Francis' time with Penguins shaped how he'll build in Seattle

Part 1 of a two-part series:

The trade that brought Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings to the Penguins from Hartford on March 4, 1991, was the final personnel move need to make the franchise's first Stanley Cup a few months later possible.

Those additions had a major impact on them winning another championship the following year, too.

Indeed, Francis, now general manager of the Seattle team that will enter the NHL for the 2021-22 season, played a major role in all that the Penguins achieved during his seven-plus seasons with them before going to Carolina (and then, briefly, Toronto) to close out his Hall of Fame playing career.

But he took more than just a couple of Stanley Cup rings -- along with some enduring friendships and lots of indelible memories -- from his time here. Francis, renowned for his cerebral approach to his work as an exceptional two-way center, took note of what was going on in the organization when he arrived, and what he saw helped to shape part of the management philosophy he embraces today.

Watching Craig Patrick, then GM of the Penguins, showed him the value of surrounding himself with the best hockey minds possible. That the benefits to a franchise far outweigh any damage done to the GM's self-esteem by having colleagues whose knowledge and instincts approximate, or might even surpass, his own.

"I had conversations with (Patrick) and thought he was a smart hockey guy," Francis said. "Scotty Bowman was around him, and there was Bob Johnson the first year. It was impressive to me that Craig was confident enough in himself and his abilities to surround himself with smart people.

"If you don't have your own ego in play and put good people around you, I think you can do special things. I think that was probably the biggest take I had from my days in Pittsburgh."

Francis was named the first GM of the Seattle franchise, which still has not announced a team name, last July 18, but is back at his home in suburban Raleigh, N.C. these days because the coronavirus pandemic has caused many of his new employer's day-to-day operations to go on hold.

Even so, Francis downplayed the impact of the shutdown on preparing the team to compete in little more than a year. At least for now.

"I wouldn't say, 'significant,' " he said. "Our plan was still gearing toward next year, with the expansion draft and amateur draft and free agency and all of that stuff. The little bit of a glitch maybe (comes) in some of the hiring processes. I think we were looking at the opportunity to talk to some teams and maybe some people (from other NHL organizations) once their season ended, whether it be in April or in the playoffs.

"Now, with everything sort of being up in the air, everybody's in a bit of a holding pattern to see what happens, moving forward. But we're still ongoing in a lot of different departments. We've got our main rink being built. We've got our practice facility being built. We're working on (an American Hockey League franchise in) Palm Springs. We're working on a name and mark and logo and colors, a lot of that kind of stuff. There's still a lot of stuff we're moving forward on."

The Seattle job is Francis' second as a GM; he succeeded his mentor, Jim Rutherford, in Carolina in 2014 and oversaw the Hurricanes' hockey operations until he was fired four years later. The decision to remove him apparently was made by owner Tom Dundon; Peter Karmanos owned the team when Francis was named GM.

Like most GMs, he had hits and misses while building his team. He drafted high-impact contributors like Sebastian Aho (a second-rounder in 2015) and traded for Teuvo Teravainen, but also acquired Scott Darling in the mistaken belief that he could be an effective No. 1 goalie.

Although Francis' core mandate -- to construct a competitive team -- will be the same in Seattle as it was in Carolina, the circumstances will be decidedly different. Not only because Seattle is an expansion team, but because he will not have the same financial constraints that existed with the Hurricanes.

"We weren't a (salary-cap ceiling) team," he said. "We were much closer to the floor than the cap (ceiling). We took a patient approach to try to rebuild that organization, from the ground up. We had it right on the verge of turning when things sort of changed there.

"I think Seattle will be a little bit different. We'll be much closer to a cap team than a floor team, and that should allow us to do maybe a few things differently, that we couldn't do in Carolina at the time. I still think it's important to build the organization through drafting and developing. If you can do that, it keeps you strong for a long time."

The one Patrick put together qualified for the playoffs every year from 1991 through 2001.

You can be certain that Francis noticed that, too.

Part 2: Francis' approach to the 2021 NHL expansion draft