E.L. wrote:
Ron Francis named first GM for the upcoming Seattle franchise.
Hard to say what he did right and wrong during his time in Carolina. They slagged him on his way out, but that doesn't mean anything.
What I think gets missed is that his measured, conservative approach was largely dictated by Karmanos, who apparently ran into some financial difficulties in recent years.
Arguably the Canes under his leadership did a stellar job of incorporating analytics into their front office decision-making process, and also snagged a guy who may be the best analytics guru in the business in Tulsky, though an argument could be made that Francis arrived in Seattle with someone who may be better already there in Alexandra Mandrycky.
I think the problem was that when Ronnie Franchise DID go out on a limb, it blew up in his face spectacularly. The Scott Darling signing, more than any single move, sealed his fate. The Rask signing was a huge mistake that Waddell very adeptly turned into a huge win by dumping that awful deal on Minnesota for a legit scoring line forward. And lastly, the Faulk extension looked like a very savvy move at the time, and his production the next three seasons was good. But it looks like he plateaued and is regressing badly, don't know what happens to him now, but it's the final year of that deal and he has limited control over where he goes. TBH, even with the flaws in his game he's still a RHD who put up 11 goals just last season, there is surely still a market for him...maybe in Seattle.
Even a couple minor moves that were relatively safe (Marcus Kruger) just didn't work.
We never really got to see Francis work without financial constraints, and it's possible he has learned from his mistakes. In some ways he's the perfect guy for this job as it seems pretty clear they're not going to enjoy the ridiculous windfalls the Vegas franchise landed in their first year, but it should still be a relatively competitive team and can build toward the future properly.