On Dec. 2, 2008, Ron Francis was named Associate Head Coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, serving along with Head Coach Paul Maurice. It marks On On Dec. 2, 2008, Ron Francis was named Associate Head Coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, serving along with Head Coach Paul Maurice. It marks Francis’ first professional coaching position, after he served in the Hurricanes’ front office for more than two seasons.
Following a career in which he established himself as the greatest player in Hurricanes franchise history, Ron Francis re-joined the Carolina Hurricanes organization in November 2006 as the team’s director of player development. In his initial front office role with the team, Francis worked with and assessed players in the Hurricanes system. On Oct. 4, 2007, Francis was also named Assistant General Manager.
Francis announced his retirement on Sept. 14, 2005, following a 23-year NHL career with Hartford, Pittsburgh, Carolina and Toronto. In 1,731 NHL regular-season games, Francis scored 549 goals and earned 1,249 assists, to rank him fourth all-time on the league’s points list behind Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Gordie Howe. Francis’ 1,249 assists rank second only to Gretzky (1,963) and he ranks third on the games-played list behind Howe (1,767) and Messier (1,756).
The Hartford Whalers drafted Francis in the first round, fourth overall, in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft. Francis played with the Whalers for 10 seasons before joining Pittsburgh at the trading deadline of the 1990-91 season. He spent seven full seasons with the Penguins before rejoining the organization that drafted him, when the relocated Carolina Hurricanes signed him as a free agent on July 13, 1998. In 16 seasons with the Hartford/Carolina franchise, Francis played in 1,186 games, scoring 382 goals, earning 793 assists for 1,185 points, all of which are franchise records. The Hurricanes officially retired Francis’ No. 10 jersey to the RBC Center’s rafters on Jan. 28, 2006.
During his playing career, Francis played in four NHL All-Star games, won the Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct) three times (1995, 1998, 2002), the Frank J. Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) in 1995 and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy (leadership/humanitarian/community work) in 2002. He also won the Alka-Seltzer Plus Award in 1995 when he led the NHL in plus/minus, and was a key member of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1991 and 1992.
Ron and his wife, Mary Lou, have a daughter, Kaitlyn, and two sons, Michael and Connor. They reside in Raleigh.
