Several prominent current and former players were drafted into the six teams that will make up the inaugural Euro T20 Slam in London on Friday.

The six teams - two each based in Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands - each have one designated 'icon player' and one 'marquee player'. The identities of the icon and marquee players had been set beforehand but not which teams they would represent.

Amsterdam Knights got Shane Watson as the icon player and Imran Tahir as their marquee player. Similarly, Belfast Titans got Shahid Afridi and JP Duminy, Dublin Chiefs had Eoin Morgan and Babar Azam, Edinburgh Rocks got Martin Guptill and Chris Lynn, Glasgow Giants had Brendon McCullum and Dale Steyn, while Rotterdam Rhinos had Rashid Khan and Luke Ronchi.

The draft system meant there was a lucky draw to determine who got the first pick, with the subsequent rounds following the reverse order.

The first player to be picked was Ben Cutting, by Knights. Others who were picked up in the first two rounds included Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Ravi Bopara and Matt Henry. Shaheen Afridi was the first pick in the third round, that also saw Colin Ingram, Tymal Mills and Hasan Ali being picked.

Morgan, fresh from becoming the first England captain to win the World Cup, will have a homecoming of sorts playing for his city's franchise, Chiefs. "I am proud and delighted to participate in the inaugural Euro T20 Slam," Morgan said. "You only have to look at the calibre of international and local stars who have been selected to see that it's going to be an electrifying tournament across three new T20 locations in northern Europe. It's going to be incredibly competitive and I can't wait to get going."

The tournament has Anil Kumble, the former India captain and coach, as one of the board members on the league's advisory committee.

"It is encouraging to see the growth of cricket worldwide, and I am excited to witness teams from Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland competing against each other," Kumble said. "It will be a great opportunity for local talent to rub shoulders with some of the best cricketing talent worldwide."

The matches will take place in three cities - Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Dublin - and the competition will run from August 30 to September 22.

Amsterdam Knights: Shane Watson (icon player), Imran Tahir (marquee player), Ben Cutting, Ahmed Shehzad, Sikandar Raza, Varun Chopra, Hasan Ali, Alzarri Joseph, Saad Bin Zafar, Tobias Visee, Roelof van der Merwe, Brandon Glover, Ben Cooper, Paul van Meekeren, Phillipe Boissevain, Wesley Barresi, Sikandar Zulfiqar, Tonny Staal.
Coach: Mark O'Donnell

Belfast Titans: Shahid Afridi (icon player), JP Duminy (marquee player), Luke Wright, Colin Ingram, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Ilyas, Aaron Summers, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson, Mark Adair, Boyd Rankin, Shane Getkate, Craig Young, Andy McBrine, Stuart Thompson, Greg Thompson.
Coach: Ian Pont

Dublin Chiefs: Eoin Morgan (icon player), Babar Azam (marquee player), Mohammad Amir, Harry Gurney, Daniel Christian, Robbie Frylinck, Corbin Bosch, Andy Balbirnie, Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Lorcan Tucker, Josh Little, Simi Singh, Tyrone Kane, Gareth Delaney, Harry Tector.
Coach: Daniel Vettori

Edinburgh Rocks: Martin Guptill (icon player), Chris Lynn (marquee player), Corey Anderson, Matt Henry, Tymal Mills, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anton Devcich, Dwaine Pretorius, Waqar Salamkheil, Kyle Coetzer, Calum MacLeod, Mark Watt, Michael Leask, Craig Wallace, Gavin Main, Adrian Neill, Dylan Budge, Oliver Hairs.
Coach: Mark Ramprakash

Glasgow Giants: Brendon McCullum (icon player), Dale Steyn (marquee player), Ravi Bopara, Moises Henriques, Heinrich Klaasen, JJ Smuts, Usman Shinwari, Qais Ahmad, Richie Berrington, George Munsey, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif, Matthew Cross, Tom Sole, Scott Cameron, Hamza Tahir, Michael Jones.
Coach: Lance Klusener

Rotterdam Rhinos: Rashid Khan (icon player), Luke Ronchi (marquee player), Samit Patel, Peter Trego, Fakhar Zaman, Hardus Viljoen, Shaheen Afridi, Anwar Ali, Max O'Dowd, Pieter Seelaar, Scott Edwards, Fred Klaassen, Shane Snater, Stephan Myburgh, Saqib Zulfiqar, Vivian Kingma, Bas de Leede.
Coach: Herschelle Gibbs

Australia Women 341 for 5 (Perry 116, Haynes 87) v England Women

As if it was not already clear that Ellyse Perry is the finest all-round cricketer in the women's game, she confirmed her pre-eminence on the second day of the Ashes Test at Taunton by converting her overnight 84 into a steadfast 116 that has put Australia in total command of both the match and the series.

It was Perry's second Test century in as many innings, having also racked up an unbeaten 213 at Bankstown in 2017, and by the time she was removed after five-and-three-quarter hours at the crease, she had amassed a women's Test record of 329 runs between dismissals.

On her watch, Australia batted England to the very brink of Ashes surrender, as she and Rachael Haynes added 162 for the fourth wicket, more than double the total when they had come together on the first afternoon.

And though both players fell in the final overs before lunch, that did not signal an upturn in England's fortunes - far from it. Instead, a bout of persistent rain swept across Taunton, blurring out the Quantocks and writing off 68 precious overs in which England might have begun to script their response.

In reality, however, the brief window of play reconfirmed the extent to which Australia have pulled away from their biggest rivals in the women's game. With 341 runs on the board and 200 overs left in the Test, there's only one side that can realistically win now, not least if Perry reprises the sort of bowling form that earned her 7 for 22 in the third ODI a fortnight ago.

For the time being, however, it was all about Perry's batting, as she and Haynes added 76 more runs in 32 overs of the morning session. They proceeded with caution but poise, withstanding a disciplined spell from Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole, who found the sort of full and probing lengths that had deserted them on the first day, but were unable to find a way past two solid techniques and dead-straight bats.

Having resumed on 84, Perry's progress through the 90s was glacial, in both speed and coolness. Both of her morning boundaries were things of beauty - a perfectly placed punch through the covers as Shrubsole offered a hint of width, before leaning on an effortless on-drive to ease Nat Sciver through long-on.

There was a bit of a stutter on the brink of her milestone - Haynes was over-eager in backing up on 99 and might have caused a run-out - but two balls later, a wayward shy from square leg gave away the vital overthrow to take her through to her second Test century.

It was another example of England's ropey fielding in the crucial moments. Meg Lanning had been dropped early in her innings on the first day, and now it was Haynes' turn for a life - a full-blooded pull bursting through Sophie Ecclestone's hands at square leg on 66. She couldn't quite make her luck count for three figures though - Laura Marsh straightened an offbreak into a planted foot as Haynes attempted to sweep on 87. A thin brush of glove went unnoticed by the umpire.

Perry's vigil had ended four overs earlier, as she galloped out of her crease to meet Marsh on the full, and scuffed a low clip to Heather Knight at midwicket. She grimaced as she departed, but not before an appreciative handshake from Knight herself, which was as much an acknowledgement of England's series situation as of Perry's supremacy.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill will rejoin the team at training camp after the NFL determined that he will not be disciplined under the league's personal conduct policy following an investigation into allegations of child abuse.

The NFL said in a statement Friday that it could not determine whether Hill, 25, violated the personal conduct policy and will not suspend him.

"Based on the evidence presently available, the NFL cannot conclude that Mr. Hill violated the Personal Conduct Policy," the NFL said in a statement Friday. "Accordingly, he may attend Kansas City's training camp and participate in all club activities. He has been and will continue to be subject to conditions set forth by the District Court, Commissioner [Roger] Goodell, and the Chiefs, which include clinical evaluation and therapeutic intervention."

Following the NFL's announcement, the Chiefs said in a statement that "it is appropriate for Tyreek to return to the team at the start of training camp," which begins July 27 at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.

"The club fully supports the conditions for return laid out by the league and will continue to monitor any new developments in the case," the team said. "We are glad to welcome Tyreek back to the team and look forward to the start of training camp next week."

Hill also released a statement via Twitter, in which he thanked the league, the National Football League Players Association and the Chiefs, among others, while vowing to continue to work hard as a teammate and a father.

Love you guys !!!✌? pic.twitter.com/QWKA7ia37i

— Ty Hill (@cheetah) July 19, 2019

The league left open the possibility of revisiting Hill's case should further information come out through police.

Earlier this month, Kansas City station 610 KCSP aired the full audio recording of an argument between Hill and his ex-fiancée, Crystal Espinal, in which the wide receiver denied committing assault and battery against Espinal -- a charge he pleaded guilty to in August 2015.

During the argument, Espinal accused Hill of abusing the couple's 3-year-old son, who had suffered a broken arm. The boy's injury led to an investigation into possible child abuse, but Hill was not charged with a crime, as the district attorney's office announced in April that it could not determine how the injuries were inflicted.

The NFL said it was not given access to information in the court proceedings.

"Local law enforcement authorities have publicly advised that the available evidence does not permit them to determine who caused the child's injuries," the league said.

A partial recording of Hill and Espinal's argument was broadcast in April by television station KCTV5 and led to the wide receiver being barred from the Chiefs' facility.

Hill had an eight-hour meeting with NFL investigators on June 26 to discuss the case involving his son. A league source told ESPN's Dan Graziano earlier this month that NFL investigators had heard the full recording and were factoring it into their discussions on potential discipline for Hill.

"Throughout this investigation, the NFL's primary concern has been the well-being of the child," the league said Friday. "Our understanding is that the child is safe and that the child's ongoing care is being directed and monitored by the Johnson County District Court and the Johnson County Department for Children and Families."

The Kansas Department of Children and Families has been looking into possible child abuse, battery or neglect.

CHICAGO -- Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh stood by comments made Thursday in which he said controversy has followed former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer "everywhere he's been."

"I don't think it was anything that was new, or anything of a bombshell," Harbaugh said during Day 2 of Big Ten media days on Friday. "It's things that you all understand and have written about."

Meyer retired after last season in the wake of domestic violence allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith.

"Urban Meyer's had a winning record. Really phenomenal record everywhere he's been," Harbaugh said on The Athletic's "The TK Show" podcast Thursday. "But also, controversy follows everywhere he's been."

Meyer coached the Buckeyes for seven seasons and won a national title in 2014, but last season began with a three-game suspension after an investigation determined he mishandled allegations of domestic abuse against Smith.

Meyer returned and finished the regular season, but he announced his retirement Dec. 4. His final game came in the Buckeyes' 28-23 win over Washington in the Rose Bowl.

Meyer also won two national titles as head coach of the Florida Gators from 2005 to 2010, but he was often criticized for the number of off-the-field incidents involving his players. During his six seasons with the Gators, 31 of his players were arrested, some on serious charges.

CHICAGO -- As Ryan Day prepares for his first season as coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, he's following advice from another young coach who entered a similar situation in 2017: Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley.

Day called Riley "a great resource" during his preparation to succeed Urban Meyer with the Buckeyes, and the two talked at the NFL draft in April.

Riley followed in the footsteps of Bob Stoops, who won a national championship and 10 Big 12 titles with Oklahoma before retiring in 2017. Meyer led Ohio State to three Big Ten titles and a national championship in 2014 -- his third as a head coach -- before retiring in December.

"He's one of the few guys who I thought could probably relate to the situation," Day told ESPN of Riley at Big Ten media days. "The best advice he gave me was: 'Don't worry about anything in terms of changing, anything like that. Just make sure you do what's right.'

"I thought that was a great point because a lot of people ask, 'What are you changing? What's this? What's that?' If something works, you've got to make sure you do what's right. That's what I've done."

In his two seasons as head coach, Riley has gone 24-4 with two Big 12 titles and two playoff appearances. He's had two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who have gone No. 1 in the NFL draft -- Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield. In 2017, Riley won his first road game against Ohio State, a team coached by Meyer with Day serving as co-offensive coordinator.

Riley said Monday at Big 12 media days that Oklahoma and Ohio State have similar expectations and pressure to win. But he said Day is equipped to handle his new job with the Buckeyes.

"He's done a tremendous job everywhere he's been, so I fully expect he's going to go do well," Riley said. "But the easy answer is, you better have success. It's the same thing with me when I took over [for] Bob. A place like Oklahoma or Ohio State, those places, it's not the easiest thing to do, but it's a pretty simple answer. And do it the right way, which he will.

"He seems like a great guy. He really seems unfazed by it. I didn't get a sense at all that he wasn't ready for it. He seemed completely ready, confident in it. That says a lot."

Day also talked with Riley about calling offensive plays as the head coach, which he plans to do at Ohio State, as well as time-management challenges. But maintaining continuity was a theme, as both men follow Hall of Fame-caliber coaches and take over championship-level teams.

"Don't just change something to change something, just to say it's yours," Day said.

Added Riley: "I don't think they would have hired a guy who's going to come in and just revamp everywhere. It's the same way at Oklahoma. If things are going well, they're not going to try to just go hire the compete opposite of that person. So be yourself. You have to. They believed in you, and you better believe in yourself."

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- After playing just two rounds in the past month, Tiger Woods said he needs a break and will head back to Florida to rest up for the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs.

An admirable 1-under-par 70 that included bogeys on the final two holes at Royal Portrush on Friday meant a disappointing end to The Open and the major season for Woods, who after the jubilation of winning the Masters in April has played just four tournaments with little success.

The back problems that led to four surgeries in the past five years resurfaced, seemingly worse than at any time in the past two years that saw a resurgence to No. 5 in the world and two victories, including his 15th major championship.

"I just want some time off just to get away from it," Woods said after finishing at 148, 6 over par, well off the 36-hole cut number. "I had a long trip to Thailand [for a family vacation after the U.S. Open], and then trying to get ready for this event, to play this event, it's been a lot of travel, a lot of time in the air, a lot of moving around and different hotels and everything. I just want to go home."

Woods said he didn't feel much better than he did Thursday, when he made a single birdie and shot his highest first round in The Open (78) and his worst overall since an 81 at the 2002 Open. But he played far better, hitting 14 greens in regulation and several excellent longer shots.

What seemed to plague him, again, were the shorter shots, which require more bending and appear to put more pressure on the lower back area. Woods has often said the stance for those swings gave him the most trouble.

Over two days, Woods played the six par-5s in 2 over, failing to birdie any of them. He took 32 putts in each round.

"I kind of grinded my way around the golf course today," he said. "I had a chance to get it back to even par for the tournament. I didn't handle the par-5s well. I was in perfect position on all three of them. If I handled those par-5s well, I would be right there."

Well, he would have been in the mix to make the 36-hole cut, which he failed to do in a major for the second time this year and 10th time in his career. Woods has now missed 20 cuts in his career on the PGA Tour (21 worldwide), three of those coming in the past two years.

Skipping next week's WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational is only a surprise when you consider how hard he pushed to make the tournament a year ago, when it was played at Firestone Country Club. Woods is now exempt for all of the World Golf Championship events -- he's won 18 of them -- and next week's tournament in Memphis would get him some warm weather and automatic world ranking and FedEx Cup points.

But it always seemed unlikely that Woods, 43, would compete in five of six weeks.

Instead, he will head home to Florida, with hopes of getting ready for a three-week stretch of FedEx playoff events that begins with the Northern Trust at Liberty National in New Jersey on Aug. 8.

"I'm going to take a couple of weeks off and get ready for the playoffs," Woods said. "We've got the playoffs coming up, and anything can happen. Last year I almost stole the whole FedEx Cup at the very end. If it wasn't for [Justin Rose's] little break there at the bunker, it could have been interesting. So get ready for those events. And after that then have a break."

Woods finished second in the FedEx Cup to Rose last year after winning the Tour Championship at East Lake, where he entered the event 20th in the standings. He presently is 23rd and will have some work to do at the first two playoff events at Liberty National and Medinah to assure a spot in the final event.

Once there, he will play under a different format that will not have a regular tournament winner but only an overall FedEx Cup champ based on a stroke-based seeding system.

Following the Tour Championship late next month, Woods' only scheduled events at this point are a PGA Tour event in Japan in October, the Hero World Challenge in early December and the Presidents Cup.

"I just have to continue doing what I'm doing," he said. "I've gotten so much stronger over the past year working with my physios and trying to get my body organized so that I can play at a high level. It panned out; I won a major championship this year.

"It's just a matter of being consistent. That's one of the hardest things to accept as an older athlete is that you're not going to be as consistent as you were at 23. Things are different. And I'm going to have my hot weeks. I'm going to be there in contention with a chance to win, and I will win tournaments.

"But there are times when I'm just not going to be there. And that wasn't the case 20-some-odd years ago. I had a different body, and I was able to be a little bit more consistent."

Editor's note: Alex Rodriguez has a unique relationship with the four players voted into the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame class. He was teammates with three of them (Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina) and played against Roy Halladay throughout their careers. In the days leading up to their enshrinement in Cooperstown, New York, A-Rod shares the stories of those stars -- as teammates, competitors and friends -- in his own words.

• A-Rod on: Mariano Rivera | Edgar Martinez

Mike Mussina didn't call me Alex. Maybe that was too formal for him. He didn't call me A-Rod. Maybe because he wasn't comfortable using the nickname that was often used by broadcasters and writers.

He called me Al and he was the only one who did that all the time (Derek Jeter sometimes called me Al, and Phil Hughes did, too -- though Phil called me a lot of things), as Mike and I developed a great odd-couple friendship. I was a 305 kid, from Miami, and he grew up in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, a few miles east of Williamsport. My father had left our family when I was young, and at the time I knew Mike, his parents had lived in the same house Mike's entire life. I had passed up college to sign with the Mariners right out of high school, and Mike became an All-American at Stanford, earning his degree in economics.

We shared the same clubhouse, but Mike's space was and always will be distinctly his own. I might be in a back room at Yankee Stadium and, like a lot of my teammates, avoiding too much time in front of reporters. Mike, on the other hand, would sit at his locker doing a crossword puzzle, very different in his interests and perspective.

But he extended himself to me, in a very Moose kind of way, after we became teammates.

Before that, he drove me crazy because of how he thought and executed his pitches. I had limited success against him, a .250 average in 64 at-bats, with five homers and 17 strikeouts, often failing to pick up the ball in his delivery. He threw right over the top, with his self-taught mechanics, and then would jump at you as he released a pitch, and his combination of pitches was lethal. A fastball in the low-to-mid 90s. A knuckle-curve he learned as a kid, in the 78-to-81 mph range. A changeup that seemed to have a parachute attached. He constantly scrambled his pitch sequences, and as I tried to guess along with him, it felt like I was always wrong. He was like a poker player who could always read me and my hand, and I had no idea what he was thinking.

After I was traded to the Yankees, I had trouble in New York early one season, and struggled to find a solution -- and it was Moose who pointed me in the right direction. Like Mariano Rivera, Mussina would chase down fly balls in BP as part of his cardio work, and typically, he'd be in right-center or center field for that. But one day, as I went through my own regimen of ground balls at third base, I noticed Moose move from the outfield to the screen they have set up near second base, and then, suddenly, he was standing behind me, his arms folded across his chest, silent. Initially, I thought he might be positioning himself for a conversation with somebody he knew on the other team.

But he remained there. Silent.

I turned and gave him a nod of greeting. "Hey, Moose."

He said hi, and remained in place. Silent.

"Did you want to talk to me?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah, when you're done," he replied.

With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, and knowing Mike, I understand why the conversation went this way. Moose is a private person, from a town of 4,000 people, who lives in a place in the woods at the end of a long driveway that he plows himself in the winter. He wants his space and will always respectfully give space to others, and he was not going to simply lecture me about what was running through his mind. Rather, he waited for me to open the door to the conversation, and I had done that by asking if he needed something. I knew that if Moose made the effort to come to talk with me, he believed in what he was going to say.

After my last ground ball, I stepped back next to him. "What's up?" I asked.

"How do you feel?"

"I feel like s---," I replied. "How does it look?"

With that, I gave him the chance to tell me what he saw, and his observations were detailed and user-friendly. "You're just over-swinging," he said.

He went on to explain that when he pitched to me in the past, he was always wary of power. Back when I was with the Mariners, he said, I could take a nice, steady swing and flip the ball into the right-field stands, and from the perspective of the pitcher, that's what was most dangerous.

"All you really have to do is get the ball on the barrel," he said, "and my job was to keep it off the barrel."

There's no need for you to take big swings, Moose explained in so many words -- just keep your swing under control, focus on making contact, and you will do damage. It was as helpful as any advice I got in my career, and because it came from someone I hadn't hit, it meant more than anything I'd hear from a hitting coach.

I used his thought when I took batting practice that night and felt different right away, and after that, he would give me a look and a gesture to remind me that, sometimes, 60 percent effort in a swing is better than 100 percent. What was so great about the advice is that it was evergreen, and I could go back to it.

We'd go to lunch or dinner, and I really enjoyed those -- he is so damn smart, with an acerbic wit, and it was always a fascinating conversation. About investing, about his time at Stanford, his collection of cars, or some dynamic going on with the team. He was thoughtful in those discussions, and had strong, strong opinions, but was always open for a great debate.

Moose was such a routine guy. I loved that he did those crossword puzzles every day. He was consistent in what he wore every day: jeans, a polo shirt, glasses and a hat. Once he put his uniform on, it was always the same way: black low-top Nikes, cut-off shirt.

He knew what worked for him, and understood the way he needed to get hitters out. Moose would say, "I shouldn't even bother to go to the pitchers' meeting today because I'm going to pitch to my strength." What difference does it make, Moose believed, what Kevin Brown was going to do, because his repertoire was very dissimilar, with a power sinker -- and Mussina's fastball didn't move the same way, so any scouting information that could work for Brown might not work for Moose. And he's not someone who's going to waste his time or his energy for stupidity, and he measures his words very carefully.

When I started with the Yankees, I was under the impression that he was somewhat distant with other players, but by the time he made his last start, in 2008, I can tell you that he was revered in our clubhouse. I'll never forget that last game he pitched, in Boston, to pick up his 20th win in a season for the first time in his career, and how happy everyone was for him.

Of course, he went out on his own terms: He had 280 wins and there may have been some players who would hang on to hit a big round number like 300. But Moose knows who he is and what he wants, and he wanted to return to Montoursville after that season, to coach and watch his kids grow up, the way his parents watched him. I guarantee that after he makes his induction speech this weekend, he'll climb into his car and head home, a place he loves and where he feels he belongs.

The still-unnamed Seattle franchise is still two years away from debuting in the NHL, but the league's 32nd team has its first GM. That's Ron Francis, the Hall of Fame player who spent four years as the Carolina Hurricanes GM, before being demoted then fired under new owner Tom Dundon in 2018.

Francis lands a coveted job in Seattle, and has about 27 months before the 2021-22 season opener. The biggest challenge for Francis and his new squad? Matching expectations that the Vegas Golden Knights set on (and off) the ice when they redefined success for an expansion franchise in 2017-18. In a candid conversation with ESPN, Francis discusses how he landed the job, his thoughts on watching the Canes' playoff run this spring, when he'll look to fill out his staff, what he's looking for in his players and coach, and whether he believes other GMs will alter their approach to the expansion draft this time around.

ESPN: When did the job first become a possibility for you?

Ron Francis: I got involved with Hockey Canada at the World Championships -- I was on the management team with Ron Hextall -- and we were in Slovakia pretty much for the month of May. I would be lying if I didn't say the passion and the fire to get back in the game started coming back; you're around NHL coaches and players and people. Not long after that [team president] Tod Leiweke gave me a call and asked if I would be interested in the Seattle position. Then we started talking. The more I heard about what their vision was and what they wanted to build, the more excited I became. I feel fortunate they were willing to give me this opportunity.

ESPN: Who did you talk to through the interview process?

Francis: My first dinner was with Tod and [team COO] Victor DeBonis. The next morning I had breakfast with Tod. They put a hard hat and goggles on me and wheeled me around the construction site. They showed me what they were building and what things would look like, and it was extremely impressive. Then -- and I thought this was pretty interesting -- I got to spend some time with the staff that Tod had assembled and to hear what everybody did and what their role was. It was impressive to me, not only at how talented a group they were, but the came across as a group that loved what they were doing and were having fun doing it.

I spent some time interviewing with [Amazon executive/team minority owner] Andy Jassy, at that point, the next time I came out I met with Tim Leiweke a little bit then had interviews with six, seven, eight of the different owners and met them. As we kept progressing forward, it became apparent to me that it was a special opportunity, and a great city that offers a great quality of life; it doesn't hurt that we'd be one of six teams that has no state income tax. So I think it will be a destination place that players, especially free agents, want to consider.

ESPN: In talking to Tod, I get the sense that he wants to do things a little differently with this team -- not necessarily follow every mold of the other 31 teams. Was there anything he mentioned to you that felt different or new?

Francis: I've always been a fan of analytics, maybe they want to up that area of what we're doing and be on the forefront there, and do some innovative things. Technology, especially in this market, is very important. So I think we'll be doing some cool things with technology. The biggest thing for me, that I took from all the meetings, is how they want to operate. All of their decisions come down to: do you want to do something right or do something less than right? They'll do things right. They're not cutting corners anywhere. They want to treat their staff, treat their players, their fans, the people of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest with the utmost respect and give them something special.

ESPN: How much has Las Vegas, and comparisons to Las Vegas, come up in conversations?

Francis: I got asked that question at the press conference, and I said, 'I used to joke before I took this position I'd like to be the second GM in Seattle, not the first one, because of what Vegas did.' But this is a different setup. I think if you go back and listen to the comments that Vegas had leading up to the expansion draft, their plan was to draft and develop well and be patient in the process. I think George [McPhee] and Kelly [McCrimmon] did a fantastic job, they had a unbelievable first season and the franchise is in good position ever since. So hopefully we can draft some good players in the expansion draft, and draft some good players in the amateur draft, and take the time to develop those guys.

ESPN: Vegas was very clear about their expectations before their inaugural season: they wanted to be competitive in three years and compete for a Stanley Cup in six. What are your expectations?

Francis: I think you're always hoping you can be competitive out of the gate. That's part of where our focus is at, and we're going to have to really work hard in the next 23 months to make sure we're prepared for the expansion draft. We'll study the free-agent market and be ready for that as well.

ESPN: What's your timeline for filling out a staff?

Francis: I think the bulk of it, especially in the scouting realm, will be a year from now. I'm not opposed to finding a handful of guys to scout the pro level, the American league level. I do think we'll be a bit more proactive on the analytical side just so we can start collecting data, and when we get the bodies on board next summer, we already have some of those things in place.

ESPN: So you might begin scouting players this coming season?

Francis: Yeah, I'm open to it. Obviously there is the potential of the lockout next year so I do think we want to get some coverage this year, especially in the NHL and American league level in case that happens. But the plan is to go full bore on the scouting staff as we go into next summer.

ESPN: In the NHL, GMs tend to hire people they know or people they've worked with in the past. How much will you lean on your Whalers connections for hires?

Francis: It might have been a possibility a few months ago, but they all got jobs again! Tippy [Dave Tippett] is in Edmonton, Joel [Quenneville] is in Florida, Kevin Dineen just got hired in San Diego. But there's certainly a lot of Whalers around. I think the beauty for me, having played 23 years in the league and then being involved in the management side for over 12 years, is you run across a lot of different people and make a lot of relationships, so we'll see what transpires moving forward in that regard.

ESPN: What are you most proud of in your time with the Hurricanes?

Francis: We set a plan to rebuild that organization, that was our focus. I think we were patient in doing it. I think we stuck to the plan as we moved forward. I think the guys that I had and worked with there did a real good job in rebuilding that organization, and they're set up to have success for many years moving forward. I'm excited for that. The fans in Raleigh, they certainly deserve it.

ESPN: How much of their playoff run did you watch?

Francis: I watched a little bit of the first part, but then I was in Slovakia and Austria from May 1 to May 28 so I missed a significant portion when I was overseas.

ESPN: What was it like watching them and seeing how far they made it?

Francis: It's kind of bittersweet. You're happy for them, but there's a lot of guys who put a lot of work in to that and should have been around. What happened there afforded me to take this position. So I've turned the page.

ESPN: You're uprooting your family and moving them across the country. Was that a difficult decision? Did you need to do any convincing?

Francis: Yeah, I mean it wasn't like we were moving down the street. We are pretty much going coast to coast, which is a big move. I'm very fortunate, my wife has been a part of this industry a while. We've been married for 31 years and dated for five before that. We had a saying in Hartford: "life on a hockey stick." She was willing to make the move.

My youngest has one more year at university and then he's free to choose where he wants to go. My middle one is working at a good job in North Carolina so I think he's content on being there at this point. My oldest currently lives in LA, so she's a short flight away.

ESPN: The Vegas expansion draft was the first one in a while, and featured new restrictions. It seemed like some GMs tried to get too cute and made side deals that might have backfired in the end. Do you think teams will be savvier this time around?

Francis: People have gone through it once, so they know there are things they would do differently. I think some GMs take some criticism for that, but at the end of the day, if there's a player you're worried about losing that you know can play and know can help your lineup, then you have to give up a pick that may or may not turn into a player or a prospect that may or may not turn into a player. I don't think you can blame a GM for trying to keep the player that he knows can play or help his team be successful.

ESPN: What some are attributes you're looking for in guys that will be on your opening night roster?

Francis: Today's game is a fast-paced game so you've got to be able to skate. I want a team that's competitive, a lot of character. It's not always going to be smooth over an 82-game season so you're going to want the character that can help pull you through these tough times. Personally, I like skill and hockey sense. It doesn't hurt to have a little size and toughness in your lineup as you head into the playoffs.

ESPN: What are you looking for in a coach?

Francis: The one thing I'll be looking for is experience, especially at the NHL level. You're trying to pull all these different players who have played for different lineups and never really spent time together, so you want someone who has been there and has been through it. I think experience, for sure, is an important attribute for the first coach who is hired.