Entering just his third season in charge of the team, Carolina Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis has already had a successful tenure. He has committed to building a young team for the long haul from the back end out, drafted young players such as Haydn Fleury, Noah Hanifin and Sebastian Aho, and overseen the development of current players such as defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce and center Victor Rask.
Francis has made smart trades that included selling players on expiring contracts for extra draft picks and prospects — moves that allowed him to make more trades to build the franchise, such as acquiring young forward Teuvo Teravainen from the Chicago Blackhawks. He also chose the right person to lead his players in head coach Bill Peters, who led the team to a 15-point improvement in the standings.
It is easy to see that Francis is trying do things the right way. Team owner Peter Karmanos Jr. evidently agrees, as he announced Aug. 30 that the Canes have extended Francis’ contract through the 2018-19 season.
“Ron has rebuilt our organization the right way, stocking our team and system with young players who will help this franchise compete for the Stanley Cup year in and year out,” Karmanos said. “I’m thrilled that he will continue to see the job through. The future is very bright for the Hurricanes in Carolina.”
For Francis, it’s an opportunity to continue the strong work he has started as the team’s general manager.
“I’m very much excited about it,” Francis said. “I appreciate the fact that [Karmanos] was willing to give me an extension. I think we’re, as a management team, coaching staff and organization, going in the right direction, so it’s exciting to have the opportunity to continue that and see it get better and better as we move forward.”
Francis’ moves throughout his tenure so far have all reflected his vision of building this team for the long haul, a vision Francis said this extension does not change one way or another.
“I tried to approach the job from day one with the same approach, to try and make ourselves better everyday and do the things that are right for the organization short-term and long-term,” Francis said. “It’s nice to have the extra years and security, but it wouldn’t have changed my approach one way or the other as to what we were doing.”
When asked about his biggest challenge in this job thus far, Francis was quick to answer.
“I think any GM will tell you the biggest thing is sort of managing the expectations,” Francis said. “You try to manage the expectations of your fans, your own organization, your owner. At times I’ve had that conversation with Mr. Karmanos; about a month or so ago he said ‘You don’t seem to be as excited about this team as I am,’ and I said ‘Pete, part of my job is managing expectations, yours included.’”
Francis made it clear that while the team has plenty of potential this season, it is important to remember that its youth will be a big factor.
“I think we’ve done a lot of good things,” Francis said.”We’re still very young, and there’s always that risk with young players, how they’re going to respond. Some of our young guys, we’re expecting them to take another step in their development moving forward; we need them to do that to be successful. Other guys we’ve brought in that are young we’re hoping can sort of blossom here in our system and our structure with more opportunity. There’s always that challenge of kind of managing the expectations and making sure people are seeing things in the right light.”
One of the biggest signs of the positive work Francis has done is the changing perception of the Hurricanes around the league.
“I think the organization has a lot to offer,” Francis said. “I think living in this market has a lot to offer. I know in conversations I’ve had with numerous agents over the past four or five months that the comment that I’m hearing is that when players have limited no-trade clauses, maybe in the past we were a place they didn’t want to go, but now that’s not the case. Now we’re a place that they’re more than happy to go to. They see the direction the organization’s going in and the young prospects. They play against us so they know how hard we are to play against every night. I take that as an encouraging step in our development.”
The Carolina Hurricanes are a team headed in the right direction. The team’s youth and promising prospects at all positions sets up for a very bright future. Thanks to Francis’ contract extension, the man responsible for bringing such promise to the team will be able to continue doing so.
