More on Karmanos

The Hurricanes organization was rocked yesterday by the sudden resignation of VP and assistant GM Jason Karmanos. A very vague "It's for personal reasons" was offered, and there was a ton of speculation as to what it meant to the future of Hurricanes ownership.

I speculated that it might have been due to health reasons. I speculated that it might have been due to some other venture that JK had lined up. I speculated a few other things.

In today's N&O, Luke Decock sheds a little more light on the situation. A little more.

"It's something I've been thinking about for a long time, for a variety of personal reasons," said Jason Karmanos, 33. "It's not health-related. I just decided it was time to make a change."...

Jason Karmanos, who lives in Wake Forest with his wife, Christy, and three young daughters, served in the same role as Rutherford's chief deputy for his entire tenure. He said he plans to remain in the area....

Eventually, Jum Rutherford will have to retire, and Jason Karmanos, who is only 33, seemed the obvious choice to take over. He never liked that idea, and in 2003, he said:

"I would like to be a part of making this thing work as a business," he said. "If that's the case, it means the ownership of the team stays within the family. I don't think, in my own humble opinion, having a GM who is part of or somehow tied to the ownership group makes a whole lot of sense."

It's unclear what comes next for Jason Karmanos or for the vacant position. When asked how the vacancy would be filled, Jim Rutherford said:

"I'm going to take a little bit to think about it," he said. "I'm going to walk through it as to whether we'll handle this from within or go outside. But I don't want to leave it too long. I'd like to make the decision in the fairly near future."

I think we all know what "handling this from within" means. However, I don't know if Ron Francis would want that job.

Jason Karmanos has denied any knowledge of a forthcoming sale.