How Carolina Hurricanes roster continues to be shaped by former GMs Rutherford, Francis

It’s old-faces weekend for the Carolina Hurricanes, as the tail end of their State Fair road trip takes them to the Pacific Northwest and the current domiciles of former general managers Jim Rutherford and Ron Francis — not to mention former broadcaster John Forslund.

What’s interesting about this reunion is how much of an impact Rutherford, now the president of the Vancouver Canucks, still has on the current Hurricanes’ roster despite all the time that has passed, and how much less of an impact Francis, now the general manager of the Seattle Kraken, had despite being only seven years removed from the job.

Things can change fast in the hockey world, especially the way the Hurricanes operate now, which makes Rutherford’s long-term influence as surprising as Francis’ lack thereof.

But the Hurricanes’ visits to Seattle on Saturday and Vancouver on Monday to wrap up the so-far-so-good, six-game road swing do offer the opportunity to dig a little deeper into that, and how the two undisputed Hurricanes legends contributed to the foundation of today’s team.

In Rutherford’s case, there are really just two points of interaction with today’s team — but they’re big ones, the two emotional pillars of the team. It was Rutherford who brought Rod Brind’Amour to North Carolina in 2000 for the disgruntled Keith Primeau; and Rutherford who convinced him to stay in the summer of 2001; and Rutherford who talked him into coaching after Brind’Amour retired, even with all the hard feelings left from Brind’Amour being stripped of the captaincy in 2010.

His success as a player aside, Brind’Amour isn’t behind the bench today without all of that, and it’s hard to imagine anyone turning around the Hurricanes both culturally and on the ice as quickly as Brind’Amour did after getting the job in 2018.

He had some help, though.

The 2012 trade for Jordan Staal might have been the epitome of “Jimmy Always Gets His Man,” the GM’s predilection to fixate on players over a period of years before finally acquiring them. The grand plan to pair Eric and Jordan Staal together was a bust — those were dark years for the franchise, before and after Rutherford’s brief retirement in 2014 — but like his brother, Jordan ended up having his own significant impact on the franchise, if in a different way.

Like Justin Williams before him, Staal’s leadership has been essential to what Brind’Amour has built since taking over, and the coach’s trust in the big two-way center is evident from the way he relies on his line in every sticky situation. Staal never did get back to the 29 goals he scored as a rookie with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he remains as capable a defensive forward as any in the game and essential to the Hurricanes, even at 36.

Rutherford also drafted Jaccob Slavin, which means his impact on the franchise via the draft, all these years later, is not that different from his successor. (Rutherford also drafted Frederik Andersen, memorably. Andersen refused to sign and went back into the draft.)

Francis drafted Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas — who’s off to as good a start in this critical season as could be hoped — and those are the only players left with the Hurricanes from Francis’ four drafts, albeit very good ones. His draft record was decidedly mixed, both in the first round and overall.

Francis made a sum total of two trades in four years involving NHL players — the memorable Tim Gleason-for-Jack Hillen and Anton Khudobin-for-James Wisniewski deals — while hanging onto Eric Staal and Cam Ward as their trade value dwindled to nothing and whiffing comically badly on his goalie acquisitions. The one useful player he did acquire, Teuvo Teravainen, just returned to the Chicago Blackhawks, or Francis would get credit for that.

In Francis’ defense, he was working with one of the NHL’s smallest payrolls, as was Rutherford at the end, in the grim “be even more patient” final years of Peter Karmanos’ ownership. But he also never found a way to surmount that hurdle, and couldn’t find a way to work with an owner who would spend on players when Tom Dundon took over.

The biggest long-term impact Francis may end up having on the franchise off the ice — the former captain’s contributions on the ice are both considerable and properly recognized — is bringing in Eric Tulsky to get the Hurricanes up to speed in the analytics department. He never could have imagined then (Tulsky certainly didn’t) that Tulsky would one day occupy his chair, as he does today.

That means Tulsky is one of many with fingerprints on the current roster, along with Dundon and former GM Don Waddell and Brind’Amour, the foursome who essentially rebuilt the entire organizational roster from top to bottom after taking over in 2018.

But Rutherford and Francis’ contributions do still linger, even after all this time, some more than others.

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