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.

 

[Dead Coyote]

I took your meaning in the point, but didn't have a lot to add as while I don't think there's a crazy high chance Francis does that (partly because he never does _anything_) there certainly isn't a non-zero chance. Look no further than the former Arizona Coyotes trading a 1st and a bunch of prospects (the one I remember off the top of my head being current Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl) for a partial season of Taylor Hall. It can and does happen.

Dude would literally argue with you that water isn't wet. Place is light years better with him blocked, just talking to you, RCH, Marquis, Fistfull, et al.

Arizona was 3rd in the conference and in like a 5 way tie for 3rd overall at that point in time with half the season left, to be fair. The trade was Merkely, who had good draft pedigree but never made it in the NHL, Bahl, who was a pretty decent piece and a 2nd round pick, Schnarr who was a 3rd round draft pick who hadn't seen any NHL time, and a conditional 1st and 3rd (top 3 protected). Hall was 2 years removed from his MVP year but had only played less than half the season. They also got Kessel that summer when he was still pretty much in his prime. Pretty different circumstances- in hindsight it was a bad move but I think that's a pretty reasonable trade at the time. Who knew they would f***ing crater after that lol.

On the topic at hand, I honestly think Francis has been okay. I have more problems with his signings in the past than now. I do think the term is a problem for Stephenson and to a lesser degree Montour but I have bigger problems with Eberle, Schwartz, and Burakovsky et al. I do wish mgmt would have just let him "tank" instead of being mediocre but whatever. I would feel a lot better about this team if we shipped most of these players out for picks and just did the Utah method of rebuilding.

That said while I don't think the culture here is a very good one, I have faith that we'll start seeing good returns on our prospects within a few years, and I think if we stay the course and get lucky (easier than you think but also easier said than done).

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Not sure how anyone would bring up Adam Larsson as a problem or mistake by Francis.

Dude has been rock solid and worth every penny of his contract.

 

[The Marquis]

Not sure how anyone would bring up Adam Larsson as a problem or mistake by Francis.

Dude has been rock solid and worth every penny of his contract.

He hasn’t been great as of late but he works super hard