2009-2010 Player Profiles: Johan Franzen...

OK, it’s that time of year. Hockey’s so close that you can almost taste it. By my count, there are 16 days remaining before the Wings kick off their season in Sweden (which is still entirely too many, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel). In order to pass the time, I’ll be posting a player profile every day until then (in alphabetical order, because I’m one of those people). I want to make it very clear that these are not predictions, because I do not, under any circumstance, make predictions. They’re simply my thoughts on each player’s performances last season, and my hopes and expectations for them this time around. Today’s subject:

Johan Franzen


2008-2009 Regular Season: 71 GP, 34-25-59, +/- 21, 44 PIM
2009 Playoffs: 23 GP, 12-11-23, +/- 8, 12 PIM

Season Highlight: This goal, but stealing Patrick Kane’s mouthguard comes in a close second.
Season Lowlight: I still can’t believe that Huet made this save. Things ended up working out in OT, but…ooohhhhh the net was wide open.

The Mule had another great season last year, which shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone who follows the team. While we didn’t see anything quite like his series against the Avalanche in ’08, it was a solid season through and through. He also joined the legion of Wings for life with his long-term Cap-circumventing contract extension, and I couldn’t be more happy. It was pretty much assumed that the Wings could afford to keep either or Marian Hossa, and there’s obviously a reason why Ken Holland chose to keep Franzen in the Winged Wheel. Also, I don’t think my brother could’ve handled the distress of seeing his man-crush leave the team.

While he put up good point totals last season, but I think he can do better. The Wings need Franzen to show that choosing him over Hossa was the right choice (which I’m personally already sold on). Showing up in full force for games in November and December instead of waiting for March to turn it on would go a long way toward helping the Wings make up for the offense they lost this off season. Mostly, he needs to stay healthy and continue doing his power forward thing. He’s got a great shot, as well as great hands, and he can score highlight reel goals as often as he gets those “ugly goals” that come from driving to the net. You just never know when he’s going to do something like this or this.

What he needs to do to make me happy: Continue feeding my brother’s massive man-crush on him.