If you have ever glanced at the all-time stats for the Carolina Hurricanes franchise, you will recognize the same player sits atop all three lists. Ron Francis is unique in that regard as someone iconic in both cities for a franchise that has been relocated because of his utter dominance when he was at his best. But like anyone else, Francis was traded from the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the Francis trade tree with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins came to an end, as he helped that organization collect its first two Stanley Cups in its history, Francis returned to the organization that drafted him many years ago. Despite the franchise itself having a new home and a new name, he came to try and help embed a hockey culture in Raleigh. In terms of roster success, he was the captain of the team that got to the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 before Scotty Bowman and his Red Wings ran wild.
Two years later, the Hurricanes were on the outside of the playoff race looking in. General manager Jim Rutherford had to try and sell off some pieces that perhaps wouldn’t be around in the future. Francis himself was on the older side and recognized that it might be his last chance at winning the Stanley Cup, so the team and player found a new home for one of the league’s greats.
Francis Gets Dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs
Francis would join a team that was looking to try and get over the hump with an aging core and a team that thought the experience and leadership of someone like Francis could be a difference maker with their ambitions of playoff success. Given the career that Whalers and Hurricanes icon had enjoyed, it was a safe bet to assume that he would make a Leafs team that was threatening a deep postseason run would make it even further than in years prior.
In the 12 games that Francis played before the start of the postseason, he had three goals and seven assists. Those totals are not bad, but regular-season success is not what the Maple Leafs acquired him for. Toronto wanted another center who could put up points behind Mats Sundin in the playoffs and thought Francis would be that guy for them.
Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, Francis had just turned 40 and was not the player he used to be. He was only able to tally four assists in the 12 playoff games Toronto played. While he was a big part of the roster, as they won a series over their provincial rivals in the Ottawa Senators, the Maple Leafs would run into the Flyers in the second round, and it would end their season.
At the end of the 2003-04 season for the Maple Leafs, Francis announced his retirement from professional hockey and re-joined the hockey setup in Carolina. With the lockout incoming, he opted to move away from the stress and the physical demands of the hockey world.
The Return for the Hurricanes
As we get back to the Hurricanes part of this deal, Carolina got a 2005 fourth-round pick back from Toronto. This pick would be used to select Jarred Boll, but you may remember that Boll was drafted by Columbus and not Carolina. Well, Carolina kicked that pick down the road and exchanged the 2005 fourth-rounder they got from Toronto for a 2006 fourth-round selection and Derrick Walser. Walser was flipped back to Columbus for Mark Flood, but Flood turned into an AHL placeholder.
This leaves the 2006 fourth-round pick that the Canes got, but it would be quite the short trade tree if they didn’t make something of it. The Maple Leafs would use this pick to select James Reimer, though the Hurricanes would move this pick through the Chicago Blackhawks to do so. They sent Danny Richmond and the pick to Chicago for a 2007 fourth-round pick and Anton Babchuk.
Let’s start with defenseman Anton Babchuk. This 6-foot-5 defenseman was a long-time servant to the Hurricanes organization. Famously scoring an overtime winner against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008-09 season that sent the Carolina Hurricanes into the playoffs, Babchuk’s booming slap shot from the point was something that gave goaltenders across the league nightmares for the duration of his career. A force of nature on the back end for Carolina, the Ukrainian blueliner himself would eventually get sent out of town too.
Anton Babchuk’s Trade to Calgary
On Nov. 17, 2010, Babchuk was packaged alongside Tom Kostopoulos and sent to the Calgary Flames in exchange for forward Brett Sutter and defenseman Ian White. Sutter would leave Carolina via free agency, so there are no further trades to follow with him, but Ian White is where this gets somewhat interesting.
The Flames had signed White to a one-year deal the summer before he got dealt to Calgary, but they were not thrilled with his performances. Having major defensive issues, he was shipped out to Carolina, and the idea for the Hurricanes was to get his value up and flip him before the deadline to a new destination, hopefully grabbing something valuable. But we all know how rare it is for plans like this to work. So naturally, this plan worked. Ian White would get flipped to the San Jose Sharks for a 2012 second-round pick.
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That pick? From the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, forward Brock McGinn. While he was not the top-six forward you would want for a second-round pick, he did play 345 games for the Hurricanes, scoring 51 goals and 55 assists during his time in Raleigh. He wasn’t a flashy pick, but he was a great serviceman during his six years in the Hurricanes organization. Despite some thinking the Canes would have been wise to retain McGinn, he would depart to Pittsburgh in free agency during the 2021 summer, so this branch is done.
This leaves just the 2007 fourth-round pick that the Hurricanes got with Babchuk. They didn’t use that pick on any player and traded it themselves. But do you remember how I said in 2004, when Francis was playing with this team, the Hurricanes were on the outside of the playoff picture looking in? Well, that wasn’t the case during the next season there was hockey.
Carolina Adds a Playoff Rental
Following the 2004-05 season that was lost to lockout, the NHL returned in 2005-06, and hockey had become a new game. It was no longer physicality and size that was dominating the league. Rather, it was speed. It turned out the Hurricanes had a pretty quick team with some young emerging stars and a core that looked like they could win it all. When you have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup, who cares about a fourth-round pick?
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Carolina would send that 2007 fourth with a 2006 fourth-round pick, a 2006 first-round pick, Magnus Kahnberg, Jesse Boulerice, and Michael Zigomanis to the St Louis Blues for Erkki Rajamaki and Doug Weight. When Carolina acquired Weight, the idea was obviously to add to what they already had. Ideally, he’d be coming in to add more of a punch to a forward core that already had some great top-end talent.
Weight scored just four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 23 regular season games, but he was not here to play in the regular season. He was brought in to push for the Stanley Cup. In the playoffs, he became a big point producer with three goals and 13 assists in 23 playoff games. He did sustain a somewhat scary injury in Game 5 against the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final, as his shoulder was injured in a big hit. But it did not stop the Hurricanes from capturing the first championship in the organization’s history.
Carolina’s Success From a Minor Deal
Carolina took a fourth-round pick they got from the Maple Leafs and proceeded to move it down the road to try and increase its value. Using it to acquire a roster player like Anton Babchuk and then turning Babchuk into other players who could get flipped for picks in higher rounds has got to be close to the NHL’s answer to trying to turn a paperclip into a house on eBay, as the Canes took a fourth and turned it into multiple players that impacted their roster over the years.
Directly from this trade for Francis 19 years ago, the Hurricanes got McGinn. That pick directly led to Carolina getting the draft choice they used on him. Indirectly, the Hurricanes used some of the assets they got from this deal to further strengthen a roster that would eventually capture the Stanley Cup. While this is a neat footnote, it is not directly caused by the trade tree itself. This is because the linking piece was a spare part thrown in to get the deal done. The meat of that Weight deal was the first and the players.
However, it is safe to say the Hurricanes have enjoyed a lot of success as a result of this trade tree. They’ve seen a series-winning goal scored in double overtime as a direct result of this deal from almost a decade ago. While this trade tree is now finalized, and nothing will grow from it, it is incredible to look back on how a minor trade from the 2004 deadline impacted the Hurricanes for many years to come.