Ron Francis: A Better Player in Pittsburgh or Hartford/Carolina?

[Bhrangerfan0809]

Where do you think peak Ron Francis played between these two franchises?

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[bobholly39]

I mean his "peak" was probably in Pitt - but he's one of those guys who had a very very consistent career throughout.

Doesn't get talked about enough, or enough respect imo

 

[pheasant]

He played for PIT in the middle of the other two. Kinda strange to group Hartford and Carolina together.

 

[StoneHands]

2 Cups in Pittsburgh. A career high 119 points in Pittsburgh despite league-wide scoring being lower than when he was in Hartford. His 4 highest top 10 point finishes were in Pittsburgh (4th, 5th, 5th, 8th). Won a Selke in Pittsburgh along with his next two highest finishes (2nd and 4th).

The answer is easily Pittsburgh. I don't really care that Lemieux and Jagr were on those teams. If Malkin left Pittsburgh next season and put up 90 points for some other team his peak/prime years would still have been in Pittsburgh.

 

[JackSlater]

Hartford. He obviously won more when he went to a better team though, and it isn't surprising that his highest scoring season (his second highest was in Hartford) happened while centering Jagr and sometimes even Lemieux on the team that played probably the most offence oriented style in the NHL.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'd agree that he was so consistent that you can't really distinguish career stages based on his location. Per 82 games, he was a 94 point player in Hartford and a 95 point player in Pittsburgh. About 4 of those points shift from goals to assists, which is really not that big a change when you consider the context. He was the same guy, transplanted from a very bad team to a very good one.

He was 35 when he got to Carolina and the league had entered Dead Puck mode, so clearly that part of his career had a different flavor. He was much less of an offensive threat for obvious reasons, and his two-way presence and leadership became really crucial to his team's success. I don't think you can say "better player" but he kind of entered that late-career-Modano or late-career-Yzerman phase where it was more about his presence than about his production.

 

[Silky mitts]

Wow 97 games 100 pt as a Pen, 62 games 39 pt as a Whaler/Cane

 

[Regal]

I don't buy the idea that the large points disparity between his best years on the two teams can be explained by teammates alone. I've never seen a star player's totals so dismissed so easily due to it as Francis's seem to be by some. Obviously they helped, but I don't think it was enough to dismiss the totals. You look at a lot of similar smart playmakers like Oates, Ratelle, H. Sedin, etc, and they often tended to peak in their late 20s to early 30s. I think it was the same with Francis.

 

[tony d]

With the Whalers/Hurricanes. Wherever he went he was always a good player.