Kaiton Out as Radio Broadcast

[Joe McGrath]

Yeah, I wasn't saying he literally took over, more that his brand took over as voice. When the Canes moved down, and probably even through the first Cup run, Kaiton was really the voice of the Canes, but somewhere around the Cup win that changed, and its been Forslund ever since.

Ok that makes more sense. I just didn’t read it that way for some reasons.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Yeah, I wasn't saying he literally took over, more that his brand took over as voice.

Oh yeah? Well I’m going to double down on the original statement. This all seems like a long-game power move by Forslund. First he eliminated Decock as a dedicated beat writer, next he moved Maniscalco under his thumb. Now Chuck’s been cut out of the picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if we wake up one morning and his toady Tripp is running the Twitter account.

 

[Svechhammer]

Oh yeah? Well I’m going to double down on the original statement. This all seems like a long-game power move by Forslund. First he eliminated Decock as a dedicated beat writer, next he moved Maniscalco under his thumb. Now Chuck’s been cut out of the picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if we wake up one morning and his toady Tripp is running the Twitter account.

Have you seen the twitter account recently? Are you sure he isn't already?

 

[tarheelhockey]

 

[sheriff bart]

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Sorry for piling on.

The context:

And I don't know if it's so much about cost-cutting, but more about how it's being handled.

- If they decided Francis had to go, better optics to let him go in the off-season than mid-February.

Well, no. This happened during the ACC Basketball Tournament, and one week before March Madness (with 6 North Carolina teams participating!) . 99.9 The Fan sent Adam Gold and Joe Ovies to New York the week of the ACC tournament while the N&O sent DeCock. Adam and Joe spent most of their time talking bball and New York City sports and culture, interrupted with talk of Ron Francis' "promotion". And at this moment, the fanbase, faced with another bust season, is not exactly preparing a monument to Ron Francis the GM outside PNC.

From a local perspective, that was the perfect time. This wasn't any Friday news dump, it was the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, Wal-Mart is running a "Free Beer This Weekend!" promotion, and CNN, Fox and MSNBC are all going on vacation.

If they decided Waddell was going to be the new GM, just announce him as such instead of having a faux search where you insult prospective GMs with low-ball offers.

It's obvious that the alleged "GM search" was just a smokescreen. Waddell was always Dundon's choice, ever since Francis was fired, possibly before then. So why put on the show of having a search in the first place? Why insult prospective GMs with low-ball offers? Just a scummy move.

Is it though? Francis was paid 2 million to run the entire organization, which included micromanaging the early rounds of the draft (and Lavoie implies this was just an example of a general mindset). Glorious Leader Tom Dundon wants a guy whose official job description is, "1) Do what the Council of Storms tells you to do, and 2) be able to explain it to me, in a way I can understand, without using, 'Because that's how the hockey biz rolls' or "Because that's what Tulsky told me.'"

His unofficial job description being, "Get fired when the Council of Storms screws up".

And then you factor in that a lot of success in the NHL comes down to dumb luck. A team doesn't become a Cup contender through shrewd move alone; but also by getting lucky. A 5th rounder becomes a franchise defenseman; Calgary calls and is willing to part with their top pairing powerplay specialist dman for your pair of underachieving 5th overall selections because he goes to museums; we won the draft lottery the year Sidney Crosby/Connor McDavid were available; we won 2nd overall the year a franchise center went 2nd and the worst draft bust ever (yes, worse than Yakupov) went third.

So alternate theory (finally): Tom Dundon asks "But why" as much as a precocious 4 year old, and has as much patience for "Because that's the way things are" as a precocious 4 year old. He's told, we pay GM's 1.5-2 million at least in the NHL. He does research and finds getting the best (most expensive) executive talent doesn't mean much, inasmuch as actually improving your hockey club. He's told Jim Rutherford is an awesome GM, then does his research and discovers that Jim Rutherford effing sucked in Carolina and is the reason we're in this mess in the first place. He read in Harpers last week that [redacted] thought [redacted] had yellow [redacted] and [redacted] of mass [redacted] because the [redacted] was plagued with circular thinking, no fresh blood or new eyes to question the assumptions which formed a foundation of lies and [redacted], and the worst circular thinking is in an individual who has unilateral control. "OH MY GOD PLEASE GOD PLEASE RON PLEASE DRAFT NYLANDER FLEURY SUCKS SO, SO, BAD, WHY DOES IT MATTER YOU WON'T WATCH LIGA GAMES OH GOD PLEASE". 'And Ron looked down at poor Tony MacDonald and whispered, "No"'. So he wants to use a council, the Council of Storms, to prevent this circular thinking and assumption making. The GM, in this schemata, will be (see above).

So he thinks all this and asks aloud, "Why should I pay 1.5-2 mil for this guy to just wait around until the Council trades Jaccob Slavin for Leon Draisaitl and the fans riot after another bust season in which Draisaitl puts up 40 points while Slavin plays 30 minutes a night en route to an Oiler Cup victory?". And no one can answer save, "Because that's how the hockey world rolls" and "Well this one guy on HFBoards....". Which aren't good answers.

There's only one GM slot. You just gotta get one guy to say "Yes". So GLTD decides this is what the GM slot is worth to him, and lowballs the crap out of everyone.

This blows up in his face, and he has to admit he was wrong. Which is why Don Waddell's hiring, unlike every other bit of 'Canes news, was snuck in under the shadow of HCRBA.

- If they decided Kaiton was too expensive to keep around, don't insult him with an 80% paycut, knowing full well that it's not going to be accepted.

I agree.

Don Waddell's phrasing was insulting. He could have at least added, "but he didn't like our non-negotiable 80% paycut".

 

[Joe McGrath]

I’m confused, are people still calling this move being cheap? If it cost as much as they claim it would be like if the organization previously set a bunch of cash on fire and now has decided not to do that. Is that cheap or just common sense.

 

[Unsustainable]

I’m confused, are people still calling this move being cheap? If it cost as much as they claim it would be like if the organization previously set a bunch of cash on fire and now has decided not to do that. Is that cheap or just common sense.

Common sense.

 

[CandyCanes]

The guy behind the Stormy costume is leaving the Canes after his long tenure as Stormy. Thanks Dundon...

 

[CandyCanes]

Dundon - "We pay you $100,000 to walk around in a pig costume..... We are going to have to cut your salaried job into a part time job paid by the hour, the hourly pay will me minimum wage. If you don't accept this offer I will have one of my children wear the pig costume for free as punishment to them for misbehaving in school."



I'm patiently waiting for O'Neill to make a F*** you Dundon tweet about Stormy leaving the team.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Is it Stormy or the guy that plans/coordinates Stormy's routine/schedule/etc?

I thought it was the coordinator, especially with the comment about "finding a lady friend for Stormy."

 

[cptjeff]

Is it Stormy or the guy that plans/coordinates Stormy's routine/schedule/etc?

I thought it was the coordinator, especially with the comment about "finding a lady friend for Stormy."

I'd guess that he was responsible for both functions. I don't think managing the activities of a mascot is such a full time job that you'd never have time to put on the suit.

 

[CandyCanes]

Is it Stormy or the guy that plans/coordinates Stormy's routine/schedule/etc?

I thought it was the coordinator, especially with the comment about "finding a lady friend for Stormy."

This was the guy in the suit as well. I've met George a few times.

 

[Novacane]

Stormy sucks

Fight me at Bojangles irl

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I'd guess that he was responsible for both functions. I don't think managing the activities of a mascot is such a full time job that you'd never have time to put on the suit.

An event coordinator is a job. They help set up stuff like the Fanfest or cross-promotional things (like having Stormy show up at a Durham Bulls game, for example).

Wasn't sure if he was an event coordinator or a mascot.

 

[The Faulker 27]

I’m confused, are people still calling this move being cheap? If it cost as much as they claim it would be like if the organization previously set a bunch of cash on fire and now has decided not to do that. Is that cheap or just common sense.

Some people have a problem with Dundon because he is methodically, and thoroughly lowering unnecessary overhead. Its something that should have been done years ago. You can't have the most expensive defense in the league, while also having less than 12K people attend your games on average, and not give up some things.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'd guess that he was responsible for both functions. I don't think managing the activities of a mascot is such a full time job that you'd never have time to put on the suit.

Suit?

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Suit?

Jersey, skates, etc.

Do you really think ice hogs are born wearing Canes sweaters?

 

[the halleJOKEL]

george is a nice dude

i was definitely surprised he remained as stormy for as long as he did. that's a lot of time to dress up like a skating pig

 

[tarheelhockey]

Jersey, skates, etc.

Do you really think ice hogs are born wearing Canes sweaters?

I feel so naive. It never even occurred to me that he’s a regular pig who puts on the jersey and skates for show.

 

[Highest Boss]

So what's the new mascot going to be?

 

[the halleJOKEL]

tom dundon

 

[Chrispy]

I feel so naive. It never even occurred to me that he’s a regular pig who puts on the jersey and skates for show.

Dundon is clearly showing his business acumen. Why hire a person to train the pig to skate when spiders work so much cheaper?

 

[The Faulker 27]

So what's the new mascot going to be?

A sad face tear drop.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

So what's the new mascot going to be?

A poop emoji