News and Notes XXII: Now With More Finnish!

[DougieSmash]

Will Hawks trade Shalunov?

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

No lie, I didn't know that.

I had forgotten until seeing him on stage at the draft.

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

The mystery goalie signing will be Cam Ward.

 

[jrcanesfan30]

I used to work at the country club Ron Francis is a member at and my friend asked him today after his round of golf what he thought about the Mrazek move and he claims Francis said, "I really don't think you want to know my opinion about anything with that organization."

 

[The Stranger]

2018-2019 salary floor and cap are $58.8M and $79.5M (6% increase) respectively.

The Canes currently sit at $58.3M with 17 players signed.

They now have their two goalies.

Only remaining RFA to sign is TVR.

2017/18 Canes cap hit was $60.8M.

Over/under for 2018/19 Canes cap hit - $64.4M (6% increase matching cap increase).

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I used to work at the country club Ron Francis is a member at and my friend asked him today after his round of golf what he thought about the Mrazek move and he claims Francis said, "I really don't think you want to know my opinion about anything with that organization."

Tell your friend to tell Ron to go f*** himself.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Tell your friend to tell Ron to go **** himself.

No, it's alright. My cousin's dentist's sister knows the dogwalker for Ron Francis and he told him that he was just joking with that poster's friend.

 

[What the Faulk]

It's certainly not going to be popular, but I wonder if -- IF -- this team turns it around soon, and Darling is some part of that, people start to look back on Francis' time here like Sam Hinkie and possibly Sashi Brown. He's definitely at fault for sitting on his hands too much (and part of that could be working with an owner that didn't want to spend money (see JR's willingness to spend after escaping PK's grasp)), but he had acquired good players. Ron Francis became GM in 2014 and brought in/drafted: Fleury, Nedeljkovic, Foegele, Hanifin, Aho, Bean, Gauthier, Saarela, Kuokkanen, Necas, McKeown, Teravainen, TVR, and was in a slightly different role when guys like Slavin and Pesce were brought in. I don't think he was the right guy to put them over the top, but this team was in far worse shape before he really started remaking the roster.

 

[Canes]

Weren't the 76ers routinely criticized by fans and media alike for tanking several years to get top draft picks? Francis actually tried his best to ice a good team most of his tenure here, just he couldn't do it for whatever reasons. So the two teams aren't really similar in that regard.

Also I don't see us going to the conference finals or finishing in the top 4 of the conference anytime soon either.

A lot of those players you named are unproven still as well, so I'm not really seeing the comparison myself. I guess if you extend the success window for the Canes out a few years more than the Sixers, a comparison could eventually be made. But then again, NBA basketball is like my 4th or 5th favorite sport so I'm not the best person to ask.

 

[cptjeff]

Weren't the 76ers routinely criticized by fans and media alike for tanking several years to get top draft picks? Francis actually tried his best to ice a good team most of his tenure here, just he couldn't do it for whatever reasons. So the two teams aren't really similar in that regard.

Also I don't see us going to the conference finals or finishing in the top 4 of the conference anytime soon either.

A lot of those players you named are unproven still as well, so I'm not really seeing the comparison myself. I guess if you extend the success window for the Canes out a few years more than the Sixers, a comparison could eventually be made. But then again, NBA basketball is like my 4th or 5th favorite sport so I'm not the best person to ask.

Yeah, in the 'dark days' of JR, we had a lot of prospects that we were all very convinced would be impact players at the NHL level. Just one more year of seasoning in juniors, just one more year in the AHL- and oh look, Drayson Bowman isn't a thing anymore and NHL 50 goal scorer-to-be Chris Terry is a scrub.

I really don't buy into the the team was in horrific shape and Francis fixed it narrative. Where the rubber hits the road, Francis didn't improve this team's record one iota. He drafted guys like Roy and Gauthier that we all get very excited about but will never play any significant role in the NHL, for the Canes or anyone else. Yeah, he found some hits like Aho. Yeah well, JR found Faulk in the second too. Slavin and Pesce were drafted under JR, not Francis. End of the day, this is about results, and the one major move Francis made, the Darling signing, was a clusterf*** of epic proportions.

 

[BrindAmours Army]

This is the event image for all of next season's games that have been posted on Facebook so far.

It's obviously a message sent by Aho. Solidarity. If Faulk and Skinner get moved, we have to move him too.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Yeah, in the 'dark days' of JR, we had a lot of prospects that we were all very convinced would be impact players at the NHL level. Just one more year of seasoning in juniors, just one more year in the AHL- and oh look, Drayson Bowman isn't a thing anymore and NHL 50 goal scorer-to-be Chris Terry is a scrub.

I really don't buy into the the team was in horrific shape and Francis fixed it narrative. Where the rubber hits the road, Francis didn't improve this team's record one iota. He drafted guys like Roy and Gauthier that we all get very excited about but will never play any significant role in the NHL, for the Canes or anyone else. Yeah, he found some hits like Aho. Yeah well, JR found Faulk in the second too. Slavin and Pesce were drafted under JR, not Francis. End of the day, this is about results, and the one major move Francis made, the Darling signing, was a cluster**** of epic proportions.

It says everything that the list of big time players that we acquired over years of losing and drafting amounts to: Fleury, Nedeljkovic, Foegele, Hanifin, Aho, Bean, Gauthier, Saarela, Kuokkanen, Necas, McKeown, Teravainen, TVR. Half of the players on that list have done jack **** in the NHL and several of them are tracking to be negligible at best.

 

[Svechhammer]

Weren't the 76ers routinely criticized by fans and media alike for tanking several years to get top draft picks? Francis actually tried his best to ice a good team most of his tenure here, just he couldn't do it for whatever reasons. So the two teams aren't really similar in that regard.

Also I don't see us going to the conference finals or finishing in the top 4 of the conference anytime soon either.

A lot of those players you named are unproven still as well, so I'm not really seeing the comparison myself. I guess if you extend the success window for the Canes out a few years more than the Sixers, a comparison could eventually be made. But then again, NBA basketball is like my 4th or 5th favorite sport so I'm not the best person to ask.

Since you asked about the Sixers, as someone who is a Philly fan (loved the Flyers before the Whale moved... still like them) I can speak toward the Sixers a little. The goal of "The Process" was 3-fold.

First, lose early and lose often. Game the system to maximize your odds at guaranteeing yourself as high a pick as possible, so even if you don't win the lottery, you still have the highest available slot after that.
Second, jettison everyone that you don't see as being a part of the long-term solution to the problem. Collect as many draft picks as possible with the intention of using those picks to trade up for more lottery balls.
Third, once you have acquired a core you're happy with, you should be good enough to be an attractive destination for Free Agents.

This worked in Philly because, contrary to what ESPN whined about, the fans bought in early and saw a legitimate blueprint for success. They had a team that was stuck in mediocre hell (much like the current Canes or the current Hornets) that was never going to improve. They blew it up, went through 5 seasons of basketball misery and came out with one of the quickest turnarounds in recent sports. If you go all in with a direct plan, this can work, you just have to be willing to eat a few years of horrible revenue losses before the wins come. The fans in Philly never really had a problem with what they were doing, all of the criticism came from the media around the league who didn't appreciate a team intentionally being bad for the long game of being good. It worked, and now you're seeing other franchises start to try the same because the results speak for themselves. (and don't listen to the people who say that the Celtics did it better. Easy to rebuild quick when you build it on trading away Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and a couple others for 4 1st round picks of a team that ended up being horrible. They started with the kind of good assets that Philly was devoid of).