This has been a strange off season for the Carolina Hurricanes. The two and a half months following the Canes incredible playoff run to the conference finals has been nothing short of tumultuous.

And, what’s transpired raises real questions about how owner Tom Dundon will be able to mesh his highly successful business and entrepreneurial career with the sports world.

The latest pothole in the offseason road is the status of Hurricanes President and General Manager Don Waddell, who earlier this week had an in-person interview for the G-M post with the Minnesota Wild. Now, keep in mind that Waddell was a finalist for the league’s executive of the year award after a season in which Carolina traded their way to a revamped roster that helped put an end to a decade of post season futility.

It involved the trade that brought Dougie Hamilton, Michael Ferland and top defensive prospect Adam Fox to Carolina in exchange for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. And, while only the offensively-gifted Hamilton remains from that deal, Ferland was a highly productive player for the first half of his tenure with the Canes and Fox was sent along to the Rangers for what will most likely be a pair of second round draft picks. Then, there was the January heist of Nino Niederreiter for Victor Rask — from the Wild! — and a series of roster moves that all seemed to blend perfectly as the Hurricanes posted the second best record in the NHL from mid-January on.

Was this all the doing of Waddell? Was this head coach Rod Brind’Amour working his inspirational magic? Was it a collective effort from Dundon, Waddell’s hockey operations team and Brind’Amour’s coaching staff? Was it the planets aligning to create a mystical force that carried the team to all of that success?

Probably a little of everything, is the right answer. But, there’s a far bigger picture here that we should understand.

Don Waddell’s contract expired on June 30. And, while he expressed no concerns outwardly about his status, he was the only NHL general manager who’s company key card did not include the safety net of a contract. Is this the future of the NHL for that position? Well, if so, it would take a change in the league charter which mandates that every team have a general manager under contract by September 1.

Currently, in the four major team sports in the United States, there is only one GM not under contract — other than Waddell, of course — and that’s because Jerry Jones is also the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Though, part of me would be interested in seeing Jerry hold out for a better deal with Jerry and see how that was covered by the football media.

The answer is that it probably isn’t the coming wave in pro sports. Teams who have people in place who are good at their jobs want to maintain those people in those positions. Dundon can dress this up any way he wants but this is not about freedom for his president/GM. The contract protects both sides in this case. If Waddell gets an offer from another club, a contract doesn’t prevent Dundon from letting Don do what’s best for him.

We know for a fact that Dundon doesn’t place the same value on the position of general manager as do the rest of the league. That’s why Waddell became the general manager in the first place. Dundon spoke with several candidates last spring, including the now-out-of-work Paul Fenton — for whose job Waddell is now a finalist. The story last year was that the Hurricanes were offering a fraction of what league-wide GM’s earned because Dundon’s public stance was that we’d do this as a team, by committee.

So, with the draft approaching and still no one hired to replace the fired Ron Francis, Waddell just added the GM title to that of team President and the Hurricanes went about their business. That’s a commonplace occurrence in the business world, no? Rather than hire a replacement, just have someone on staff add those duties to their list of responsibilities for little or no increase in compensation.

I’m sure we all know someone who’s been in this position, maybe you have.

I don’t know about you, but if I had an employee who soldiered on the way Don Waddell had, coming off a season like the Canes enjoyed, I’d want to keep him around a little longer. Even if it cost me a little more money on the front end, I’d at least want to extend him the courtesy of a contract for another year — at the absolute minimum. Remember, if Waddell leaves for St. Paul, Minnesota, the Canes theoretically have two openings to fill.

Now, back to the original point of this endeavor, the bigger picture. Waddell is just the latest of a rough spring/summer.

Goaltending coach Mike Bales left for the same job with the Buffalo Sabres — joining another former Hurricanes assistant, Steve Smith, who left a year ago. Remember last season how often Brind’Amour said that the decisions on their starting goalies was up to Bales? Whether true or not, that is definitely NOT the case any longer.

Mike Vellucci led the Charlotte Checkers to the Calder Cup title last year, the first time the Hurricanes’ top minor league squad won the AHL championship. He was also one of the club’s assistant general managers and an ace at developing players. He’s now the head coach of the Penguins’ AHL team. Another member of the team’s staff who left for — at best — a lateral move.

Brian Tatum, another former assistant GM, a triangle native who’d been with the organization in some capacity since arrival from Connecticut, left the team to join a local company outside of hockey.

John Forslund should have been an easy situation to tie up. The best (yes, I’m biased, but I’m not wrong) play-by-play voice in hockey today loves his adopted home, loves this franchise and would probably sign a lifetime contract if offered. But, somehow, this got to the final day of the league year before he — and partner Tripp Tracy — received a bare minimum, one-year extension.

Sebastian Aho, the team’s dynamic, star center, was lowballed in contract discussions to the point where he was willing to risk leaving the Hurricanes when he signed an offer sheet with the Montreal Canadiens. Don’t fool yourself into believing that Aho ONLY signed that to get the deal done with the Canes. There’s a reason why no other restricted free agent signed an offer sheet, and it isn’t because there’s no interest in Mitch Marner or Brayden Point or Mikko Rantanen or Charlie McAvoy or Patrik Laine or….

Did the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) allow for the Canes to try and force a below-market deal on Aho — their best player? Yes. But, is that the best way to use the system? Just because you have Jaccob Slavin on a bargain contract doesn’t mean every one of your players needs to get in line. Aho deserves to be paid what players of his ilk receive around the league. So, ask yourself what would be better for Carolina, Aho for eight years at $9.5 million annually, or five years at $8.45 and the baggage of a bitter contract negotiation in which they were told to accept the team’s insulting (my opinion) contract for eight years or play on the one-year, $1 million qualifying offer?

Sounds like it didn’t really work out in the Canes’ favor if you ask me.

And, why in the hell is Justin Williams still not under contract? We’re five weeks from the opening of training camp and Carolina’s captain still isn’t signed? This should have been wrapped up weeks ago. All Williams did last year was post his most productive season in almost a decade. Along the way, he started the Storm Surge — which created a “Bunch of Jerks” revenue stream — and helped change the culture of a club that badly needed an overhaul. Yes, he’s going to be 38 on October 4. Yes, he’s not the player he used to be when he posted 30-goal campaigns in his first tour of duty in Raleigh.

But, my gosh, this guy is the walking, living, breathing example of being a professional and is absolutely vital to the Hurricanes success. What is the hold up? This is a player — set aside everything else for a second — the Canes should be hotly pursuing. And, if you think it’s because he still hasn’t decided if he wants to come back for another year, well, I could be wrong, but I’d be shocked if he’s not playing this year. I just hope it’s in a Canes uniform.

Individually speaking, there are easy reasons for every situation ending up the way they did. National TV schedules and how the team dealt with Forslund’s absence at times, Bales got a raise, Vellucci an opportunity to be a head coach should something happen with Penguins coach Mike Sullivan — yeah, about that. Sullivan got a multi-year extension in June.

Either way, when all lumped into one big pile, the bigger picture looks less rosy. It appears that the intersection of the business and professional sports worlds isn’t quite as easily negotiated. Have you ever seen people at a traffic circle for the first time?

I’ve said this before, professional sports is a club. You can’t ridicule people you have to deal with. You can’t treat everyone like a line item. You can’t operate like you do in the business world where are no rules — or ethics — apart from the legal system.

The rest of the league is watching just as Andrei Svechnikov was paying attention as the non-negotiations with Aho were dragging along. Lose Waddell and the Hurricanes will find it hard to replace him. Lose Don and who knows who else follows him out the door. Waddell has 40 years of NHL relationships in his phone. He loves it here. He wants to continue what he’s helped create. All he really needs is a reason to stay

Right now, all he’s seeing are reasons to leave.