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JR to resign!

Nothing new here. RF will be brought in to save the day with STH revolt and will buy PK 2-3 years of "Good Will" to turn this thing around. Good luck RF ... you're going to need it.
 
I sure hope it's before the draft and someone outside the organization takes over.
How about mike Milbury? Ok, that's a joke.
I really don't have any good candidates.
 
Good. My preference would be a complete outsider. Don't hear my phone ringing seeking my opinion yet.
 
OK .... first off, I really think that's great news. I have nothing against the job that Jim Rutherford did here in Raleigh. We won a Cup for heaven's sake. Given the budgets he had to work with most of the time, that achievement simply cannot be measured by conventional instruments. It'll go on his Wiki page in font the size of the Goodyear blimp. Let's all pledge to be honest about that part.

Since that magical 2005-06 season ... not so much as we've manged a few fits and starts but have generally floundered around just below the playoff line. We've spent a boatload of the owner's money and returned little aside from the 2009 run to the Eastern Finals. All good things come to an end and all GMs eventually lose the Midas touch, if they've been so lucky to have found it in the first place. Most aren't. We've struck out in the Draft way too much, wasted too much money on bad free agent fits, contract extensions, no trade clauses and general "safety first" thinking. We've tried to build around Eric Staal and Cam Ward and far too often have been betrayed by their streakiness and unreliability. Three coaches have helmed this ship since 2006 and all have run into the same brick wall ... at some point they either haven't had the right guys or enough guys to get ahead in the East. Sometimes that was a money problem, but more often than not it was simply a factor of putting the wrong group of the right guys on the ice at the same time.

So we're primed for new direction and you can go one of two ways:

1. You roll into the Ron Francis era, assuming that the seasoning he's gained as an assistant to Rutherford is enough.

2. You can burn the whole barn down and start new from the foundations up.

I strongly, fervently hope that the owner goes with the second option. If ever a team was in need and a complete overhaul ... from the scouting staff to the development program to the big club ... it's this one. Changing the GM gives you that opportunity and the way Karmanos runs his business you're only going to get that chance every so often. Go big or go home Pete. It's WAY past time to start over.
 
$20 says we go with Ronnie. Don't get me wrong. he is easily one of the greatest players ever. I completely love and respect the man. But as a GM? That would be a big mistake IMO. Isn't Ronnie in charge of player development? Isn't he involved in the drafting of players? Then why does our talent pool seem so utter shallow when looking at the Checkers. There are a couple of great AHLers there, but nearly no NHLers to choose from. I look at Chicago, Detroit, etc and see their deep young talent coming up through the ranks... What's Ronnie done for us? Will he recognize talent, sign appropriately, and draft better then we have been? I am not so sure.
 
2Loud said:
$20 says we go with Ronnie. Don't get me wrong. he is easily one of the greatest players ever. I completely love and respect the man. But as a GM? That would be a big mistake IMO. Isn't Ronnie in charge of player development? Isn't he involved in the drafting of players? Then why does our talent pool seem so utter shallow when looking at the Checkers. There are a couple of great AHLers there, but nearly no NHLers to choose from. I look at Chicago, Detroit, etc and see their deep young talent coming up through the ranks... What's Ronnie done for us? Will he recognize talent, sign appropriately, and draft better then we have been? I am not so sure.
Click to expand...

Totally agree that RF is not the best choice as GM, but that is definitly where they are headed. Happy as hell that JR has decided to step aside, that is at the very least a change...change is good!

If nothing else, some change on the horizon for the better is a start. Francis should be smart enough to surround himself with some solid hockey people and scouting staff and do some things differently than JR.
 
I don't think anyone on this board has a clue how Ronnie will do. We have no idea how many--if any--of the moves made were the result of Ron's complete volition or were the maximum impact he could have under JR and Jason Karmanos. He could flop or he could be awesome...based on the laws of statistics, my money is on something in between.
 
HeyKurtz said:
I don't think anyone on this board has a clue how Ronnie will do. We have no idea how many--if any--of the moves made were the result of Ron's complete volition or were the maximum impact he could have under JR and Jason Karmanos. He could flop or he could be awesome...based on the laws of statistics, my money is on something in between.
Click to expand...

That's fair to say, new role, no second fiddle to JR, could be a completely new perspective with JR mostly out of the picture. I gurantee you RF is not quite as fond of PMD's as JR!!!
 
I'd suspect that PK and JR have had "The Talk".

JR has done some mighty fine things here but in the past five years, he seems to have had the hockey world pass him by. We don't know what RF will do but concern is about his championing such "can't miss" players like Paradis, Nash, Welsh - and no he didn't make the final signings or picks on those but he sure had a hand in them.
 
Well if Ron Francis is the GM, the whole 'trade Eric Staal' dynamic becomes all that more interesting. Certainly Ronnie knows first hand what can go wrong when trading away an all time great/face of the franchise type player in his prime. If anything having JR stepping down at the end of the season just adds to the intrigue going into the offseason.

Maybe JR saw enough of the comments here and on the Facebook page (and probably everywhere else that Canes fans vent) and realized that the fans are uprising against him. You hear enough season ticket holders say they are not renewing unless JR goes...we really do give a crap and want changes. Thanks for finally listening JR.

That said, this can get worse before it gets better, but at least SOMETHING is changing.
 
My money is on Ron Francis replacing JR, followed by the replacement of Kirk Muller with either Ulf Samuelsson or Kevin Dineen.
 
The venting and harsh comments against the performance of JR certainly has been widespread and growing with each passing day...it was getting to the point on Twitter last week that the sales team was responding to individual Twitter rants and comments from season ticket holders who were threatening to cancel if JR stays on board. Power of the people!!!
 
Unfortunately not enough to get me to re-up my tickets.
Waiting for definitive shake-ups and moves.

This team has got to get consistently good, not the opposite.

JR blaming the early season losses, and not the dreadful 5 of 6 post Olympic losses was the last straw for me. Losses are losses. they all add up to not making the playoffs.
 
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