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Wild interview Hurricanes' Don Waddell for GM job |
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The list of candidates for the Wild's general manager vacancy is growing by the day.
Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell is next up, interestingly enough, since he is technically a free agent after his current contract with the Hurricanes expired on June 30th.
Another twist, of course, is that Waddell orchestrated the deal that sent Nino Niederreiter to Carolina for Victor Rask. Waddell and Bill Guerin have been added to the list that already included former B's and Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli, ex-Flyers general manager Ron Hextall, and Canadiens assistant general manager Scott Mellanby.
Craig Leipold is exploring all of the options with an open mind to narrow down the list and hire the right candidate to take this Wild team back into playoff contender mode.
There will be more candidates before the process is over and this time around Leipold is not so dead set on his choice ahead of the interview experience.
The clock is ticking as the calendar turned the page to August last week and we are only just over a month until the opening of training camp.
That has to weigh on Leipold for certain, however making the best selection is absolutely more critical.
My thinking is that the Wild will be better off moving in the direction of a fresh faced GM with an eye on the future of the league. A Bill Zito, Tom Fitzgerald, Mark Hunter, Scott Mellanby, or Bill Guerin would seem to better fit to take the Wild from the stale, vanilla team that they have been over the past decade or so.