Hurricanes cutting ties with Ron Francis may open door to modernize front office

The Carolina Hurricanes could benefit from their front office shakeup.

There’s no question that Ron Francis will go down as one of the best players ever to don a Carolina Hurricanes uniform. Unfortunately, that has little bearing on his ability to lead the club as either a coach or general manager.

The Hurricanes elected to completely cut ties with the Hall of Fame Player in a controversial move. Many Hurricanes fans believe that Francis deserved more time due to his tenure with the organization. The reality is that Carolina couldn’t afford to leave Francis in charge any longer.

The ‘Canes haven’t made the playoffs since the 2008-09 season. That’s a very long time for a league that prides itself on parity. Perhaps Francis will still be on the job if his moves from last summer had worked out. Instead, the signings of Scott Darling, Justin Williams and Marcus Kruger failed to deliver a postseason appearance.

The signing of Darling may have been the true death knell for Francis. He’s been a complete disaster since signing a four-year, $16.6 million deal with Carolina. His play was so bad that the Hurricanes were forced to go back to former starter Cam Ward in goal. Darling’s 3.18 goals-against-average made the choice pretty easy for the team.

Now, the Hurricanes must shift their attention towards attracting the most capable general manager. In all likelihood, that person won’t arrive in Raleigh with nearly the same sort of credentials as a player that Francis possesses.

That’s all right, because NHL general don’t need to be Hall of Fame players to be successful. That’s a nice benefit for the fans, but it doesn’t mean anything if they don’t have the technical acumen to excel in building a team. Carolina must focus its search on finding a new GM that can usher in a new era in the team’s front office. An increased focus on analytics could certainly help the organization end their playoff drought.

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In the end, Ron Francis is an excellent player who had few peers on the ice. Unfortunately, he didn’t make a very good GM. Carolina’s tough decision to part ways with Francis could usher in an era of better teams for the playoff-starved fan base.