Ron Francis and Unexpected Outcomes
Although the Carolina Hurricanes’ season isn’t technically over yet, the team’s management threw in the towel two months ago with three deals:
- Danny Markov to Philadelphia for Justin Williams, on 21 January
- Bob Boughner to Colorado for a college prospect, on 20 February
- and most importantly, Ron Francis to Toronto for an ‘05 fifth-rounder, at 9 March trade deadline
…which makes the Canes’ recent runs rather intriguing. As highlighted today by the News & Observer, Carolina has gotten at least one point from its last six games, and they’ve won six of the last ten. By my count, since the Boughner trade in particular, they’re 8-3-2-2, for 20 points in 15 games (for non-hockey folks, that’s the same thing as 10-5 in the standings).
The money paragraphs in the N&O read:
It isn’t a coincidence that the Canes have played some of their best hockey since Francis was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 9.
It wasn’t that Francis was hurting the team with his play or his presence. But Francis was such a dominant personality in the dressing room that with him gone, some players have felt looser and less constrained in their behavior while others have become more vocal leaders.
The atmosphere that now surrounds the team could perhaps be described as marginally less professional but substantially more fun and considerably more youth-oriented. A large, disparate group went to see “Starsky and Hutch” together in Atlanta last week, the kind of all-hands-on-deck outing that was rare in the more sedate Francis era.
“There’s a sense of togetherness in the room right now,” Cole said. “You can definitely feel it. … You start winning games in the third period. You find ways to win.
Cole went on to credit Francis with fostering that atmosphere before he left. But don’t be fooled: it’s a pretty bold statement for writer Luke DeCock to say that the Canes are a better team without the NHL’s #4 career points (goals plus assists) man.
Yet it rings true in light of what Peter LaViolette is trying to do with the team: remake them from a stifling defensive unit that just hoped for two or three good offensive chances a game, into an exciting, end-to-end hockey club. I attended Justin Williams’s third game with the Canes, against the Islanders on 19 January. Williams is a quick-skating, opportunistic sniper — not defensively irresponsible, but he pursued the puck in ways the other Canes just didn’t. In that game, it actually seemed he was fighting with his own guy for the puck a few times, just because he covered more ice than the other players, who were still stuck in the Paul Maurice-era tight positioning, extremely disciplined offensive mindset.
I’m not seeing that kind of thing from the Canes these days when I watch them on NHL Center Ice; instead they’re all going for the puck, pressing hard in the offensive zone, and actually shooting more than twice in the average power play. And while I wish “Ronnie Franchise” well, and I’ll certainly be pulling for the Leafs in the East this playoff season, I have to wonder (as DeCock does) whether Francis’s overwhelming and consummately professional presence might have kept some of the younger players from letting loose on the ice as LaViolette wants them to do. Without their longtime leader, the Canes are playing more exciting hockey, and it’s wound up more successful as well.
23 March 2004 / 0 Comments / Tags: hockey