Ron Francis

[periferal]

Guys...

Been a hockey fan since the 1980's. I don't just follow teams, but the business of hockey, especially when it comes to ownership and management.

So what I say I don't say lightly, but the clock is ticking on Francis already. I personally hated the hire from day one and I don't think the Kraken are going to get close to a Cup as long as he's running things.

Now of course you're going to hear, "Chill out bro - The Kraken haven't even played a game yet!" But consider that Francis was GM of the Carolina Hurricanes for 5 years and they didn't make the playoffs once. During that time he only drafted 1 true impact/core player in Aho (had plenty of draft misses), and hired Bill Peters who was later accused of racism during his time under Francis.

To me the Hakstol hire was just a continuation of Francis' work with the Hurricanes. Hakstol is a nice guy, but consider in his 3.5 years as head coach of the Flyers he never finished higher than 3rd in their division and never won't a playoff series. That move along with tonight's draft sure feel like more talent was left on the table.

For those of you who don't know Francis/hockey or just want to give him a chance, of course please do. I'm just a big picture guy and I've seen enough already - And it looks like more of the same from a guy who didn't come close to winning the last time he was doing the same job. Remember that bad GMs are usually bad on day one and every day they are kept is time wasted and mistakes that will take longer to clean up by the next GM.

This is sad to me as while I'm not from Seattle I am a Seahawks fan and a fan of the city overall, so I want the Kraken to be great and ultimately win a Cup. Sadly I am sure that won't happen with Francis as captain of the ship.

Click to read more...

 

[TheeNorthStar]

If I had to grade him on this draft alone as a starting point, and forgetting that he chose Hakstol as the bench boss... he's kicking off his tenure with a D.

D- if the trades announced aren't significant or notable. Now he's put himself in a position to willing overpay for players in UFA simply because he has the means...? Yikes.

Hasn't failed yet because I will allow him a full off season and playing season to see what happens but good god -- years of "workshopping" the draft to end up with this at face value? Christ.

Edit: D- confirmed

 

[Gniwder]

If I had to grade him on this draft alone as a starting point, and forgetting that he chose Hakstol as the bench boss... he's kicking off his tenure with a D.

D- if the trades announced aren't significant or notable. Now he's put himself in a position to willing overpay for players in UFA simply because he has the means...? Yikes.

Hasn't failed yet because I will allow him a full off season and playing season to see what happens but good god -- years of "workshopping" the draft to end up with this at face value? Christ.

Yeah, so far this is a D, and I'm including Hakstol in my grade. There were better players available than expected, and yet we somehow got a worse than expected roster.

McPhee wasn't even known to be a good GM, and was crap as far as evaluating D-men but he managed to put together a much better roster. If you can't do better than McPhee, then you deserve a D.

The team is under the cap floor, so we'll see what he does in free agency.

 

[sigma six]

At first I was glad he didn't make deals, and I saw that some of the guys I liked were indeed joining the team--on D especially.
But as today wore on it started to look like nothing else was happening and that sucked, so I can only imagine the plan is now to use the money they saved today on UFAs?
We need some skilled forwards in a bad way now.

 

[DanoCanuck]

Not sure how he wowed the ownership. Not much of an engaging personality is he? He should have made an appearance, waved to the crowd and handed the PR duties to someone more energetic. Probably the play by play guy which would have been a better choice while introducing him to the fans. His performance at the draft is an F.

Ive never followed the business of hockey that much until the flat cap. It definitely got me more interested. I remember Francis as a great player and he played at a high level for a long time. Rock steady center. His only management experience ended badly is all I knew before he got hired. He certainly knows what a good hockey player looks like.

I hope his staff wasn't a big part of that crappy draft show. It had ESPN written all over it but I'm sure some was local input. Pretty cheesy and felt like a downer. I got excited seeing Weekes there but he's relegated to some lame hokey stunts meant for a stooge. That was so far below his pay grade. Ugh...

 

[King'sPawn]

As the team hasn't hit the floor yet, this isn't a complete roster. So I have to give him an incomplete grade.

Not happy with the Hakstol hiring but could be offset by the rest of the coaching staff? They seem solid.

Still - I can't give a grade so far since it's not an eligible NHL roster.

 

[Irie]

So glad he didn't waste the cap on the overpriced, aging, flawed players that teams were exposing. It is the path to quick cap hell and being a perpetual playoff bubble team.

Honestly, if he changes his mind, I am pretty positive a lot of teams would still trade the guys they exposed for future considerations to Seattle if they didn't have to take any cap back.

The expansion lists of available players were not very good. The allstar names of years ago that were available are not allstars anymore, yet they come with the allstar caphit.

The UFA list this season is slim pickings, and the good players are going to cash-in big time and all of their deals are going to look really bad in the near future.

There was no way Seattle was replicating what Vegas did. It was not possible, so get that notion out of your minds, and let them build a team that while may be lean to start, will be a contender in the near future and for years to come.

And just enjoy that there is NHL hockey in Washington

 

[Moosetache]

Francis has done in the last few weeks exactly what he did in Carolina. Never makes any splashy moves, is the most risk averse manager ever and is so freaking boring of a human being it just sucks the life out of you. I agree with the poster above, this should have definitely been handled by John Forslund.

Francis didnt make a player for player trade in his entire tenure as the Canes GM. Only player for picks trades. Its like his way of making sure he can never be seen as losing a trade, because nobody knows how to value a pick and what it becomes is far too impossible to predict. I was really hoping to become a Kraken fan as well, but Ron is just so boring it makes it hard. Hopefully something splashy is coming.

He should have figured out some way to trade for Eichel. Overpay with picks and their selections from other teams, but you have to capture the city. Had that opportunity to do that and you bored them to death instead.

 

[GM Armchair]

Doom and gloom 1 day after expansion draft. Keep up the toxic atmosphere HFBoards.

 

[Rebels57]

I had hoped Francis had changed but I knew he hadn't when he hired Hakstol.

If there aren't 5 side deals lined up to improve that Forward group he drafted, the Kraken will ice one of the worst F groups I have ever seen. On par with the 90's expansion teams that had way less favorable expansion rules to play with.

Hopefully it all makes sense after the next few days and the Kraken hit the ground running.

 

[Rebels57]

Francis has done in the last few weeks exactly what he did in Carolina. Never makes any splashy moves, is the most risk averse manager ever and is so freaking boring of a human being it just sucks the life out of you. I agree with the poster above, this should have definitely been handled by John Forslund.

Francis didnt make a player for player trade in his entire tenure as the Canes GM. Only player for picks trades. Its like his way of making sure he can never be seen as losing a trade, because nobody knows how to value a pick and what it becomes is far too impossible to predict. I was really hoping to become a Kraken fan as well, but Ron is just so boring it makes it hard. Hopefully something splashy is coming.

He should have figured out some way to trade for Eichel. Overpay with picks and their selections from other teams, but you have to capture the city. Had that opportunity to do that and you bored them to death instead.

This is Hakstol too. Together they are a Megazord of Boredom.

 

[Panteras]

It’s a bit of a weird draft. I hope the team can get together though. Never know the chemistry that they can find. But yeah I’m hoping for some UFA signings and perhaps some flips

 

[StreetHawk]

If I had to grade him on this draft alone as a starting point, and forgetting that he chose Hakstol as the bench boss... he's kicking off his tenure with a D.

D- if the trades announced aren't significant or notable. Now he's put himself in a position to willing overpay for players in UFA simply because he has the means...? Yikes.

Hasn't failed yet because I will allow him a full off season and playing season to see what happens but good god -- years of "workshopping" the draft to end up with this at face value? Christ.

I don't see him getting picks for the players he selected in terms of taking someone because a team wanted to get rid of them. Eberle, I think the rumours were him getting moved to LA before the ED. So, maybe that's what SEA does with him.

Philly selection may be the one which sets up a Voracheck trade with retention.

Seems like the only picks he will get will be from flipping a couple of excess Dmen he took. But, aside from Giodano, not a lot of experienced grizzled vets.

 

[Gniwder]

So glad he didn't waste the cap on the overpriced, aging, flawed players that teams were exposing. It is the path to quick cap hell and being a perpetual playoff bubble team.

All of the high priced players have one issue or another, but he should have taken a flyer on some of the players with shorter contracts. Price, Duchene, Johansen, etc weren't viable because their contracts are 4+ yrs, but there were some more viable options:
-Tarasenko - Shoulder injury with 2 yrs left in contract
-Domi - Shoulder injury, will probably miss half the season, 1 yr left
-JvR - Overpaid but only 2 years left
-Shattenkirk - Right handed PMD with 2 years left, only looks good on high power offensive teams
-Niederreiter - Slightly overpaid but 1 yr left

Even if they aren't in the long term plans, they could have been flipped for picks at the trade deadline. I really think the top 2 were complete misses, injuries are a part of hockey, you have to take that kind of risk to build a team. The advantage of the expansion draft is that the remaining contract is short vs having to sign an UFA for 4 - 7 years.

Even if they suck, it's only one or two years. With what Francis has put together, the team isn't going to compete for the playoffs but with higher end players you have a possible chance of selling at the trade deadline.

 

[periferal]

Doom and gloom 1 day after expansion draft. Keep up the toxic atmosphere HFBoards.

Actually most of the posts here are very measured, rational, and informed. If there's any "doom and gloom" it's coming from the moves Francis' is making.

 

[periferal]

I had hoped Francis had changed but I knew he hadn't when he hired Hakstol.

If there aren't 5 side deals lined up to improve that Forward group he drafted, the Kraken will ice one of the worst F groups I have ever seen. On par with the 90's expansion teams that had way less favorable expansion rules to play with.

Hopefully it all makes sense after the next few days and the Kraken hit the ground running.

I would manage your expectations big time.

 

[periferal]

Not sure how he wowed the ownership. Not much of an engaging personality is he? He should have made an appearance, waved to the crowd and handed the PR duties to someone more energetic. Probably the play by play guy which would have been a better choice while introducing him to the fans. His performance at the draft is an F.

Ive never followed the business of hockey that much until the flat cap. It definitely got me more interested. I remember Francis as a great player and he played at a high level for a long time. Rock steady center. His only management experience ended badly is all I knew before he got hired. He certainly knows what a good hockey player looks like.

I hope his staff wasn't a big part of that crappy draft show. It had ESPN written all over it but I'm sure some was local input. Pretty cheesy and felt like a downer. I got excited seeing Weekes there but he's relegated to some lame hokey stunts meant for a stooge. That was so far below his pay grade. Ugh...

The bolded is 100% spot on.

The scary part is that when you add everything up, ownership did hire him. What does that say about them?

 

[OG6ix]

Still a lot of Caproom - but Francis, as other posters have said, seems to be risk adverse. It's almost like he's running this franchise as if they were the cash strapped Hartford Whalers teams he was on before.

 

[Gniwder]

The bolded is 100% spot on.

The scary part is that when you add everything up, ownership did hire him. What does that say about them?

Tod Leiweke is an experienced sports executive. The job of the ownership is to hire competent managers and then let them do the job. Ownership that micromanage fail almost 100% of the time.

So they hired who they thought was an experienced, competent GM to build the team. If Francis continues on this path and shows that he's too conservative to build a Cup team then he needs to be replaced. A bit early to be discussing that though. I am disappointed that the team didn't take a shot at any top end talent.

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Tod Leiweke is an experienced sports executive. The job of the ownership is to hire competent managers and then let them do the job. Ownership that micromanage fail almost 100% of the time.

So they hired who they thought was an experienced, competent GM to build the team. If Francis continues on this path and shows that he's too conservative to build a Cup team then he needs to be replaced. A bit early to be discussing that though. I am disappointed that the team didn't take a shot at any top end talent.

I'm sure Francis will take a shot or two at some top flight talent

 

[periferal]

I'm sure Francis will take a shot or two at some top flight talent

I was sure he'd make a few expansion draft side deals, and yet here we are.

 

[Taluss]

Definitely a questionable draft with no side deals but I’ll wait until the end of the off-season to judge

 

[periferal]

Definitely a questionable draft with no side deals but I’ll wait until the end of the off-season to judge

Turn the telescope around...

What has Francis done in Carolina or so far with Seattle (horrible coach hire and lack of maximizing expansion draft rules) that warrants anyone giving him benefit of the doubt.

This isn't a 1st time GM folks.

 

[Taluss]

Turn the telescope around...

What has Francis done in Carolina or so far with Seattle (horrible coach hire and lack of maximizing expansion draft rules) that warrants anyone giving him benefit of the doubt.

This isn't a 1st time GM folks.

Fair. I have no idea about his time in Carolina so can’t comment.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Turn the telescope around...

What has Francis done in Carolina or so far with Seattle (horrible coach hire and lack of maximizing expansion draft rules) that warrants anyone giving him benefit of the doubt.

This isn't a 1st time GM folks.

Ofcourse they deserve the benefit of doubt. You think the ownership team did NOT know about Francis' past when they hired him? And do you really think the 2nd chance should extend just to the expansion draft and moves (or lack-of) made during that one event?

While I understand the frustration on the lack of moves, nobody knows the big picture that Francis has (or doesnt have). We need to give him some time to actually let his actions do the talking and see what the team looks like going into the season and more importantly performs during the season.