TSN: Maple Leafs have offers for D Franson (prefer to re-sign him)

[Prominence]

Not that I want Franson here, because I don't, but, when that guy comes out of the box, who do you want on the ice, Phaneuf and Franson or Gardiner and Reilly?

What does not make sense is why RC does not put a smooth skating defenseman with a slapper on the first pairing with an incredibly mobile deliveryman albeit rookie with a slowpoke whose shot can reach the net?

 

[Donato]

Franson is worth more than a second.. Holland garnered a Second and a Prospect who we picked in the second round.

Franson is a right handed defence, and he's big.. its pretty rare. I wouldn't doubt if some team actually thinks he has more upside to him and is willing to give us something decent. Edmonton would love him and reimer as a package for something.

 

[Trapper]

Not that I want Franson here, because I don't, but, when that guy comes out of the box, who do you want on the ice, Phaneuf and Franson or Gardiner and Reilly?

Gardiner and Rielly. Cause when all 4 of those guys are caught out of position, 2 can skate back. Phaneuf and Franson are 2 guys that can be on the ice for a breakaway, the player misses and still had time to get the puck and score on a wraparound before the other 2 get back to defensive mode.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Draft drops off at 17 and beyond. Maybe Leafs are waiting on a late 1st rd pick. If they can get this for Franson, I would pull the trigger.

 

[-DeMo-]

when rc put gardiner and rielly on pp1, it finally started to click. it makes less sense to put two poor skating pointmen on the first powerplay. this had me questions rc's iq a lot, especially when it wasn't working.

we were in the top 4 in terms of PP% all year and fell to 6th right at the end, the PP was not an issue. and never was. in the last 8 games our PP was 2/23 for an awful 8.7%, prior to that we were at 20.9% which puts us in the top 5. it was some time in those final 8 games that they started to use Gardiner/Rielly more. not before then. so no it didn't start to click they had that one nice goal off the redirect pass by Gardiner to Rielly vs Detriot but other then that they didn't produce.

 

[rdawg1234]

Draft drops off at 17 and beyond. Maybe Leafs are waiting on a late 1st rd pick. If they can get this for Franson, I would pull the trigger.

NYR makes sense to me, they badly need a shot from the point. But they already gave up their 1st i believe. wouldnt be crazy to see them offer a 2nd and 3rd for him.

SJ, ANA, COL might be other possibilities, not sure what the interest in him would be.

Yes he's got a great shot, but his defensive game has been poor, so he should really be going to a team that can shelter his minutes(we really cant).

 

[rdawg1234]

we were in the top 4 in terms of PP% all year and fell to 6th right at the end, the PP was not an issue. and never was. in the last 8 games our PP was 2/23 for an awful 8.7%, prior to that we were at 20.9% which puts us in the top 5. it was some time in those final 8 games that they started to use Gardiner/Rielly more. not before then. so no it didn't start to click they had that one nice goal off the redirect pass by Gardiner to Rielly vs Detriot but other then that they didn't produce.

Way too small of a sample size for those two, they showed alot of promise on the PP, the whole team was playing very poor those last ten games so confidence was way down, I wouldnt judge much from a team eliminated from the playoffs at that point, players dont play as well.

 

[Purity*]

Draft drops off at 17 and beyond. Maybe Leafs are waiting on a late 1st rd pick. If they can get this for Franson, I would pull the trigger.

May be a bit of a long shot but if a team is really in need of a style like Franson's it could very well happen..

 

[Canucks LB]

Draft drops off at 11 imo

 

[McMatthews]

Draft drops off at 11 imo

It's entirely possible that someone gets a 1st line player in the second half of the first. There are intriguing prospect all the way through the 2nd round. For example, Nikita Scherbak is expected to go no sooner than 15th and I think he might be a guy that could turn into a star offensive player in the right situation. There is plenty of talent.

 

[Trapper]

Draft drops off at 11 imo

I don't think you can just say the draft drops off at 11. Maybe if the best 11 players from 2014 are being picked in a row. We don't know who they all are. Somebody could have picked a player that should have been drafted at 25 and the player at 25 should of been drafted at 10. Aside from the top 3 or top 5, anything can happen.
McCann could be better than Virtanen or Ritchie.
Fiala could be better than Nylander.
We don't know and these players could be picked 15 to 20.

 

[Teeder9]

I don't think you can just say the draft drops off at 11. Maybe if the best 11 players from 2014 are being picked in a row. We don't know who they all are. Somebody could have picked a player that should have been drafted at 25 and the player at 25 should of been drafted at 10. Aside from the top 3 or top 5, anything can happen.
McCann could be better than Virtanen or Ritchie.
Fiala could be better than Nylander.
We don't know and these players could be picked 15 to 20.

There will be those players like every year. Looking at it right now and figuring most lists are accurate though, I'd say after the 5 of Reinhart, Bennett, Ekblad, Dal Colle and Ehlers, it drops a bit. Perhaps 6 with Draisatl, although I can't get behind him. He probably becomes a superstar.

 

[Pholus]

NYR makes sense to me, they badly need a shot from the point. But they already gave up their 1st i believe. wouldnt be crazy to see them offer a 2nd and 3rd for him.

SJ, ANA, COL might be other possibilities, not sure what the interest in him would be.

Yes he's got a great shot, but his defensive game has been poor, so he should really be going to a team that can shelter his minutes(we really cant).

I think NYI could also be a fit, they could really use a dman for their pp

 

[-DeMo-]

Way too small of a sample size for those two, they showed alot of promise on the PP, the whole team was playing very poor those last ten games so confidence was way down, I wouldnt judge much from a team eliminated from the playoffs at that point, players dont play as well.

I'm not judging them by those games, I was just pointing out the inaccuracy in the posters post that I quoted. he said the PP was bad until Reilly and Gardiner were given more time and then it got better which is actually backwards for last year, but I have no doubt they will be better in the future.

 

[Tak7]

Can you get Franson back for cheap?

Is it worth giving him another shot and simply writing off last year as one where he struggled due to missing training camp and pre-season?

I'd say yes if the money made sense, but I don't think the team should be married to the player - that blue line is awful, and needs a ton of new blood on it.

I don't think you can just say the draft drops off at 11. Maybe if the best 11 players from 2014 are being picked in a row. We don't know who they all are. Somebody could have picked a player that should have been drafted at 25 and the player at 25 should of been drafted at 10. Aside from the top 3 or top 5, anything can happen.
McCann could be better than Virtanen or Ritchie.
Fiala could be better than Nylander.
We don't know and these players could be picked 15 to 20.

I love this post. Well said.

One of the most humorous things about this time of year is listening to everyone talk like they are draft experts and acting as if there is only ONE way a draft / player will go in a few weeks time, and that everything is already set in stone regarding player projections.

Sheesh.

 

[Budsfan]

I wonder if maybe a good draft choice, possibly a late first, could be a possibility...Hmmmm.

I would like the leafs to re-sign him but....

Hope Smoke: Darren Dreger: “It’s an interesting question in terms of what the asking price might be for Franson” … “Franson’s very valuable to the Leafs. So valuable in fact that their plan is to re-sign him” … “In saying that, Nonis makes it clear every time he speaks publicly, the Leafs are open for business & listening on everybody” … “What I’m told is: whatever’s on the table, he wouldn’t get into specifics, isn’t good enough that they’ll consider making a change” … “It would have to be for either a defenseman or a piece they can put into their NHL lineup or a decent draft pick” … “Either way the Leafs are looking at their options not only with Franson but with their other players”

 

[htpwn]

What does not make sense is why RC does not put a smooth skating defenseman with a slapper on the first pairing with an incredibly mobile deliveryman albeit rookie with a slowpoke whose shot can reach the net?

That would be the smart thing to do.

... which tells you why Randy Carlyle is not doing it.

Franson is worth more than a second.. Holland garnered a Second and a Prospect who we picked in the second round.

Franson is a right handed defence, and he's big.. its pretty rare. I wouldn't doubt if some team actually thinks he has more upside to him and is willing to give us something decent. Edmonton would love him and reimer as a package for something.

I don't know if I agree that he's worth more than a 2nd, but he's certainly worth more than what the average HF member thinks, especially on the Trade Board.

As you mentioned, he's a 6'5" right-handed defenseman who can put up points. Somebody needs him to boost their PP, get more offense from the back-end, etc. He's also only 26 and was reportedly dealing with an injury last year, so some GMs may see a 'buy low' opportunity.

 

[Orfieus]

put him in a package deal to Florida to pry away their #1 IMO!

Franson+#8+Lievo

 

[achtungbaby]

Franson is worth more than a second.. Holland garnered a Second and a Prospect who we picked in the second round.

Franson is a right handed defence, and he's big.. its pretty rare. I wouldn't doubt if some team actually thinks he has more upside to him and is willing to give us something decent. Edmonton would love him and reimer as a package for something.

Edmonton is looking for mobile defensemen and/or a true number 1 dman. I think they've already covered their goalie situation picking up Scrivens and Fasth. I doubt they "love" this package as much you may think.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

put him in a package deal to Florida to pry away their #1 IMO!

Franson+#8+Lievo

... so why would Florida do this?

 

[JackJ]

Offensively he's redundant, defensively he's horrific.

 

[Al14]

Offensively he's redundant, defensively he's horrific.

Yup.

Shananonis needs to trade him as part of a package to get something we really need!

 

[masarume]

... so why would Florida do this?

Unless Franson can fetch a late 1st, that is for sure, not going to be enough. Even then we would need another late 2nd or early 3rd to move up there.

 

[Orfieus]

... so why would Florida do this?

Cause.

 

[Semantics]

Franson is worth more than a second.. Holland garnered a Second and a Prospect who we picked in the second round.

23 year old Franson was worth Brett Lebda. 26 year old Franson who hasn't shown any improvement in his game since Nashville isn't worth ****.

And Holland was only worth a second because Nonis is an idiot who throws around second round picks like candy. Nobody else was stupid enough to give up more than a 3rd rounder for a guy who will never be a top six player in the NHL.