‘Disappointed’ by NC sports gambling vote, Waddell says Canes in ‘good shape’ with goalies

It’s the time of the year when Don Waddell has a lot on his plate, so to speak, and many ways to fill his time.

As president and general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, Waddell has player contracts to negotiate and personnel decisions to be made. The NHL draft is coming up in early July, quickly followed by the start of NHL free agency.

Waddell was at a presentation Wednesday morning at the Centennial Authority meeting, listening to the proposed renovations to PNC Arena, where the Canes play. He said he liked much of what he heard.

What Waddell did not like was the state’s General Assembly not passing an online gambling bill last week. The Canes would like to include a sportsbook into the arena plans, providing additional revenue for the team.

“Obviously we’re hoping to get some movement going in the other direction and there’s been lots of talk about it,” Waddell said Wednesday. “I think gambling is coming to all 50 states, eventually, because of the tax revenue. I’ve always said if we don’t think there’s gambling going on in North Carolina we live under a rock.

“Think what you can gain out of it. You gain tax revenue and you also get control of it. It’s just like the lottery, which is run by the state. You don’t see much difference from it. The state controls it and runs it.

“So we’re disappointed but we’re also optimistic that we’ll see it in the near future. We’ll be ready to go once it gets approved to move forward.”

Hurricanes free agency priorities

A more pressing matter for now is deciding on the Hurricanes’ free agents and dealing with their representation. The Canes’ unrestricted free agents include forwards Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter while defenseman Tony DeAngelo and forward Martin Necas are restricted free agents.

On Trocheck and Niederreiter, Waddell said, “I think both players want to be here but both are at the point of their careers where they don’t know how many contracts they have left and they want to make sure what all their options are.”

As for DeAngelo, Waddell said, “We definitely want Tony back.”

Waddell said the Canes’ priorities in free agency – hinging on who is re-signed and who isn’t – would be adding a forward and a defenseman. He noted the free-agent pool for forwards would be bigger and better than for defensemen.

Waddell said the Canes were in “good shape” with goalies Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, with Pyotr Kochetkov as a third option after his solid play as a rookie this past season. A year ago, Waddell completely reshaped the Canes’ goaltending, trading away Alex Nedeljkovic while Petr Mrazek and James Reimer both left in free agency.