FRANCIS GETS ‘BLANK CANVAS’ IN SEATTLE
Fans shouldn’t expect newly minted GM to deliver Vegas riches any time soon
When it comes to ranking the most challenging jobs in the NHL, none really compare to what Ken Holland is currently facing in Edmonton.
Yes, the Oilers GM has Connor Mcdavid and Leon Draisaitl.
But he also has an impatient fan base, a roster that is anchored by immovable contracts and an unrealistic expectation that he will be able to somehow turn things around — and do it quickly — before the kids get too old. Well, Holland just got company. Good luck, Ron Francis. You’re going to need it.
The Hockey Hall of Fame forward, who on Thursday officially was named general manager of Seattle’s as-yet-to-be-named NHL franchise — “potentially the most important hire we will ever make,” CEO and president Tod Leiweke said — is going to have his hands full. Maybe that’s why he was hired well in advance of when the team actually enters the league in 2021-22.
Francis is going to need that entire two years if he’s going to figure out just exactly how to hoodwink rival GMS in the same manner Vegas’ George Mcphee did two years ago. That’s the unrealistic expectation in Seattle right now. That the Seattle Krakens or Metropolitans or whatever they’re called will enter the league and, like the Golden Knights, instantly become Stanley Cup contenders as soon as they step onto the ice.
It’s that expectation that might have scared away potential candidates, such as Holland. And it’s one that Francis, who never even made the playoffs during his four years as the Carolina Hurricanes GM, is well aware of.
“I used to joke you want to be the second GM in Seattle, based on what Vegas did,” Francis said laughing during Thursday’s news conference in Seattle. “Honestly, it just became ‘why now?’ It’s a fantastic opportunity. We’ve got a blank canvas. Sure it’s a daunting task and a lot of work, but it’s a unique challenge that you don’t get every day. Not every sports team starts from scratch.”
According to Leiweke, Francis’ biggest strength is his patience. If Seattle fans are smart, they should adopt that same trait.
This isn’t the next Vegas. Chances are Seattle won’t reach the Stanley Cup final in Year 1. Like most expansion teams, the team probably won’t even qualify for the playoffs.
Make no mistake: Mcphee and the Golden Knights did not make things easy for Francis — or any other GM currently working in the NHL. It used to be that expansion franchises were afforded time and patience to get things going. Not any more. Vegas changed that — and not just for expansion teams.
Once Vegas entered the league and recorded a 109-point season in Year 1, team owners began to look inward and ask why it was taking so long for their own teams to achieve something similar.
Part of the reason why Francis was ousted in Carolina was because he was too patient. He slowly drafted and developed players and refused to make that big trade that might have fasttracked the team into a playoff berth. The team he helped build ultimately reached the Eastern Conference final this year, but by then Francis was gone.
In Seattle, Francis will be charged with everything from hiring a coach to helping to pick the team name. But his main priority is the expansion draft and putting together a roster that can compete with the best in the league.
It’s a daunting task. There is no magic blueprint for success,, although there are a ton of examples on how to do it the wrong way.
Even with Mcdavid and Draisaitl and a handful of No. 1 overall picks, the Oilers have made the playoffs just once in the past 13 years. The Hurricanes had missed in each of the previous nine years before finally getting to the conference final this year. The good news is that the Seattle franchise will have all the same advantages that Vegas had when it comes to the expansion draft. But the bad news is that they won’t have the advantage of taking other teams by surprise.
It’s a unique challenge that you don’t get every day. Not every sports team starts from scratch.
With Vegas, the Florida Panthers, meanwhile, traded Reilly Smith so the Golden Knights would select Jonathan Marchessault rather than Alex Petrovic or Nick Bjugstad. The Minnesota Wild did the same, electing to trade Alex Tuch so that Erik Haula would come off their roster instead of Mathew Dumba.
Don’t expect those same mistakes to happen again. Teams won’t be able to protect everyone on their roster. But they should know what’s coming, so expect rival GMS to have all their ducks in a row before the 2021 expansion draft, or at the very least to simply hand over players rather than make costly side deals that also include draft picks and prospects.
Perhaps it is why Leiweke said that he was confident Francis would “ultimately guide us to a Stanley Cup.”
The key word being “ultimately” — not “immediately.”