Waddell took over behind the Atlanta bench for 10 games in 2002 before hiring Bob Hartley as the team's full-time coach.

Startups a Waddell specialty
By John McGourty | NHL.com
Dec. 2, 2004

Atlanta Thrashers General Manager Don Waddell is uniquely qualified to mastermind an expansion franchise. After all, this is his fourth such experience and he's had great success.

Waddell was a highly scouted defenseman for Detroit Red Wings' owner Mike Ilitch's Little Caesar's teams when he accepted coach Rick Comley's offer to join Northern Michigan's new Division I hockey program in 1976. There, Waddell was the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's co-Player of the Year in his sophomore year and the Wildcats played North Dakota for the national championship in his senior year. The majority of Division I schools have never played for the championship yet NMU got there with its first class!

"Don was an elite player, one of the best players in college hockey and one of the best players to ever play here," said NMU coach Walt Kyle, a 1980 teammate and a former NHL assistant coach with the New York Rangers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. "He had a flair about the way he played that very few people have. Don had the courage to do things the way he wanted to. He wasn't a prototypical defenseman who played by the rules. He was dynamic and not afraid to take chances."

"We started as freshmen with one sophomore," Waddell recalled. "We grew together and added some guys and eliminated some players. We lost to Doug Smail and the Fighting Sioux in 1980. I was fortunate to go there as a freshman and play. At the bigger schools, I don't how much I would have played. Plus, I got to play in the first-ever World Junior Championships and again the next year."

Waddell broke his ankle at the start of his junior season and missed nearly half the year. He had never been injured before and it continued to cause him problems. He played only half of his first two professional seasons, including one game in 1980-81 with the Los Angeles Kings, his only NHL contest. Seems the Kings had their eye on another rookie offensive defenseman, Larry Murphy, who went on to a rookie defenseman scoring record and a Hall of Fame career.

Waddell nearly made the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but for another bout with injury. The Olympic dream cost him his chance to captain NMU. Comley was rooting for Waddell, despite knowing it could cost him his best player.

"Rick wanted him to focus on the player he could be," Kyle said. "They always had a good relationship. Rick understood what kind of player Don was and let him do those things. Don always followed rules and was a good team guy, but he was not afraid to confront Rick privately.

"Because he had a chance to play for the Olympic team, Rick named Steve Weeks, Tom Laidlaw and me as captains. It would have been Don instead of me if Rick knew he'd be here. You should have seen Don here. If the NHL were 30 teams then, no doubt he'd have been in it. He played ahead of his time, a Brian Leetch-type player who would get the puck and go with it. I never saw anyone run a power play as well. He was elite at playing the half-ice game, timing passes, knowing when to shoot. His mind was ahead of everyone else.

"I worked for Don at San Diego and learned a lot, but the biggest thing I learned was I knew I wasn't a great player and I wanted to coach," Kyle continued. "I learned from Don that great players don't have to conform to a mold of a position. Don never put limitations on himself. He was the best because he just loved to play."

Former NHL goaltender Darren Eliot has the painful memory of Waddell scoring the winning goal against his Cornell team in the 1980 NCAA semifinal.

"I remember him scoring on me on a backhand in the final four in Providence in 1980," Eliot said. "Don was a senior and I was a freshman. I include this detail to point out how much older Don is!

"It turned out to be the winner in Northern Michigan's 5-4 win over Cornell. Other than that, he was a smart, offensive-minded playmaker from the blue line."

"A top-shelf backhand by the way," Waddell said when told of Eliot's dig. "I blocked a shot at our blue line and had a semi-breakaway. I cut in and went to my backhand. I'll have to dig up the film and show him when he gets cocky."

Waddell won the International Hockey League's Governor's Award the next season as the top defenseman, a trophy also won by Carl Brewer, Bob McCammon, Darren Veitch, Larry Goodenough and Bill Houlder. The NHL dream was slipping away so Waddell signed as the IHL Flint Spirits' player-assistant coach in 1987-88. Talk about leading by example: Waddell had 17 goals and 58 assists in 71 games. John Cullen led that team in scoring and Ray LeBlanc was in net.

Waddell took over as head coach the next season, then was hired as the GM of the San Diego Gulls. There, he hired coaches Mike O'Connell, now Boston Bruins GM, Harold Snepsts, Rick Dudley and Kyle. Waddell then helped launch the IHL's Orlando Solar Bears, a team that not only broke IHL attendance records, but played for the championship, the Turner Cup, in its first year and won the title the next.

Kyle worked for Waddell and Weeks is with him as assistant coach in Atlanta. Waddell says it's not just loyalty. He knows the character of the men.

"Walt coached one year in San Diego and that led to working for the Mighty Ducks," Waddell said. "I've always said it's hard to hire friends because people look at it closely. They have to be very good at their job. Steve was goaltending coach, but we've turned him into an assistant coach. They're both good people. If you surround yourself with good people who work hard, you're going to have success."