"Ron Francis never had designs on being a head coach, for the Carolina Hurricanes or any other NHL team.

When Francis was asked to become associate head coach of the Canes in December 2008, he readily agreed and went behind the bench. For most of the past three seasons, he assisted head coach Paul Maurice while also continuing to work as the team's director of player personnel.

But the plan, Francis said in an interview last week, was always to return to the Hurricanes' front office. That was never in doubt, and that's what he will now do as director of hockey operations. It's a new title for Francis, but it carries many of the same duties he had before as assistant general manager.

"If you go back and check my comments when I was playing, I think I said I didn't want to coach," Francis said, smiling. "But the situation presented itself, and I was asked to go down and help out.

"I enjoyed my time down there. I think it's a valuable learning experience. You get to understand the dynamics of what happens at the other end of the room."

The coaches' offices, that is. Francis had a Hall of Fame hockey career, winning Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and leading the Canes into the 2002 Stanley Cup finals, but he rarely ventured into the coaching areas of the rinks.

But when Peter Laviolette was fired as Carolina's coach in December 2008 and Maurice was brought back on board, general manager Jim Rutherford wanted Francis to try coaching and to lend his expertise. It was a first for Francis, who soon was immersed in all the trappings of being a coach - the practices, meetings, video sessions, morning skates, travel, all of it."