Toronto Maple Leafs: Ranking All 32 NHL General Managers

31st Ranked GM – Ron Francis (Seattle Kraken)

Ranking Ron Francis is a difficult thing to do. He has yet to make his mark with the NHL’s newest club, the Seattle Kraken, so he can only be judged by his time as the general manager with the Carolina Hurricanes. While there, he made some good hockey moves but a very questionable humanitarian one.

The Good – Francis pulled the trigger on sending a pair of picks, a 2016 second-round pick and a 2017 third-round pick, to the Chicago Blackhawks for two NHL players. The Canes received Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell (who was included to give the Hawks some cap relief). While Bickell only lasted 11 games with Carolina, Teravainen’s career took off.

Francis also made the wise choice of drafting Sebastian Aho in the second round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. In his five years in Carolina Aho has played 366 games where he’s notched 145 goals and 175 assists for a total of 320 points.

The Bad – Francis made a terrible calculation when he signed, then restricted free agent forward, Victor Rask, in July of 2016. Francis gave him a six-year contract worth $24M, which carried an annual cap hit of $4M.

The Ugly – Francis made a decision that many others wouldn’t. After investigations found that his head coach, Bill Peters, had abused players, Francis didn’t fire him. Instead, the coach who was also accused of using racial slurs was given a contract extension by Francis.

In a statement that was released by Francis on his handling of Peters he said, “When I was general manager in Carolina, after a game, a group of players and hockey staff members made me aware of the physical incidents involving two players and Bill Peters. I took this matter very seriously. I took immediate action to address the matter and briefed ownership. To my knowledge, no further such incidents occurred.”