there's a lot to evaluate here. the idea that francis was considering resignation immediately following the trade deadline is interesting as it pertains to timing. curious what the friction was there and what side the debate each party represented. did francis want to make a last ditch effort to secure his job and pick up some talent and dundon cooled him off the idea knowing what the year end would bring? can't imagine a guy like francis staying on as a figurehead. if he felt like he was required to go through the motions for public appearances, that's a little insulting. did dundon do the opposite and say go nuts if there's a deal to be made and get frustrated when francis came back empty? it's hard to know. we might not ever know, but it's clear that francis got a not so indirect signal at some point during that process that whatever he was doing/going to do wasn't acceptable. i mentioned in a post a while back that i thought francis was safe because immediately cleaning house would look problematic and i truly believe that was the plan. i think dundon basically would have preferred to make this move at the conclusion of the season, but francis probably wasn't interested in that. when he saw what was coming down the line, francis probably wasn't keen on the idea of keeping up appearances and answering questions as if he were still making the calls. he's a company man, but that's a big ask. no idea what to make of the reassignment as opposed to firing but it's almost surprising to me that ron accepted it.
as far as francis the gm is concerned, this relationship was doomed from the start. karmanos had installed rutherford because rutherford was so.... thrifty that dumpster diving became his forte. he was able to extract a lot of value out of the less attractive free agents or the players who were being improperly utilized elsewhere. francis was a student of this because that's exactly what the owner wanted. risk aversion, limiting payroll, and trying to cobble together a roster that made some sense. this is the style of gm he was because it was the style of gm that karmanos required him to be. that isn't to pass the sins of the previous ownership off on ron, it's just face value apparent that the moves francis made were virtually identical to rutherford's approach with minor adjustments in drafting and development. talent retention being more important than talent acquisition. dundon just dropped $500 million on this team and is ready to drop more. the mark cuban comparisons won't go away and there's probably a little pride in that for him. so right away we have a problem on a fundamental level. a gm that has been so conditioned to take the path of least expense and an owner that wants a fireworks show. there was probably a lot of talk of karmanos having been so hands off the product that it was allowed to stagnate and there's probably a lot of truth to that. it also comes down to francis as a personality. knowing a lot about hockey and room dynamics isn't the entirety of the position. francis was tasked with being the frontman of this bunch and per his personality it was just a terrible fit. francis comes across as painfully thoughtful and authentic, but there's zero showman in him. there's zero pulse. nobody's butt cheeks clenched when he came downstairs, if he ever did. it's hard to recall a time where francis addressed the team after a poor effort. from dundon's experience, that probably looked more like indifference than deference to the staff in place. it's just another stylistic clash. dundon probably spent more time in the hurricanes room these past few months than francis did during his entire tenure. there's an element of me that feels like francis is more of a buddy boss and responsibility for hiring and firing was never really something he should have been required to do. it just didn't fit with his personality and style of leadership. he wanted to install people where he wanted them and then leave it alone. there's just not a lot of accountability in that approach once you recognize that your boss probably isn't going to give you a hard time for virtually anything. as cool as that idea seems, there needs to be a certain amount of fear in the power that comes with this job. francis never wielded that because it's just not in him and there have been times this club has desperately needed another voice to come down on their lackluster half ass play. francis just seemed very removed from it all and that couldn't have sat well with someone that considers themselves a micromanager that wants to be involved in every aspect of the experience. there were some great points made above by tarheel about the things that dundon immediately started doing once he arrived that he likely felt like should have already been in place. most of us have been involved with a leadership change at work and noticing when the new boss is seeing something that you all know you should have been doing before and the panic that sets in because it was never a point of emphasis for the old boss. that's the vibe that seems to be here. the concept of dundon coming in and feeling compelled to start making changes right away seems to suggest a level of dissatisfaction with the status quo and to be frank he has a valid gripe. we all have a valid gripe watching this team suffer from the same deficiencies for ten years and never have them addressed. but francis is such an affable person for the same reasons he was a terrible boss and it bought him a lot of good will with the base. that's not going to cut it for a results oriented boss who has no specific respect for ron outside of what other people have told him. in some ways he has an even clearer vision of ron's success or lack thereof than the average fan for that very reason. there are no emotional ties that want francis to be good at this because we like him so much. he just...... never did anything? when everyone was sort of curious about the duchene situation and the jvr situation and the fact that we had pieces that lined up with the needs of those teams and an absolute surplus of defensive prospects and francis did nothing at all it was such a shock to me. it could have changed the entire season to pick up one more real top six forward, but francis was so loathe to risk it that he just trotted the same group out there again hoping that incremental gains made by improving the goaltending (so he thought) and the development of the defense would be enough to not have to touch the prospects. it was a poor decision to say the absolute least and the value of some of those assets have since suffered depreciation. faulk being the primary one that leaps to mind and fleury to a degree as well. making no decision is still a decision and it was the default decision for francis. it was time for that to change.
