Welcome to LWOS Hockey’s summer series. After the historic 2016 NHL Free Agency period, it’s a good time to look at the best free agent signing in the history of all 30 NHL franchises. Up next: The all-time best Carolina Hurricanes free agent signing.
Make sure to check out the previous articles in our 2016 summer series here.
The All-time Best Carolina Hurricanes Free Agent Signing
1998 – Ron Francis: Four years, $20.8 million
The Player
A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Francis began his professional career close to home, making his debut for the storied Sault St. Marie Greyhounds. After accumulating 69 points in 64 games during the 1980-81 campaign, he found a new NHL home with the Hartford Whalers, who drafted him fourth overall in the 1981 Entry Draft.
From the very beginning of his NHL career, Francis showed that he possessed the quality to become one of the all-time greats, not just in Hartford, but in the league as a whole. Following the draft, he spent nearly ten seasons with the Whalers, captaining them for more than half that span and setting nearly every offensive record in franchise history in the process. Francis found the best form of his career after being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 4th, 1991, helping them win their first Stanley Cup a mere three months after the trade. He spent a total of seven seasons with the Penguins, winning another Stanley Cup in the 1991-92 season, the Selke Trophy in 1995, and captaining the team twice.
The Team
To say that the Carolina Hurricanes were underwhelming at the time of Francis’ return to the franchise would be an understatement. After financial woes forced the Hartford Whalers to relocate in the summer of 1997, the newly formed Hurricanes came into existence in a manner befitting a Three Stooges skit more so than a professional hockey team. Although owner Peter Karmanos intended for the team to be headquartered in Raleigh, the city lacked a proper arena at the time of the move. Because of this, the Hurricanes played their first two seasons in Greensboro, 80 miles west of Raleigh. Due to the long drive, the average attendance for these early games hovered at or below 10,000 fans. What’s more, Karmanos’s initial television deal only allowed for the broadcasting of 29 of the Hurricanes’ 82 games.
Despite the rocky financial start, the newly-minted Hurricanes played well above expectations in the season before Francis’ return. Although they finished dead last in the Northeast Division that year, only nine points separated them from the postseason. Management believed that the team could overcome such a deficit, and they decided to turn to a familiar face to make it happen.
The Deal
Despite a stellar 1997-98 season with the Penguins in which he finished with 87 points and a Lady Byng Trophy, the 34-year old Francis became a free agent in the offseason. His 25 goals and 62 assists caught the eye of Hurricanes management, and they reached an agreement to bring him back into the organization that had launched his NHL career.
Although he was getting on in years, Francis was famous for his toughness and longevity, playing an average of just under 77 games per season and only dipping below 70 games in two seasons. This resilience, combined with consistent offensive production, caused the Hurricanes to sign Francis to a four-year, $20.8 million deal that would make him a Hurricane until 2002. Following this deal, Francis went on to sign yet another two-year, $11 million contract with the Hurricanes at the spry age of 39.
The Result
Unsurprisingly, the signing of Ron Francis yielded positive results immediately. In addition to the excellent play of Keith Primeau, Francis’ 52 points from 21 goals and 31 assists helped push the Hurricanes to their first winning record in 7 years, capturing the Southeast Division title in the process. As a result, the team earned its first playoff spot as a new franchise, bowing out of the first round to the Boston Bruins.
The following year, the Hurricanes moved to their newly-completed stadium in Raleigh, yet were unable to recreate the previous year’s playoff push, despite Francis’ impressive 73-point performance. During the 2000-01 season, however, the team returned to its winning ways and earned yet another playoff spot, where they lost in the first round to the defending champion New Jersey Devils. Regardless of this exit, many fans consider this series the defining point of the franchise’s early days. The Hurricanes were able to come from 3 games down and extend the series to six games, becoming only the tenth team to do so at the time. Additionally, this series generated the largest crowd in franchise history up to that point.
The magic continued into the 2001-02 season, which would become Francis’ best as a Hurricane. Building on his 77-point scoring tear, the team drove deep into the playoffs, beating the heavily favored New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs before meeting the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final. The Hurricanes won game one of the series after a Francis overtime goal, but the Wings came back to win the next 4 and claimed their 3rd Cup in six years.
The Legacy of Ron Francis
Although he never managed to win a championship with the Hurricanes, Ron Francis remains perhaps the greatest player to don a Hurricanes sweater, free agent or otherwise. Upon his retirement at the age of 40, he ranked first all-time in games played, points, goals, and assists for the franchise, records he still holds to this day. In his tenure with the Hurricanes, he served as the captain from 1999-2004 and helped turn a fledgling organization into a viable winning franchise, accumulating 344 points in 472 regular season games.
Historically, Francis ranks fifth in the NHL in all-time regular season points with 1,798; second in all-time regular season assists with 1,249; and third all-time in regular season games played with 1,731. He has four All-Star calls, two Stanley Cup rings, and as of 2007, a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Hurricanes retired his iconic number 10 in January of 2006, and he assumed the role of general manager in 2014.
Ron Francis is the best free agent signing in Carolina’s short history, and it isn’t particularly close. Through his leadership on and off the ice, as well as his amazingly consistent offensive production, he helped ensure the Hurricanes’ survival as a young organization and led them to perform well above expectations. What’s more, he has returned to the front office and looks to be building a very talented young team that could soon be making appearances in the postseason. Francis’ influence on the Hurricanes organization, both as a player and as a manager, is undeniable, and his legacy in Raleigh will only grow more over time. For these reasons, Ron Francis is the greatest free agent signing in the Hurricanes’ history, and it may be quite a bit longer before anyone takes that title from him.
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