Is Chaos brewing for the ‘Canes?

Apr 21, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goalie Dan Ellis (31) makes a save against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Something very screwy and extremely ugly must be going down in Carolina. Yesterday, the Carolina Hurricanes organization announced that Jason Karmanos, son of owner Peter Karmanos Jr  has been relieved  of his position as the Hurricanes’ assistant general manager.  The younger Karmanos had held that position for the last fifteen seasons with the organization. Other than changing the names on the company website, very little information has come out of the home office. In fact the only open response has come from a member of the Hurricanes public relations department.

At present, Karmanos’ duties will be filled in the interim by Vice President of Hockey Operations Ron Francis and Video Scout and Hockey Operations Darren Yorke. The timing of this move comes one day after announcing their training camp scheduele, and just four days before the start of the camp. If there is a worse possible time for a shake up of this magnitude for a NHL team, it’ll be hard to find. With the organization being very tight lipped, any thoughts on the reason for the schism would be speculative.

The Bruins also have a family dynamic in their organization. The Jacobs family have been running the Bruins organization since 1975.  Jeremy’s son Charlie has been the Alternate Governor for the Boston Bruins since 2000. Unlike Carolina, the Bruins family has had a better track record of success. Charlie Jacobs was one of the key players in acquiring Cam Neely for the Presidency of the franchise and Peter Chiarelli as general manager.  If it wasn’t for the younger Jacobs, we very likely wouldn’t have seen the Bruins achieve its first Stanley Cup win in nearly forty years three seasons ago.