It has been a long offseason for the Carolina Hurricanes.
As much as it may seem that things are the same with a team that came short of earning a spot in the postseason for the sixth consecutive year, much has changed since it ended its season back in April.
Executive vice president and general manager Ron Francis has begun to make his mark on reshaping the identity of the team, entering his second year in the position, one that will begin when Carolina opens on the road at Nashville on Oct. 8, and at PNC Arena two days later against Detroit on Oct. 10.
He’s made his moves in an intentional, patient, and calculated manner.
“We have a vision, we have a plan,” Francis said at a press conference back in July.
“We wanna’ build from the foundation and build it up. We wanna’ develop all of our prospects, so when they’re ready to step in, they’re there. If we get to the point down the road where we have that sort of pipeline of talent, then when a tough decision is made, we have to keep a player, overpay for a player, or move him, we have the pieces that can fill in, so we don’t miss a beat.”
He made two significant trades during the 2015 NHL Draft that brought goaltender Eddie Lack to the organization from Vancouver, and acquired defenseman James Wisniewski from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for goaltender Anton Khudobin.
“Eddie is a big-bodied goalie who has proven himself on the NHL level in the past two seasons,” Francis said of the 27-year old keeper who went 18-13-4 with a 2.45 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage in 2014-15, his second complete NHL season with the Canucks.
“James is a veteran defenseman who has proven his ability to produce offensively,” Francis said when he acquired the 31-year old, 10-year NHL veteran who totaled eight goals and 26 assists (34 points) in 69 games with Columbus and Anaheim last season.
“He has a big, right-handed shot, and he will be an important part of our blueline and power play moving forward.”
As the timing of the trades happened relatively close to one another, parting with Khudobin in the Wisniewski deal necessitated the transaction to get Eddie Lack to go along with veteran Cam Ward, and ensure the team still had two NHL-experienced goalies on the roster.
“When we look at our team, an area we want to improve on is defense,” Francis said.
“The first deal we were able to get was Wisniewski and it took Khudobin to do that. Then, obviously when you do that, you need a goaltender to fill and we felt that Eddie Lack was more than capable to step in and play games.”
“We really didn’t want to do one without the other,” he continued.
By the end of the draft, Francis and his amateur scouting staff led by director Tony MacDonald, selected Boston College defenseman Noah Hanifin as their first pick, fifth overall.
The six-foot-three-inch, 203-pound Hanifin was the second straight and third defenseman selected as the Hurricanes’ top pick in the last five years.
His selection was to continue to develop the Hurricanes’ defensive corps, following the selection of Haydn Fleury, selected seventh overall in 2014, and Ryan Murphy, selected 12th overall in 2011.
“He is big, he can skate and he can move the puck,” Francis said.
“Noah fits the mold for the type of player and person we want in a Hurricanes uniform.”
The Hurricanes eventually signed Hanifin to an entry-level contract in front of their fans in attendance at the team’s Summerfest activities held at PNC Arena in mid-July.
“It was definitely really cool to be able to sign in front of all the fans,” Hanifin said.
“I’m ready to make the step, so I’m really excited to get this done and focus on the future.”
While the draft stocked the team’s depth for the future, the two trades heightened attention around the team.
The subsequent decision to buy out forward Alexander Semin’s contract soon after kept the spotlight on the Hurricanes, and added to the speculation that forward Jeff Skinner or captain Eric Staal could be traded as well.
It looked as though Carolina would make wholesale changes from top-to-bottom, but no further significant hockey trades or acquisitions have been made since that time in early July.
Instead a steady signing of free agents has taken place to stock the team’s roster as training camp approaches in September.
Francis pointed out that talks were ongoing with Staal and Ward, and that the players hold the cards in terms of what extensions or trade possibilities exist due to the no-trade clauses their contracts currently have.
Entering the final year of each player’s contract, the Hurricanes GM would like to try to sign them or trade them before they would become unrestricted free agents in 2016.
With a year remaining on a contract that pays him an average of $8.25 million, Staal’s production is not close to what it was during that early peak in his career, and in the opinion of many observers, no longer justifies the cost.
Ward is in the same situation as his $6.3 million salary locks up a considerable amount of the team’s cap space with returns on investment that have not been up to par in recent years.
The pressure to make the playoffs has increased to the point where Francis, and former president and general manager Jim Rutherford before him, had to more seriously consider whether to try to move one or both of the organization’s two most expensive and established assets, the faces of the franchise, in order to make room for new ones.
Both are the team’s career leaders in establishing numerous statistical categories during the franchise’s playing history in North Carolina that began during the 1997-98 season.
Next to Francis, Staal sits with the team’s highest career totals in points (742), goals (312), and assists (430).
Ward holds the Hurricanes’ all-time records for most games (512), most wins (246), most shutouts (22), and most minutes played (29,321).
They both want to remain with Carolina, the first and only NHL team they’ve played for and won a Stanley Cup with in 2006.
It’s the challenge that faces Francis and an organization that has shown and rewarded loyalty almost to a fault throughout its history, and a storyline that will continue to play out throughout the upcoming season.
“It’s gonna’ take us some time to get there,” Francis concluded.
“The biggest challenge I would say for my management team and myself is just being patient and staying with the plan as we build it the right way.”
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Carolina Hurricanes – 2015 offseason transactions
2015 Draft: Noah Hanifin (5th), Sebastian Aho (35th), Callum Booth (93rd), Nicolas Roy. (96th), Luke Stevens (126th), Spencer Smallman (138th), Jake Massie (156th), David Cotton (169th), Steven Lorentz (186th).
Free agents signed: Brody Sutter, Justin Shugg, , Zach Boychuk, T.J. Hensick, Jacob Slavin, Rasmus Rissanen, Riley Nash, Andrej Nestrasil, Chris Terry, Michal Jordan, Derek Ryan, Lucas Wallmark, Tyler Ganley, Drew MacIntyre
Acquired via trade: Eddie Lack, James Wisniewski
Free agents unsigned: Greg Nemisz, Ben Holmstrom, , Brett Bellemore, Patrick Dwyer, Jack Hillen, Austin Levi, Beau Schmitz, Jared Staal,
Departed via trade: Anton Khudobin
Contract bought out: Alexander Semin
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Peter Koutroumpis is a Holly Springs local, and Owner and Managing Editor of the Triangle Sports Network (trianglesportsnet.com), a digital sports reporting site based out of Holly Springs that is a full-time and functioning media property that features originally reported college and pro sports news stories throughout the Triangle.
