Carolina Hurricanes: The day that Gave the Franchise a Face

After experiencing moderate success in their inaugural season, the Carolina Hurricanes made a statement by signing free-agent center Ron Francis to a 4-year contract.

The Carolina Hurricanes, coming off an underwhelming first season in North Carolina, needed a boost.  On July 13, 1998, they got it.  To truly understand the move and its impact, let’s take a look back.

March 4, 1991.

If you were a fan of the Hartford Whalers on that date, there’s no doubt that a part of you died.  On that date, Hartford general manager Ed Johnston sent a package—the centerpiece of which was Francis—to the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Aside from defenseman Zarley Zalapski—who put up 165 points in 229 games—the deal was a bust for the Whalers.

This trade can easily be viewed as the end of the Whalers in Hartford.  During Francis’ 10 years in Connecticut, he put up 821 points (264 goals, 557 assists) in 714 games.

His tenure saw the Whalers put up just 3 winning seasons but 6 playoff appearances (the last of which was the season where Francis was traded).  In the 6 seasons following his departure, Hartford never posted a winning season and qualified for postseason play just once.

Francis went on to play 533 games with the Penguins, posting 164 goals to go along with 449 assists.  The cerebral center added 100 points in 99 playoff games in Pittsburgh, including back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in the early 90s.

While his offensive production did take a slight dip over his final two seasons in the Steel City, Francis was still a talented and capable performer.  When the 35-year-old hit the free-agent market, he opted for a homecoming of sorts.

Now, let’s take a look at the impact that this move had.

The off-ice impact

It’s no secret that the Hurricanes’ arrival in North Carolina came under less than ideal conditions.  With their eventual home in Raleigh breaking ground, the team spent their first 2 seasons playing in the Greensboro Coliseum, 75 miles west.

Residents of the Gate City were hesitant to adopt the team knowing that their stay was only temporary.  Fans in Raleigh were faced with 2 1/2 round trips down I-40 at a time when games started at 7:30 and lasted a minimum of 3 hours.

All of this showed during their inaugural season.  After drawing a sellout in their home opener against Pittsburgh—a game that featured 115 penalty minutes, including 3 fights, 2 misconducts, and 3 game misconducts—attendance took a nosedive.  Over their next 10 home games, the Hurricanes averaged just under 7200 tickets sold, finishing the season with an average attendance of 9106.

The team had young, offensive talent in the likes of Keith Primeau, Sami Kapanen, and Jeff O’Neill.  There was the story of Gary Roberts and his return to hockey after a pair of surgeries to treat degenerative nerves in his neck.

Unfortunately, there were plenty of questions surrounding a team that struggled to draw fans in a—wait for it—non-traditional market.  Would the team survive?  Would the league’s top talent laugh off the idea of signing with them?

There had been the Sergei Fedorov offer sheet saga, a ploy that failed to bring the Russian superstar to the Old North State.  The move garnered headlines throughout the hockey world but it failed to net any on-ice help for the Hurricanes.

Then, just over 4 months later, Francis signed with the franchise that he had broken into the league and blossomed with.

You can argue that he was well out of his prime, and I won’t argue that, but Francis was still a capable player and one of the best playmakers in the history of the game.  More than that, he was a big name free-agent and he had signed with the fledgling Hurricanes, a move that gave the team an air of credibility.

It also gave Carolina a pretty good veteran center to help improve their performance.

The on-ice impact

The Carolina Hurricanes enjoyed a 12 point jump in the standings in Francis’ first year, winning a Southeast Division title and securing a playoff berth.  While they lost a tough 6 game series in the opening round, the younger players on the team gained experience and the team began to make some noise.

Francis managed 52 points (21g, 31a), a total that represented a 35 point decrease from his final season in Pittsburgh.

The 1999-00 Hurricanes suffered a small setback, dropping to 3rd in their division and missing the postseason.  Francis, however, rebounded, putting up 73 points (23g, 50a) to lead the team.  The following season found the team returning to the playoffs, again losing out in a six-game opening-round series.

The veteran’s goal scoring (15) slowed a bit, though he matched his 50 assist output from the previous season.  He finished second on the team in scoring, trailing only O’Neill, who had put up a career-best 41 goal campaign.

That was all a warmup for what would be Francis’ biggest impact season with the Hurricanes.  In his second full season as team captain, Francis led the team with 77 points, notching 27 goals and—you guessed it—50 assists.

The team claimed their second division title in 4 seasons, earning a first-round matchup against the New Jersey Devils, the team that had dispatched the Hurricanes the year before.

This year would prove to be a different animal.  The Hurricanes disposed of the Devils in 6 games before tearing through the heart of Canadian hockey tradition.  Two more 6 game series saw Carolina best the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, earning an Eastern Conference Championship and a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The matchup against the Detroit Red Wings looked completely one-sided on paper.  While the Hurricanes had talent, Detroit boasted a lineup featuring Steve Yzerman, Fedorov, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, and Dominik Hasek.

The series was much closer than anticipated and Francis sent a shockwave through the NHL when he scored the overtime winner in Game One:

Detroit went on to win the Cup in five games, leaving the Hurricanes to regroup.  While losing in the Cup Final is heartbreaking, Carolina had done a lot of damage and drawn a lot of attention on the national stage.  This run also solidified the raucous playoff crowds that populated the then Entertainment and Sports Arena.

The Hurricanes would, unfortunately, go on to miss the playoffs the next 2 seasons, depriving fans of the playoff action that had enthralled them during that magical postseason run.  On March 9, 2004, Francis was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 4th round pick, giving the veteran one last shot at another Stanley Cup.