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Ron Francis
Ron Francis
Playing career
Francis was drafted by the Hartford Whalers in round 1 (fourth overall) of the 1981 NHL Entry Draft. He was a model of consistency, averaging more than a point a game in over 1700 games in 23 seasons. His three Lady Byng Trophies attest to his gentlemanly conduct on and off the ice. Francis stands second all-time in career assists behind Wayne Gretzky with 1,249, fourth in career points (1,798), third in games played (1,731), and twenty-first in career goals (549). Francis played almost ten seasons with the Whalers, serving as captain for almost six and setting nearly every offensive record in franchise history. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 4, 1991 with Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings, in exchange for Jeff Parker, Zarley Zalapski, and John Cullen. Despite the speculation of The Hockey News that Hartford had received the better deal at the time,[1] his trade from the Whalers to the Penguins became a coup for Pittsburgh, where he centred a formidable second line behind Mario Lemieux, as the Penguins won their first Stanley Cup – on a goal by Samuelsson – less than three months later. Francis was indispensable the following year, as Pittsburgh repeated as champions, in leading the team during the absence of Lemieux in the 1992 playoffs – and in scoring the Cup-clinching goal against the Chicago Blackhawks. At the same time, it is considered to be one of the most one-sided trades in NHL history; the players Hartford acquired never even approached the numbers Francis produced, and all had gone elsewhere by 1993. Francis would spend seven seasons in Pittsburgh, captaining the team twice, and becoming the first Penguin to win the Selke Trophy. Francis returned to his original organization as a free agent for 1998–99, signing with the Carolina Hurricanes (who had moved from Hartford the previous season). He spent the next 5.5 seasons padding his franchise records. He still ranks first all-time in Whalers/Hurricanes history in points, goals, assists and games played; his 1,175 points
Position Shot Height Weight Pro clubs
Centre Left 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb) Hartford Whalers Pittsburgh Penguins Carolina Hurricanes Toronto Maple Leafs Canada March 1, 1963 (1963-03-01) , Sault Ste. Marie, ON, CAN 4th overall, 1981 Hartford Whalers 1981 – 2004
Nationality Born NHL Draft Pro career
Hall of Fame, 2007
Ronald Michael Francis, Jr. (born March 1, 1963), is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey centreman who played 23 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs. He now serves as the associate head coach for the Hurricanes.
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with the franchise are double that of the runner-up, Kevin Dineen. He captained the Hurricanes to a surprise appearance in the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, and scored the winning goal for the Hurricanes in overtime of Game 1, before losing to the Detroit Red Wings in five games. He is the only player in NHL history to be named to captain two separate franchises (Hartford/Carolina and Pittsburgh) each in two separate periods. Francis finished his career with a brief stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, traded there by the Hurricanes in March 2004 to allow him one last run at the Stanley Cup. He retired from the NHL before the 2005–06 season and assumed a position with the Raleigh Youth Hockey Association [1]. He won 2 Stanley Cups, the first in 1990–91 and the following season in 1991–92 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. His best season was 1995–96 when he had 119 points; that season, he led the league in assists with 92. The previous season, he also led the league in assists with 48 over the strikeshortened half-season schedule. His Whalers number #10 was raised at the Hartford Civic Center on January 6, 2006 (though not officially retired, the Whalers organization no longer existing to retire it), along with Ulf Samuelsson’s #5 and Kevin Dineen’s #11. Additionally his Hurricanes #10 jersey was retired by the Carolina organization on January 28, 2006. On June 28, 2007, he was selected to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. He was formally inducted on November 12, 2007.
Ron Francis
• Currently in 24th place of all-time regular season NHL Goals with 549 goals • Currently in 2nd place of all-time regular season NHL Assists with 1249 assists • Currently in 3rd place on all-time NHL Regular season games played with 1731 games
Awards & Achievements
• Selected to the NHL All-Star Game in 1983, 1985, 1990 and 1996 • Won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992 • Alka-Seltzer Plus Award 1994/95 • Awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy 1995 • Awarded the Lady Byng Trophy 1995, 1998 and 2002 • Awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy 2002 • Inducted into the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame 2007 • Currently in 4th place of all-time regular season NHL point leaders with 1798 points
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ron Francis
Career statistics
Season Team 1980–81 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 1981–82 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 1981–82 Hartford Whalers 1982–83 Hartford Whalers 1983–84 Hartford Whalers 1984–85 Hartford Whalers 1985–86 Hartford Whalers 1986–87 Hartford Whalers 1987–88 Hartford Whalers 1988–89 Hartford Whalers 1989–90 Hartford Whalers 1990–91 Hartford Whalers 1990–91 Pittsburgh Penguins 1991–92 Pittsburgh Penguins 1992–93 Pittsburgh Penguins 1993–94 Pittsburgh Penguins 1994–95 Pittsburgh Penguins 1995–96 Pittsburgh Penguins 1996–97 Pittsburgh Penguins 1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins 1998–99 Carolina Hurricanes 1999–00 Carolina Hurricanes 2000–01 Carolina Hurricanes 2001–02 Carolina Hurricanes
League OMJHL
Regular Season GP G A Pts 64 26 43 69
OHL
25
18
30
48
NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL NHL
59 79 72 80 53 75 80 69 80 67 14 70 84 82 44 77 81 81 82 78 82 80
25 31 23 24 24 30 25 29 32 21 2 21 24 27 11 27 27 25 21 23 15 27
43 59 60 57 53 63 50 48 69 55 9 33 76 66 48 92 63 62 31 50 50 50
68 90 83 81 77 93 75 77 101 76 11 54 100 93 59 119 90 87 52 73 65 77
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Sporting positions Preceded by Mark Johnson Preceded by Mario Lemieux Preceded by Mario Lemieux Preceded by Keith Primeau Preceded by Wayne Gretzky Preceded by Sergei Fedorov Preceded by Scott Stevens Preceded by Paul Kariya Preceded by Shjon Podein Preceded by Joe Sakic Hartford Whalers captains 1985-90 Pittsburgh Penguins captains 1995 Pittsburgh Penguins captains 1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes captains 1999-2004 Winner of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy 1995 Winner of the Frank J. Selke Trophy 1995 Winner of the NHL Plus/Minus Award 1995 Winner of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy 1998 Winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy 2002 Winner of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy 2002 NHL NHL NHL 82 68 22 10 35
Ron Francis
Succeeded by Randy Ladouceur Succeeded by Mario Lemieux Succeeded by Jaromir Jagr Succeeded by Rod Brind’Amour Succeeded by Paul Kariya Succeeded by Sergei Fedorov Succeeded by Vladimir Konstantinov Succeeded by Wayne Gretzky Succeeded by Brendan Shanahan Succeeded by Alexander Mogilny
Awards and achievements
2002–03 Carolina Hurricanes 2003–04 Carolina Hurricanes 2003–04 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL Totals
57 30 -References
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Joe 20[1] 30 Starkey, Tales From the Pittsburgh 14 --- -- --Penguins, pg. 98, ISBN 1-58261-199-8 • Ron Francis’s biography at Legends of 12 3 7 10 0 12 0 4 4 2 Hockey • Ron Francis’s career stats at The Internet Hockey Database 1731 549 1249 1798 979 171 46 97 143 95
See also
• • • • • • • List of NHL statistical leaders List of NHL players List of NHL seasons List of NHL players with 1000 points Notable families in the NHL List of NHL players with 500 goals List of NHL players with 100 point seasons • List of NHL players with 1000 assists Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Francis"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ron Francis
Categories: 1963 births, Canadian ice hockey centres, Canadians of British Isles descent, Carolina Hurricanes players, Frank Selke Trophy winners, Hartford Whalers draft picks, Hartford Whalers players, Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, Ice hockey personnel from Ontario, King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners, Lady Byng winners, Living people, National Hockey League All-Stars, National Hockey League first round draft picks, National Hockey League players with 100 point seasons, National Hockey League players with retired numbers, People from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, People from Raleigh, North Carolina, Pittsburgh Penguins players, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds alumni, Stanley Cup champions, Toronto Maple Leafs players This page was last modified on 14 May 2009, at 04:05 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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