Ron Francis is out as GM of the Carolina Hurricanes, although still part of the organization as president of hockey operations. A couple of months into taking over majority control of the Hurricanes, new owner Tom Dundon has made a bold decision that will be scrutinized to be sure.



One thing Dundon wanted to make clear as we chatted Thursday was that this isn’t about Francis, whom Dundon believes is a very smart hockey guy and a quality person, but simply that the owner believes he needs to create a better structure to help the organization move forward and put people in positions where they’re more comfortable.



We began the interview Thursday with me asking him to elaborate on his decision to move Francis away from the GM job:



Dundon: Ron’s really smart and he’s really valuable, just our styles are a little different. Maybe having somebody come in and doing that, that fits the way I want to do things but then having Ron able to help...