Ron Francis intends to rebuild Hurricanes around Staal brothers
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The Carolina Hurricanes are prepared to live with some Staals along the path of rebuilding a winner.
General manager Ron Francis, who managed to flip defenseman Andrej Sekera for a first-round pick and a prospect on Wednesday, indicated to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN that he's prepared to keep brothers Eric and Jordan Staal in the mix, even in the midst of an intentional youth movement.
"We've got some good young pieces, but you can't just throw them to the wolves. You have to have support around them," Francis said.
"Listen, Wayne Gretzky got traded, so there’s always a chance that anybody gets traded. But for me, these are good pieces for our team; you see them out there, they're 6-foot-4, heavy, they can play with the puck down low and they're hard to defend. Teams are looking for those kinds of players and we have them. I'd much rather keep them than move them."
Jordan remains under contract with the club through to the end of the 2021-22 regular season ($6-million cap hit), while Eric, drafted second overall by the Hurricanes in 2003, is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season once his $8.25-million deal expires.
With the likes of Jeff Skinner, Justin Faulk and Elias Lindholm on the roster - not to mention two first round picks in 2015 - Francis's plan of building around a pair of veteran Stanley Cup winners could prove quite prudent in a few years.