he wants to make a run and force Francis to give him the "top-6 Playmaking C" he needs at the Trade Deadline. Interestingly, Peters was asked about missing out on Duchene and he said "I've coached Duchene 3 times internationally and I have a good read on where he needs to be played" (Wing). Dundon was asked directly about Tavares and said he couldn't comment on pending UFAs, but as a general strategy the team was gunning for "Superstars" rather than overpaying "average 30-something UFAs".
Both mentioned multiple times about accountability and the "type" of player they want. The underlying message seemed to be that there are players on the roster who aren't measuring up from a competition standpoint. Dundon expects the team to play very hard tonight.
Another interesting note, Peters unprovoked brought up how poorly the teams who played internationally this year have fared (Vancouver, Ottawa, and LA). How the travel really takes it out of the players and can be disruptive. Seemed like an indication that they had just internally discussed and rejected Finland next year.