Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Change surrounds the Chicago Wolves.
For one of the AHL’s most successful franchises of the past two decades, the 2024-25 season will bring a restored NHL partnership and a dramatically revamped roster.
After a one-year separation, the Wolves and the Carolina Hurricanes are back together. Hurricanes associate general manager Darren Yorke has been appointed GM in Chicago, and Cam Abbott will be behind the bench as Carolina – whose affiliates won Calder Cup championships in 2019 and 2022 – will be able to operate their own AHL operations after having to scatter their prospects last season.
A native of Sarnia, Ont., the 40-year-old Abbott has spent most of his hockey career in Europe, the rare AHL head coach with neither previous playing experience nor previous coaching experience in the sport’s top development league. It’s a challenge that Abbott awaits with eagerness.
The Cornell University product played one season in the lower minors of North America before heading overseas in 2007. Abbott played in Norway and Sweden before seven seasons as the highly regarded head coach of Rogle BK in the Swedish Hockey League. He was named the SHL’s coach of the year in 2021-22 when he led Rogle to the Champions Hockey League title.
The Hurricanes have an influx of promising prospects who could land with the Wolves come this fall, and they will be counting on Abbott to help turn that youth into NHL talent. While Abbott was stationed in Sweden, he still kept a close eye on North America. The Hurricanes and head coach Rod Brind’Amour caught his notice.
“I’m a really big fan of Carolina and how they play,” Abbott said. “[I have] a lot of admiration for Rod and his staff and what they’ve been able to do there. I feel they play exciting hockey. They play smart hockey. They are very connected, and it’s so obvious how the whole group in Carolina is committed to team-first, responsible… yet still offensively motivated as well. I think it’s really fun hockey to watch as a fan and to understand as a coach.”
Abbott also brings the first-hand knowledge of what it is to go far afield to pursue one’s career goals.
“You can take things for granted when you’re inside an area of comfort, and when you’re forced outside of that you have to adapt and understand things are different,” Abbott said. “No better, no worse at times. Just different. And I think that’s allowed me to have a very full appreciation for the situations that some of the players [are in]. They’re young men, but they’ve got a lot of needs as well. I’m hoping to bring some of that understanding to Chicago.”
It will be Abbott’s job to help a lot of new – and young – faces mesh on and off the ice and come together as a team.
“What a great opportunity,” Abbott said. “What a great challenge.”
TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has been on the American Hockey League beat for nearly two decades for outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM! Sports, and was most recently the co-host of The Hockey News On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.