End of an era: Hurricanes give Maniscalco permanent TV job, cut ties with Forslund
It’s OK to be happy for Mike Maniscalco, whose solid work in the playoffs on Fox Sports Carolinas earned him the full-time job.
It’s also OK to be furious about how summarily John Forslund was disposed of, a master of the art at the top of his game and one of the Carolina Hurricanes’ longest-serving employees, currently enbubbled in Edmonton where he’s working for NBC Sports.
The Carolina Hurricanes have decided on Maniscalco as their play-by-play announcer, and while that isn’t officially official quite yet as of Thursday afternoon — a few parties still have to sign off, among other minutia — but the famously open door for Forslund’s potential return is now closed.
It’s Maniscalco’s booth alongside Tripp Tracy going forward, and presumably Abby Labar’s host desk as well, after her playoff audition went equally well.
It’s also the end of an era. An era that spans the entire history of the Hurricanes in North Carolina and beyond. Two years after Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Chuck Kaiton was shown the door, the Hurricanes’ desultory contract offer to Forslund this summer left him in the uncomfortable position of being both unable and unwilling to accept, with no closure or valediction of any kind for a true professional. With no movement from the Hurricanes, he was left dangling for three months.
That’s what makes this so difficult: Celebrating Maniscalco’s elevation almost feels in conflict with lamenting Forslund’s departure.
It’s a conundrum that goes hand in hand with admiring how Tom Dundon has turned over the roster and pushed the Hurricanes to the edge of the salary cap — resulting in the first back-to-back playoff appearances in two decades — while also shunting aside two legendary broadcasters amid constant personnel churn that has extended to the front office and even the coaching staff.
That’s the Dundon Doctrine, clear as crystal at this point: the money goes to the players on the ice. Everything and everyone else is a replaceable part.
It’s hard to believe someone as talented and distinguished and beloved as Forslund would ever fall into that second category. A big part of what made Kaiton’s departure tolerable for many fans was the knowledge Forlsund’s television call would be simulcast on radio instead. Forslund was honest in his appraisal of the team on the air and yet, at the same time, an indefatigable ambassador for it in public.
Forslund was an asset to the Hurricanes that didn’t show up on the balance sheet. As he will be again wherever he ends up, with another NHL franchise if not NBC, where he’s among the possible successors to Doc Emrick as the American television voice of the NHL.
Talk about tough shoes to fill.
But Maniscalco was solid in his temporary deputization during the playoffs this August — despite calling games from Raleigh on a monitor, no easy task — with Forslund working for NBC in the absence of a contract agreement with the Hurricanes, a situation billed as temporary at the time but permanent now.
There is, at least, some solace in Forslund’s replacement coming from inside the family, so to speak, someone fans know and trust as opposed to an outsider who had to earn that respect.
Then again, no one is more respected, in the market or in the industry, than Forslund. He deserved better than this.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 3:43 PM.
