Injury Report: Cody Franson : Bruised Kneecap

[Delicious Dangles*]

On one hand, hate to see any player get injured. Looked painful.

On the other hand, this makes our team better.

 

[Morguee]

What! Cody hurt his knee cap...

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

Hope Franson is ok.

 

[CoveySteele]

Our best offensive defenceman goes down with a knee injury and all people can do is chastise his weak points and say good-riddance? I swear half of this board is bi-polar.

Not only is Franson great in the offensive zone (keeps pucks in at the point, low and accurate shot, knows when to cycle along the boards to stay away from pressure, slap passes to JVR for days) but is no liability in the defensive zone. His foot speed is a step or two slower then most but that is only exposed in the transition plays or if he gets caught with no support at the blue line. In fact, I would like to see people watch some games fully again and pay attention to Franson in the D zone. He doesn't chase players too far up the boards, always lays forearms to the back, has an active and long stick and knows when to vacate the front of the net and chase.

Reminds me a bunch of another goat for maple leaf fans, Bryan Mccabe. Played eight years in the NHL before finding chemistry with Kaberle on the power play and exploding for points. He was an essential part of our winning team and yet fans couldn't stand his blunders.

I hope Cody sticks around and finds real chemistry with one of our young puck movers. Give us a real potent first powerplay unit.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Our best offensive defenceman goes down with a knee injury and all people can do is chastise his weak points and say good-riddance? I swear half of this board is bi-polar.

Not only is Franson great in the offensive zone (keeps pucks in at the point, low and accurate shot, knows when to cycle along the boards to stay away from pressure, slap passes to JVR for days) but is no liability in the defensive zone. His foot speed is a step or two slower then most but that is only exposed in the transition plays or if he gets caught with no support at the blue line. In fact, I would like to see people watch some games fully again and pay attention to Franson in the D zone. He doesn't chase players too far up the boards, always lays forearms to the back, has an active and long stick and knows when to vacate the front of the net and chase.

Reminds me a bunch of another goat for maple leaf fans, Bryan Mccabe. Played eight years in the NHL before finding chemistry with Kaberle on the power play and exploding for points. He was an essential part of our winning team and yet fans couldn't stand his blunders.

I hope Cody sticks around and finds real chemistry with one of our young puck movers. Give us a real potent first powerplay unit.

So how do you expect us to stand Franson's blunders when we're not a playoff team?

 

[Gary Batman]

Our best offensive defenceman goes down with a knee injury and all people can do is chastise his weak points and say good-riddance? I swear half of this board is bi-polar.

Not only is Franson great in the offensive zone (keeps pucks in at the point, low and accurate shot, knows when to cycle along the boards to stay away from pressure, slap passes to JVR for days) but is no liability in the defensive zone. His foot speed is a step or two slower then most but that is only exposed in the transition plays or if he gets caught with no support at the blue line. In fact, I would like to see people watch some games fully again and pay attention to Franson in the D zone. He doesn't chase players too far up the boards, always lays forearms to the back, has an active and long stick and knows when to vacate the front of the net and chase.

Reminds me a bunch of another goat for maple leaf fans, Bryan Mccabe. Played eight years in the NHL before finding chemistry with Kaberle on the power play and exploding for points. He was an essential part of our winning team and yet fans couldn't stand his blunders.

I hope Cody sticks around and finds real chemistry with one of our young puck movers. Give us a real potent first powerplay unit.

As I said earlier, Leafs problem is players who can't play defensive hockey and Franson is one of them.

Our scoring is fine with/without Franson.

 

[Budsfan]

He certainly gets a lot of barbs thrown at him in this forum but if he is lost for any appreciable time, he will be missed and hopefully it will be a day-to-day injury and not something serious.

 

[Mess]

So how do you expect us to stand Franson's blunders when we're not a playoff team?

Franson lead the Leafs defense in scoring the past 2 years.

When players lead the team by position in points their weaknesses are often overlooked even on a non playoff teams.

 

[Christ]

That's awful. As a group, they would have trouble with AHL teams.

That is interesting considering that the three added defensemen are actually pretty darn good in the AHL...

 

[Christ]

Franson lead the Leafs defense in scoring the past 2 years.

When players lead the team by position in points their weaknesses are often overlooked even on a non playoff teams.

That must be why Toronto Fans were so easy on McCabe...

 

[leafsgirl12]

If they're talking knee cap, it's not a stinger. I had problems playing from going into the boards knee first a couple times. Swelled up like a balloon full of water.

it looked serious he could not put no weight on his left leg and his teamates had to help him off the ice

 

[leafsgirl12]

I don't see how this is a blessing. Robidas could possibly not be available in time to start the season and Tallinder's injury means he'll likely be released. Franson might not be a stud, but I don't think our AHL defencemen are NHL ready and I'm not entirely sold on Polak. I think this is a problem.

Brendan Mikkelson is one of the few defenseman the marlies recently signed with nhl experience.

 

[RedRenegade]

I thought Franson was skating well in this game, especially early on. We even commented that he looked faster. Watching this play live it looked like a penalty since he was taken down even getting to the puck. The Sabres player went over him and looked like he gave him a pat and maybe said something along the lines of sorry or it was an accident.

An annoying Buffalo guy sitting behind me yelled 'he's a bit**' when Franson went down into the boards. I turned around and said stay classy buddy. The guy definitely had too many beers and was lucky not to get punched out. He took off before the overtime started.

 

[Commander Clueless]

It offsets with us removing his goal-against-per-game giveaways

Does it really, though? I haven't seen much out of Holzer or Granberg that suggests they are definitively better defensively at the full NHL level than Franson is (yet anyway). I don't know. They might be better on the D side, but it's not a sure thing.

Percy is probably the highest IQ defenseman we have, but his footspeed looks like it will hold him back at the next level (this year, anyway). Hopefully he can work on that.


Sink or swim time for the kids, though, so it's not all doom and gloom.

 

[mcleex]

Gonna really miss Franson on the PP. His shot from the point no doubt but the guy's passing on the PP is beautiful

 

[paulhiggins]

Ashton for a vet D imminent?

 

[Wendelstache]

we only can get better with this pylon out.

chance for gardiner and reilly to step up.

 

[CoveySteele]

As I said earlier, Leafs problem is players who can't play defensive hockey and Franson is one of them.

Our scoring is fine with/without Franson.

I don't think we watch the same hockey then.

I think Franson is excellent is his own zone. He gets caught flat footed at the blue line sometimes (as all offensive defenseman do at times) and doesn't have the foot speed to close in the distance like elite players do.

Last season he had 3-4 terrible turn overs in our zone on outlet passes. They were burned into peoples minds and he has been vilified for them. Watch some games from last season and count how many proper passes he makes, how many smart plays he makes, how well he spaces out players and the puck and compare it to his blunders. Willing to bet you see a defender who is most certainly top-4 on this team.

 

[Duke Silver]

I don't think we watch the same hockey then.

I think Franson is excellent is his own zone. He gets caught flat footed at the blue line sometimes (as all offensive defenseman do at times) and doesn't have the foot speed to close in the distance like elite players do.

Last season he had 3-4 terrible turn overs in our zone on outlet passes. They were burned into peoples minds and he has been vilified for them. Watch some games from last season and count how many proper passes he makes, how many smart plays he makes, how well he spaces out players and the puck and compare it to his blunders. Willing to bet you see a defender who is most certainly top-4 on this team.

This is pretty much in contradiction to everything the rest of us have seen.

3-4 terrible turnovers? Like in a week?

 

[IWD]

Offense isn't the problem with this team. This team can't play defense. Neither can Franson.

Only way Franson helps is by helping us outscore our problems.

I don't think we are missing anything here, given his lack of defensive awareness.

That's rather dismissive. Franson contributes a lot to this team. His defensive short-comings aside (he's actually only a little below average defensively), there's no reason to drop him when he, statistically, plays an important role on our offense. If our offense isn't a problem, then perhaps we should keep our offense until we have a significant upgrade.

His defensive game is really slammed a lot more than it should be. He's a PP specialist, and a third pairing defenseman. I don't know what people are expecting. These guys normally play on the third pairing for a reason, and in controlled roles. Anyone who we want to replace his offense is going to have to prove that they're not just as much of a liability. Plus, there's the question mark of whether he'll gel with the team as much as Franson.

 

[Swayze*]

I feel like this player should have been a PWF Winger and not a Dman.

 

[Kamiccolo]

I feel like this player should have been a PWF Winger and not a Dman.

Seeing as his biggest strength is his hard shot from the point, and weakest is puck handling, sure lets play him against his strengths.

 

[Swayze*]

Seeing as his biggest strength is his hard shot from the point, and weakest is puck handling, sure lets play him against his strengths.

That's PP

What about the rest of the game where he pylon's out steady?

Also, he doesn't typically even play the point on the PP. He down lower usually with Dion at the Top no?

 

[Durrr]

Franson lead the Leafs defense in scoring the past 2 years.

When players lead the team by position in points their weaknesses are often overlooked even on a non playoff teams.

I don't think anyone but Cody Franson is overlooking Cody Franson's weaknesses. No one cares if he leads the team in points, put Rielly or Gardiner in his spot on the 1st PP and you'll see how the statistics swap.

 

[IWD]

This is pretty much in contradiction to everything the rest of us have seen.

3-4 terrible turnovers? Like in a week?

I haven't seen this when I've watched games. When he messes up, it's usually seems big, but it doesn't happen that often when comparing to other players in the league who play his kind of role.