From the 2006 archive ... 'A night for Ronnie: Hurricanes to honor Ron Francis' No. 10 jersey'

This story was originally published on Jan. 28, 2006.

To a game characterized by speed and violence, Ron Francis brought artistry. To a professional sports world too often lost in self-absorption, he brought class. To a franchise that was dangerously close to becoming the laughingstock of the league, he brought credibility. To a team that grasped its chance at destiny in 2002, he brought guidance. And by stepping aside, he has allowed a new generation of players to assume new roles and flourish.

After the banner bearing his No. 10 has been raised to the ceiling, and Francis has left the ice for the last time at the RBC Center, the best team in the NHL will take over.

The Carolina Hurricanes team that will play the Atlanta Thrashers tonight after Francis is honored is far different from any he played on -- faster and deeper, by Francis' own assessment. Twelve of its 25 players never played with Francis; the leadership duties he once so closely held have been assumed, adroitly, by Rod Brind'Amour and a cadre of veterans in the dressing room.

When Francis left in March 2004 to make one last pursuit of the Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs, his departure allowed the Hurricanes to move forward from the ashes of the promise that bloomed so bright in the spring of 2002.

Yet even as his absence allowed the Hurricanes to thrive, their success rests on a foundation that could never have been built without Francis.

He brought his family to the Triangle and he stayed. The players who came after, including the two free-agent classes so important to this year's team, are following the path Francis first laid.

He would never claim any piece of this team's success, preferring to give the credit to the "guys on the ice." Those who know him and know the franchise, though, understand what Francis did to make this possible.

"Certainly Ronnie can take some pride in the way the team is playing," former Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "He came back to this franchise and moved it forward."

His name is listed on the Stanley Cup twice, he assisted on more goals than any player other than Wayne Gretzky, he ranks third in games played and fourth in points.

In the Carolina record book, Francis is first in everything from games played to hat tricks. No one has done more in a Hartford or Carolina uniform. Few have done more in any NHL uniform.

"I never really thought about it while I was playing," said Francis, who announced his retirement in September. "I was just so busy and active and people would mention it now and then and I'd say, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' But you hear it now that you're retired, or the kids bring it up and you talk to them about it. When I started back in 1981, I never thought I'd finish second in assists. But now that it's over and done with, it's something I'm extremely proud of."

He will be remembered, in the Triangle and in Pittsburgh and in Connecticut, for more than numbers.

His career began with the Hartford Whalers, where he became the sporting icon of an entire state. His departure in a lopsided 1991 trade was a boon for Francis' career -- he won two championships with the Penguins -- but disastrous for the franchise.

The Whalers went six seasons without a playoff appearance, moved from Hartford to North Carolina and endured the first of two miserable seasons in Greensboro limbo before Francis returned as a free agent in July 1998.

Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, who was widely criticized for giving Francis a five-year contract at the age of 35, will be in Raleigh tonight when his team retires its first jersey since moving here in 1997.

"It's like one of those commercials," Karmanos said. "Pair of skates: $280. Hockey stick: $78. Having Ron Francis come back: priceless."

Francis' return gave the team credibility -- if he could see hope in the Hurricanes, surely it was there.

His first four seasons with Carolina are the only four consecutive winning seasons in franchise history. And when the Hurricanes were ready to compete, Francis led them all the way to the Stanley Cup finals in 2002.

"They should remember there probably wouldn't have been hockey in Hartford or hockey in Carolina without him," said Hall of Fame defenseman Denis Potvin, now a broadcaster. "That's the bottom line."

In many ways, this celebration of Francis' career has been overshadowed by his contemporaries -- much as his accomplishments were. The prolonged ceremony to retire Mark Messier's jersey at Madison Square Garden may still be playing off-Broadway, while Lemieux retired for the second and final time on Tuesday.

But in Carolina, Francis is preeminent in impact, stature and presence.

"We had a player here who you can say was one of the all-time greats," Brind'Amour said. "That to me is his greatest legacy moving forward. We're as good as these teams who have been around longer. We haven't won a Cup yet, but he's ours."

In November 2007, Francis will be a first-ballot inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame. For all the talk of his physical and mental gifts, for all his charity and humanitarian work with Duke Children's Hospital, none of it says quite enough about what his presence meant to the Hurricanes, and continues to mean for them now.

He gave so many fans so many reasons to cheer in his final six seasons with the Hurricanes. He has earned the right to sit back and do the same -- and he has.

"I'm enjoying the success they're having," Francis said. "It's great to see that buzz back in the market and people enjoying the game here again."

No one did more to make that possible. In Hartford, he was given the nickname "Ronnie Franchise."

In Carolina, it is far more than a nickname.

This story was originally published March 8, 2018 at 11:02 AM with the headline "From the 2006 archive ... 'A night for Ronnie: Hurricanes to honor Ron Francis' No. 10 jersey'."