Canes owner Peter Karmanos selected for Hockey Hall of Fame

Peter Karmanos Jr. always will be remembered in North Carolina as the man who brought a National Hockey League team to the state, sold the sport, convinced people it could be successful and won the 2006 Stanley Cup.

But Karmanos was selected Monday to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto for his 40-year involvement in the sport. The Hurricanes’ chief executive officer and owner will enter the Hall in the category of Builder, defined as an individual who has contributed to the game of hockey and moved the game forward.

Karmanos, 72, has made a significant impact in youth hockey, creating the Compuware Youth Hockey Program in the Detroit area and owning Ontario Hockey League teams. He has owned an East Coast Hockey League team, the Florida Everblades, as well as the Hurricanes, winning championships and producing a host of players who reached the NHL.

“He has dedicated a significant portion of his life, and a lot of money, to growing the sport,” Ron Francis, the Hurricanes’ executive vice president and general manager, said. “Through his youth programs, he has helped a lot of young people chase their dreams. He did it because he thought it was the right thing to do, not to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Builder. It’s another feather in his cap.”

Francis was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007 after a playing career that included two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins before he came to the Hurricanes as a free agent, serving as team captain and helping Karmanos and the franchise secure its niche in the local sports landscape.

The Hurricanes not only won the Cup in 2006, the first major-league sports championship for the state, but have hosted the 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend and the 2004 NHL draft.

Karmanos did ruffle a few feathers along the way. He can be as outspoken and brash as he is bold and decisive, rankling the fans of the Hartford Whalers when he moved the NHL team to Raleigh in 1997.

“He’s not a quiet owner, as many know, and he is a very active owner,” Hurricanes president Don Waddell said. “What makes it all the better is his passion for the game, his passion to win.

“To look at all the levels he has been involved in, from the youngest level to the highest level in the sport, it’s remarkable. There aren’t many places you can go in the hockey world where they don’t know Peter Karmanos. He’s done it all.”

Carolina reached the Stanley Cup final in 2002 with a hard-working team led by Francis that eventually lost to the Detroit Red Wings in five games. Two members of that 2002 Red Wings teams will be inducted into the Hall with Karmanos: defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and forward Sergei Fedorov.

Karmanos tried to acquire Fedorov in February 1998, extending a six-year, $38 million offer sheet that the Red Wings matched. Karmanos and Wings owner Mike Ilitch have been longtime rivals in the Detroit area and in the NHL.

Asked Monday what might have happened had the Wings not matched the offer, Karmanos said, “We would have won another Cup.”

Also in the class of 2015 are defenseman Chris Pronger, who was a member of the Edmonton Oilers team that lost to the Canes in the 2006 Stanley Cup final; former Buffalo Sabres star Phil Housley; former Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Bill Hay, who also enters in the Builder category; and U.S. Olympic standout Angela Ruggiero in the women’s player category.

“I was curious who would be inducted into the Hall this year, then got the call,” Karmanos said. “It was like, ‘Wow.’ It was a total surprise but a nice surprise.

“Giving kids the chance to play at the highest level has been a labor of love for me. I think the most rewarding thing for me has been helping to change the perception about U.S.-born hockey players. That was one goal I’ve had.”

Karmanos owned OHL franchises for more than 30 years, winning his first OHL championship with Windsor in 1988. A year later he founded the Plymouth (Mich.) Whalers, the first OHL franchise based in the U.S.

Among the players on his OHL teams were Justin Williams, a forward on the Canes’ 2006 Cup champions, and forward Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars. The Whalers won OHL titles in 1995 and 2007, producing 18 first-round NHL draft picks and more than 90 players who became NHL draft picks.

Among the alumni from the Compuware program were such stars as Eric Lindros and Mike Modano. The program developed 235 Division I scholarship hockey players and 14 NHL first-round draft picks.

Karmanos’ OHL franchises also produced NHL managers and coaches, including Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford; former Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice, now coach of the Winnipeg Jets; San Jose Sharks coach Peter DeBoer; and Hurricanes assistant general manager Mike Vellucci.

Karmanos has received several major awards, including the Lester Patrick Award for outstanding service to hockey in the United States, the Bill Long Award (outstanding contributions to the OHL) and the USA Hockey Distinguished Achievement Award. He is a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

The Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be in November.

“This is terrific, a well-deserved honor,” said Rutherford, who served as Carolina’s president and general manager for 20 years. “Peter brought the sport to North Carolina and made it work, but I think the thing he’s most proud of is being in a game he loves and helping so many people in the game, whether it’s players, coaches, managers, parents. I’m happy this day has come for him.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Canes owner Peter Karmanos selected for Hockey Hall of Fame."