The Hurricanes have been rumored to be moving out of Carolina for a while now, but not so fast says owner Peter Karmanos.
The ‘Canes average 12, 131 fans per game in 2015-16, and many people feel that moving the team to Quebec City could be just what the doctor ordered for the franchise. Luckily for Hurricanes fans in Carolina, Karmanos isn’t one of those people.
“The Hurricanes will not become the Nordiques and I can guarantee it,” said Karmanos (quotes have been translated by PHT), per the Journal de Quebec.
“I promise, this team isn’t going to Quebec. I’m not saying that cause I have something against Quebec, but because we have ties to this market. We have an excellent lease, I love this arena and I’m really attached to this market.”
There’s also been plenty of talk about Karmanos having gone to Quebec City to meet with Quebecor about the potential of sale of the team. Karmanos vehemently denied that and said he was “disgusted” by those rumors.
“People inform me about rumors,” said the 73-year-old. “The last time I stepped foot in Quebec was with one of my kids, who’s in his 40’s now, and he was playing pee-wee hockey at the time. As for Montreal, the last time I went was to see us play against the Canadiens was two years ago. That’s it.”
Karmanos is still looking for a local investor to take the Hurricanes off his hands, but says he isn’t in any rush to sell the team. Even if it takes a few years before he finds a buyer, he insists he isn’t open to the idea of moving the team out of Carolina to speed up the process.
“The only thing I’ll say about those people (starting rumors) is that their trying to look for a big story where there isn’t one. You’d have to ask them why they make this stuff up. It makes no sense. Who can say that they saw me in Quebec or that they saw my plane there. I haven’t been there and I don’t even have a plane. It’s totally false, but these rumors keep coming up and I’m trying to crush them. I’ve never had any contact with Quebecor. Not even once! Never!”
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