My Special Purpose
Registered User
- Apr 8, 2008
- 8,151
- 21,787
Any analysis of Francis' mark on this franchise is decidedly premature. Ridiculously so.
I don't see why. There are three main ways to construct an NHL team. Drafting, trades and free agency. Francis was evidently not even aware of two of those areas. IMO, in the salary cap era, rebuilds should be no longer than three years. You can do two or three things at once, because of the nature of the cap. Francis was only ever focused on one thing. There are a bunch of examples of teams that dipped for a year or two then came right back. We didn't, in large part because Francis ignored the here and now, which is simply not necessary in a salary cap world. Good GMs have short-term, medium-range and long-term plans. Francis only ever had the long-term plan.
IMO, his mark on this organization is barely a dent. He treaded water for four years. End of story.