Most of our scouting department came from the RF era. Our draft record, especially in the Day 2 rounds, started to get really good starting when Francis first became the GM. Before that, under JR, the Canes had one of the worst drafting records in the NHL, which was a huge part of the decade-long playoff drought. Waddell's done a great job in keeping a good thing
going with Francis's scouts (and adding some new folks, as well), while dramatically improving in the trade and signing departments.
None of what you say is true about Francis's impact.
Francis was hired as GM in 2014:
- Current head NA scout Mike Dawson was hired in 2012
- Current Euro head scout Robert Kron was hired in 2008
- Just retired heads of scouting Tony MacDonald, Sheldon Ferguson, and amateur scout Bert Marshall have all worked for the Canes for a long time
- Canes have great 2nd/later round picks dating far back from 2014 when Francis started: Dumoulin (2009), Faulk (2010), Rask (2011), McGinn (2012), Slavin (2012), Pesce (2013), Foegele (2014), and Nedeljkovic (2014).
Who are these scouts that you reference? I can't find one in a meaningful role that Francis hired.
I believe you are confusing the quality of picks under Francis with Francis's direction of adding picks/prospects rather than handing them out like candy for minor team upgrades (the JR method). Not much changed about the actual scouting quality when Francis was GM. He gave the existing staff a chance to shine and they did.