Poll: Thoughts on Ron Francis

Thoughts on Ron Francis


  • Total voters
    60

Boom Boom Apathy

I am the Professor. Deal with it!
Sep 6, 2006
48,174
97,101
Similar poll to the Peters poll

1) Keep: He's been rebuilding under a cheap owner and has done a decent job building depth under the circumstances.
2) Unsure: Hasn't done enough, but give him a year under an owner that will spend some money to see how he does.
3) Let Go: He missed on a couple of notable 1st rounders and hasn't added enough talent. Time to move on.
 

Blueline Bomber

AI Generated Minnesota Wild
Sponsor
Oct 31, 2007
38,865
39,490
I'm willing to give Francis another year because he's done the right things on paper. Team needed a goaltender, Francis got one. Team needed a top 6 forward, he got one. Team needed some physicality, grit and experience. He got some. They haven't worked out on the ice, but it happens. Can't fault him for a player's deficiency.

I think it's harder to judge a GM than it is a coach, because a big part of their job is dependent on opposing GMs. It's easy to say "Well, this and that need to be addressed. Make a trade and fix it", but if opposing GMs aren't playing ball, it's a difficult thing to do.

What trades he has made have been in Carolina's favor as well. The Staal trade seemed minor at the time, but if I'm not mistaken, he flipped those picks for TT and Bickell in the Chicago deal. Dunno how Saarela's doing.

We'll see what happens in the off-season, and if Dundon's (hopefully open) wallet will make a difference
 

Blueline Bomber

AI Generated Minnesota Wild
Sponsor
Oct 31, 2007
38,865
39,490
I shudder to think what Francis will do with more money to spend.

More Scott Darlings, Victor Rasks and acquistions like Marcus Kruger!

If I go back into your post history, will I find your initial reaction to the Darling signing? I'm willing to bet it was like 95% of the fanbases and you were really happy/excited for the signing.
 

NotOpie

"Puck don't lie"
Jun 12, 2006
9,218
17,639
North Carolina
Francis's whiff on goalies aside, he's done a pretty good job rebuilding the team. We have depth in Charlotte that many of us feel is worthy of a call up. Our guys in the CHL are doing quite well. European players seem to be coming along nicely. He took the lowest payroll team and has seen them get more competitive every season once the rebuild began in earnest.

Sure we can point to Nylander and Ehlers and McAvoy, but that story is still being written. I'm more inclined to give GMRF more time to follow the plan he's created. He can only provide the raw materials. It's up to the coach and the players to turn the uranium into nuclear weapons.
 
Jun 21, 2016
7,216
29,654
Latvia
If I go back into your post history, will I find your initial reaction to the Darling signing? I'm willing to bet it was like 95% of the fanbases and you were really happy/excited for the signing.
He wasn't a member yet.

I'm willing to give Francis another year because he's done the right things on paper. Team needed a goaltender, Francis got one. Team needed a top 6 forward, he got one. Team needed some physicality, grit and experience. He got some. They haven't worked out on the ice, but it happens. Can't fault him for a player's deficiency.

I think it's harder to judge a GM than it is a coach, because a big part of their job is dependent on opposing GMs. It's easy to say "Well, this and that need to be addressed. Make a trade and fix it", but if opposing GMs aren't playing ball, it's a difficult thing to do.

What trades he has made have been in Carolina's favor as well. The Staal trade seemed minor at the time, but if I'm not mistaken, he flipped those picks for TT and Bickell in the Chicago deal. Dunno how Saarela's doing.

We'll see what happens in the off-season, and if Dundon's (hopefully open) wallet will make a difference
I voted give another year and pretty much agree with this.
 

tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
84,982
137,355
Bojangles Parking Lot
Francis's whiff on goalies aside, he's done a pretty good job rebuilding the team. We have depth in Charlotte that many of us feel is worthy of a call up. Our guys in the CHL are doing quite well. European players seem to be coming along nicely. He took the lowest payroll team and has seen them get more competitive every season once the rebuild began in earnest.

Sure we can point to Nylander and Ehlers and McAvoy, but that story is still being written. I'm more inclined to give GMRF more time to follow the plan he's created. He can only provide the raw materials. It's up to the coach and the players to turn the uranium into nuclear weapons.

This is where I fall as well. I think Francis has had one of the hardest jobs in the league, trying to build a long-term competitor from a team that had very little existing talent in place, no especially high draft picks to work with, the league’s lowest budget, and a market that isn’t exactly a free agent destination. You’d be hard pressed to find all of those factors present in any other NHL city.

What he’s done has been very largely successful. Not just building out the defense, but also picking up guys like Aho and Teravainen who would be good adds to a team that already has A-level forward talent in place.

His whiffs in goal are head scratchers. There’s no getting around it. But at the same time, we’re talking about whiffs on only 2 pitches. It’s not a pattern till it happens a third time, so I’m willing to wait on his next move before passing full judgment.

So on balance, while I do think the pressure is starting to build, I don’t think we put him on the hot seat just yet. He’s done a good enough job as GM, and is respected enough as a hockey mind, that he deserves at least the duration of his 5-year plan to fix what’s still broken.
 

garnetpalmetto

Jerkministrator
Jul 12, 2004
12,476
11,841
Durham, NC
Pretty much my same answer to Peters. Keep, he's got a leash longer than just a year but not too terribly much longer. Francis has had an unenviable task, first rebuilding a team whose cupboards his predecessor had left bare, then building off of that with a cheap owner who didn't have the proper investments in things like pro scouting and overseas scouting and who became gun shy when his one big gamble turned up snake eyes. I would dearly love to know how much of the issues we've come across can be laid at the feet of poor scouting resources?
 

Boom Boom Apathy

I am the Professor. Deal with it!
Sep 6, 2006
48,174
97,101
Setting aside picking apart individual draft choices, do you guys think Francis and team stress size too much over skill? I think he's only drafted 2 skaters under 6' tall (Aho being one of them) out of about 35 picks since he took over. Granted, the % of guys > 6' is much higher so maybe it's no different than other teams, but it seems like he stresses it a ton.
 

garnetpalmetto

Jerkministrator
Jul 12, 2004
12,476
11,841
Durham, NC
Setting aside picking apart individual draft choices, do you guys think Francis and team stress size too much over skill? I think he's only drafted 2 skaters under 6' tall (Aho being one of them) out of about 35 picks since he took over. Granted, the % of guys > 6' is much higher so maybe it's no different than other teams, but it seems like he stresses it a ton.

That seems kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't, though, BBA. I recall a few people's never-ending gripes about the Smurfy line-ups that Rutherford drafted/signed/iced.
 

Unsustainable

Bunch of Jerks
Apr 14, 2012
37,226
102,272
Charlotte, NC
8B322FF5-2FEF-494A-8011-E068D8BBD748.jpeg
 

Ole Gil

Registered User
May 9, 2009
5,695
8,845
I don't know where I come down on Francis.

Seeing Eric playing for 3.5x3 hurts. Darling/Lack is no bueno. And I don't like Bill Peters.

But Aho and TT are pretty great. The contracts for Slavin/Pesce seem really good. Keeping Cam looks like it was a smart move. The Williams signing was good. The depth everywhere but goal is strong.

Maybe most importantly, the only weakness I see going forward is the Darling contract. They are in a good spot with a lot of assets to fix what ails them.

Short term, I don't like where we are. Long term, I think the team is in a great spot. So I'd give him the benefit of the doubt for now. I figure the Peters era will come to an end, and then he gets a 2nd attempt to build a winner. If that doesn't work, then I think I'd rather he be gone.
 

CandyCanes

Caniac turned Jerkiac
Jan 8, 2015
7,159
24,571
If I go back into your post history, will I find your initial reaction to the Darling signing? I'm willing to bet it was like 95% of the fanbases and you were really happy/excited for the signing.

I was definitely excited about the acquisition of Darling, but at the same time I was also super skeptical that we just handed a guy with a pretty small résumé a 4 year deal.
 

My Special Purpose

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
8,151
21,787
I have two main issues, but otherwise I agree that he's done a fair job considering his considerable constraints.
  1. NO communication. For all his faults, JR would acknowledge when we needed something, and generally, tried to do something. It wasn't always smart, but it was something. RF's silence while the team bleeds out is inexcusable, IMO.
  2. He seems to be more concerned with "organizational depth" than success at the NHL level. I can think of *no* reason that Lucas Wallmark isn't a permanent part of the Hurricanes lineup, maybe Zykov, too. Or that Warren Foegele hasn't seen the NHL yet. Do we really think we're going to break them if they're not 100% ready? And how do we know they're not 100% ready until we give them a shot? The NHL team needs something. That's why we have an AHL team. I don't get it.
Regarding the Darling contract, RF seems to think he's right, without actually trying something. He's very sure of himself. He was *sure* Darling was the answer, so he signed him to an unnecessary contract. He's *sure* Wallmark, Foegele and Zykov can't help, so there's no need to try them out. He's very sure about a lot of things, without any actual evidence. I'm fairly certain the Florida Panthers were *sure* Harri Sateri wasn't the key to a playoff run, but alas ...
 

Boom Boom Apathy

I am the Professor. Deal with it!
Sep 6, 2006
48,174
97,101
I have two main issues, but otherwise I agree that he's done a fair job considering his considerable constraints.
  1. NO communication. For all his faults, JR would acknowledge when we needed something, and generally, tried to do something. It wasn't always smart, but it was something. RF's silence while the team bleeds out is inexcusable, IMO.
  2. He seems to be more concerned with "organizational depth" than success at the NHL level. I can think of *no* reason that Lucas Wallmark isn't a permanent part of the Hurricanes lineup, maybe Zykov, too. Or that Warren Foegele hasn't seen the NHL yet. Do we really think we're going to break them if they're not 100% ready? And how do we know they're not 100% ready until we give them a shot? The NHL team needs something. That's why we have an AHL team. I don't get it.
Re: #1, I'm the opposite. I hated how openly transparent JR was as I felt by putting his cards on the table so openly, it gave away a lot of his leverage. RF keeping everything close to the vest can be frustrating for fans, but I like it from how a GM operates. Lou Lamoriello is notorious for keeping a tight wrap on things and not leaking anything out to people. I understand how that can be frustrating to us as fans, but IMO, that's secondary.
 

My Special Purpose

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
8,151
21,787
Re: #1, I'm the opposite. I hated how openly transparent JR was as I felt by putting his cards on the table so openly, it gave away a lot of his leverage. RF keeping everything close to the vest can be frustrating for fans, but I like it from how a GM operates. Lou Lamoriello is notorious for keeping a tight wrap on things and not leaking anything out to people. I understand how that can be frustrating to us as fans, but IMO, that's secondary.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on the "leverage" thing. With 31 teams in the league, I just don't see how being open about what your team needs gives away anything. I wouldn't expect him to name player names, but talking about team needs and discussing what we could be looking for isn't giving away anything. It's not exactly like it's a big secret, anyhow. Everybody knows we're deep on defense, short on forwards, have plenty of cap space, and a new rich owner. It's not like Ronnie coming out and saying, "I'm looking for a top-6 center" and am hoping to get something done sooner than later, would be a shock to anyone. But it would tell the paying customers that he's not napping all day.
 

Boom Boom Apathy

I am the Professor. Deal with it!
Sep 6, 2006
48,174
97,101
So it boils down to that one of your biggest problems with him is not telling you, a fan, what he’s doing? Like I said, Lou doesn’t do that either and probably a lot of other GMs don’t as well.

If, as you said, it’s no big secret to the other 30 GMs what he needs and can offer, then Francis not talking about it to the media and fans is much ado about nothing when it comes to his job.
 

Canes

Registered User
Oct 31, 2017
24,996
69,428
An Oblate Spheroid
If I go back into your post history, will I find your initial reaction to the Darling signing? I'm willing to bet it was like 95% of the fanbases and you were really happy/excited for the signing.
You can go back and look. I wasn't here when it happened. And even if anyone did post enthusiasm about it, we're not paid to evaluate talent. I'll admit I had hopes for Darling but reservations as well. He has/had potential, but he also had some red flags. His contract was what I was worried about most. People can argue all they want about that's what it took to sign him, but sometimes the best you moves you make are the ones you don't make. We only gave up Ottawa's 3rd round pick for his rights, if he signed elsewhere it wouldn't have been a huge deal (even more so in hindsight).
We should clone him and sign the clone to be our number one center.
I like this idea. He can probably still play hockey better than he can GM, even at his age.

In all seriousness, I'm hoping he turns out to be a Kevin Cheveldayoff (another patient GM who was roasted for his timidity to make player trades before looking like a genius recently) but I won't hold my breath.

I have to give credit to Francis for drafting Aho though. To me that's his only major redeeming quality.

Not a huge Teravainen fan so to me that trade is pretty much whatever. Someone has to rack up icetime and score points. That's Teuvo to me. If he's one of your top forwards something is wrong with your forward group. Even if you're high on him, you can't expect to be able to regularly take advantage of cap situations to acquire players like that.

As for the defense, which looked good last year but is regressing this year, I'm not sure how much you can attribute to Francis anyway, when JR was actually GM when we selected everyone but Hanifin and Fleury. The jury is still out on those two. But all the sudden the defense doesn't look too hot either.

We just have way too many major problems for a team that's been rebuilding for what seems like an eternity. I don't/didn't expect us to be Cup contenders in the 3-4 years Francis took over, but I did expect to see definite improvements. And if we're talking results, there are very little improvements. Something has to give eventually.

Anyway, it's just my opinion, and obviously I'm in the minority. I don't expect many people to agree with me.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->