I'll say one last thing about Luke's tweet. Many times, when a guy tweets something, we are left to wonder if he has direct or inside info or if it's speculation. In this case, Luke was tweeting specifically about the press conference, so we were able to listen for ourselves and not guess as to what info Luke had. It was clearly his spin on it and whether chip retweeted it doesn't change that. Francis never said top line/top 6 center.
Setting the tweet aside, of course we're going to want a better center and discuss all sorts of dream scenarios to get one. For years, Leaf fans were convinced they were going to trade for / sign Staal, Stamkos, Tavares, Getzlaf, etc... because they saw a need, just as we see a need. Problem is, in reality, it rarely ever happens. In the end, Leafs had to draft their centers and we likely will too, unless a Ryjo for Jones deal comes along. It's why Duchene is talked about so much. One can debate if he's truly a 1C, but guys with his credentials in their primes aren't on the market very often. Our depth on D is also why so many fans and media think we might do our own Ryjo/Jones type deal.
So I'm sure Francis was looking at that option as well. I agree with Bleed and said as much earlier though, that after signing Darling, Williams and getting TVR, the Canes were pretty much done. Kruger was a bit of a surprise, but not overly.