Carolina Hurricane's owner Peter Karmanos announced at a press conference on Monday that Ron Francis will be taking over as the team's General Manager.
Francis is a Hall-of-Famer who both began and ended his career with the organization (first in Hartford, and then later after the franchise moved to Raleigh in 1997). He remains the team leader in many offensive categories.
In recent years he's joined the team in management roles - climbing the ladder from assistant head coach to Vice President of Hockey Operations.
He takes over for Jim Rutherford, who's held the position for the last 20 years.
"20 years is a long time for me," said Rutherford at the the conference. "I've thought about this for a few years. Certainly, the time is right, now."
Rutherford has been the only GM since the team moved to Raleigh. He helped lead the team to a Stanley Cup Championship in 2006, though the last five years they've failed to even make the playoffs. But he has hope for the future and for Francis.
"I'll just say that I'm really pleased with the direction we're going," said Rutherford. "Ronny's paid his dues. He's a good person, he's a good friend, he's a hall-of-fame player and he'll be a good general manager."
