Ron Francis’ future.

[Kevinsane]

I shit on Francis a lot, but it’s not exactly his fault the drafts the Kraken were gifted high picks in have proven to be historically thin and only produced a handful of top 6 players? That’s surely at least somewhat attributable to bad luck?

I concur. Not really drafts full of game breakers, and no real “that guy was available one pick after the Kraken selected!” revisionist history at play.
My issue with Francis is more with pro scouting and the term and dollars paid to bottom six players.

 

[Fuhrious]

I concur. Not really drafts full of game breakers, and no real “that guy was available one pick after the Kraken selected!” revisionist history at play.
My issue with Francis is more with pro scouting and the term and dollars paid to bottom six players.

Yeah, I even cut him some slack for the Grubauer and Oleksiak signings…maybe even the Burakovsky one…because he was trying to make a big splash that inaugural year and give the team an aura of legitimacy. Still doing that 5 years later, however…

And there’s also the fact that giving out that term implies “I know I’ll have to deal with this later in the last couple years of the contract” and he’s shown zero willingness to do that.

 

[kihei]

The Kraken have become the most uninteresting team in the NHL and maybe all of hockey. This is on Francis as he had ample opportunity with an expansion draft and high picks. Signing free agents like Oleksiak and Larsson to over payments? Jaden Schwartz? Up and down the roster just a boring team that let some good ones get away. New leadership in the management suite is overdue. I knew it would be a tough slog with a name as bad as the Kraken. Should have just called them the Seattle Hockey Club of Sasquatch.

This smacks of the kind of armchair quarterbacking that translates into a cheap shot. Who would have you taken ahead of Beniers and Evans? How about ahead of Wright? Sale seemed a reasonable risk given the circumstances. Larsson was arguably our best player the first three years. You can park mistakes at Francis' door for sure, but your criticism of him seems more smug and opportunistic than well reasoned.

 

[majormajor]

I concur. Not really drafts full of game breakers, and no real “that guy was available one pick after the Kraken selected!” revisionist history at play.

We really have no idea yet with the amateur drafting. I think they've drafted some pretty good players.

Francis drafted Marty Necas in 2017, he's only recently become a star player.