Enh. Sucks to lose him, but assuming he's done for the regular season (and I have no reason to suspect anything else), it gives Detroit quite a bit of cap space to play with as far as replacing him (or improving defense or goaltending) goes.
Kovalchuk trade rumors, anyone? Wait till the Thrashers fall out of it, and offer up Fil, Kronwall and a #1 for Kovalchuk if he agrees to an Hossa-esque extention?
Also, stuff like this is why you load up with legit NHL depth rather than give roster spots to young kids who may or may not be fully ready. Had this injury occured absent a Bertuzzi and a Williams on the roster, things would be much more dire and the Wings would be doing things like having to play Leino 18 minutes a night.
As it is, Detroit now has the luxury to have Abdelkader up if they want to... but I suspect as far as current roster stuff goes Abby will still go down when Helm comes back, the Wings will just be able to keep May on the roster.
Well if Howard flames out like so many think/hope he will, that cap space would be better used for a goalie.
Hope?
This really sucks for this year and the long-term as Franzen is a core player and has the contract that he does. He has never really relied on speed so much so this injury might not effect him as much as it has other players. Let's just hope his strength can return.
Horrible news but you have to think of the positives. This will make the division race exciting for
the first time in a while plus we'll all get a good look at the kids. Maybe this is the type of kick in the ass the Wings need to start playing defense again.
Also, compare this team to '07-08. Franzen hadn't broken out yet, the secondary scoring was pretty much a wash ('07 Filppula, Hudler, '07 Holmstrom, Cleary, Samuelsson vs. '09 Holmstrom, '09 Filppula, Cleary, Leino, Williams, Bertuzzi), plus Stuart and Ericsson weren't on the roster. On paper, this defense is significantly better than it was in the beggining of '07-08. They just have to play like it.
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From a GM, "Detroit is the best team we've played this year. It's not even close. Their puck control is incredible...You have to hope your goalie has a great night to give you a chance."
Ken Holland: "It happened last night, I don't know exactly when," General Manager Ken Holland told the Detroit News. "It happened before he scored the goal (second period) and he played the rest of the game with it."
he played with it through what, half the game? so maybe somehow its not as serious as usual and thats why they're saying only 4 months...?
Ken Holland: "It happened last night, I don't know exactly when," General Manager Ken Holland told the Detroit News. "It happened before he scored the goal (second period) and he played the rest of the game with it."
he played with it through what, half the game? so maybe somehow its not as serious as usual and thats why they're saying only 4 months...?
Like I said in an earlier post I was almost positive I saw when it happened, now I know for a fact what I saw was it, the only thing I was confused about was he played the rest of the game, so I didn't think anything of it until obviously today. Anyway it was in the second when he was checked in the corner, and awkwardly went into the boards. I remember thinking oh no Franzen just hurt himself(guess I was right). He got up on one knee, sat there for a sec trying to shake it off slowly got up and skated off. That was that or so I thought.
Last edited by DaFranzenator: 10-09-2009 at 05:50 PM.
Swap Bertuzzi and Leino, and you've got a deal... though we all know not playing Draper and/or Maltby is unpossible.
I'd try and keep Leino with Filppula too, they are fellow countrymen and were clicking really well in training camp from the sounds of things.
As much as I often said Homer didn't belong on the first line, now having lost a player who was slated for there I think you can't really afford to lose both, because Homer is even less useful playing a 3-4 line role than up the top with two good players pretty much just screening.
I think Abdelkader will only be up until helm is good to go again, and then the 12/13th forward spots will be shared between eaves and may, but all the centers would shuffle up for zetters on pav's wing, and also leino swaps with bert.
Atleast it happened when the team was struggling to get good chemistry anyway and was looking like it needed a shuffle, rather than a few months into the season where we have lines working really well together who are suddenly broken up to accomodate.
Too bad about Franzen. I really like him a lot as a player. If I ever did all of that fantasy hockey stuff, then I would definitely have him on my team. Well, he did get injured so I guess he doesn't have much fantasy value right now.
Whether or not Babs keeps these lines will remain to be seen, but it's how they practiced:
Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary
Leino-Helm-Williams
May-Draper-Maltby (Eaves working in)
Franzen (out)
But Gator is also back up so I guess either him or Eaves will take Franzen's spot until Helm can play on Tuesday.
Filppula - Datsyuk - Homer looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Two guys who only shoot if as a last ditch effort and a guy who can barely stay on his skates.
And its no surprise that Babs is keeping Bert - Hank - Cleary together. After all, they've proven to have ZERO chemistry together at even strength, just how Babs likes it.
Wait till the Thrashers fall out of it, and offer up Fil, Kronwall and a #1 for Kovalchuk if he agrees to an Hossa-esque extention?
