Cody Franson: same stat line, just 25 more games to achieve it

[cookie]

Year - GP - G - A - Points - +/-

12/13 - 45 - 4 - 25 - 29 - (+4)
13/14 - 70 - 4 - 25 - 29 - (-14)

What explains this shift in Franson's stats? Even with first power play time, it has taken him 25 more games to match his stat line with worse +/- and more PIMs per game.

Who has taken his sheltered minutes and have they performed accordingly or has the production been lacking? Should Franson have been given the same sheltered minutes this season as he was given last year?

I personally like Franson, at least in the other end of the ice. However, this season, he does not have the same chemistry as he did last season with Fraser BUT even then I did not expect his +/- to be so much worse! His powerplay stats for this year are surprisingly better than last year's - 4 more points albeit 2 less goals. Should he be used more like a MA Bergeron or do you think his skills warrant a different role?

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[SprDaVE]

Terrible decision making for one. Trying way too hard to make plays happen, like pinching with absolutely no support. The added minutes got to him in a bad bad way.

The lack of confidence doesn't help either. He used to be a threat on the PP, but now he can barely receive a pass or get a clean shot off. When was the last time he scored a goal from the point? His best asset has been non-existant.

 

[Diatomic]

You can see this same trend in many other players, like kadri and mcclement.

Last year was a fluke year. The bottom feeding islanders made the playoffs in a shortened season lol!

 

[Renegade]

In his defense, no one has been good offensively this season. Nobody. Phaneuf, Franson, and Gardiner have all regressed from last season. Gardiner has improved a lot as of late, but still hasn't shown the promise and hype that was expected of him. The only guys that have held their own defensively are Phaneuf and Gunnarsson.

The biggest issue for this team is the lack of defensive D men. If he could have a top 4 guy to help him out I think it would help him out a lot in both ends of the rink.

 

[BonMorrison]

It's funny because our big complaint with Franson last season was that he wasn't physical enough for his size. Apparently the coaching staff took notice too because he's now 2nd in the league in hits and a wonderful -14 to go with it. It's clear that he was at his best when he was what he was last season. A heavily sheltered, non-physical third pairing PP specialist. I would be okay with keeping him if we kept him on our third pair and not played him on the top PP unit or when trying to score a goal in the dying seconds.

 

[HEAVY DUTY]

thank god nonis held out on his contract and offered him a 1 year deal. can you imagine the disaster we would've been in if he signed a deal at 16M/4 years or 20M/5 years... yikes!

we would've been royally ****ed if we had this contract along with the clarkson deal on our cap.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

His offense is not bad.
But yeah, get him off this team

 

[Drew311]

You can see this same trend in many other players, like kadri and mcclement.

Last year was a fluke year. The bottom feeding islanders made the playoffs in a shortened season lol!

With Kadri it was just quality of competition. He was facing a lot of bottom pairing defensemen last season, now he's consistently playing against top 4's.

I actually think Franson has played his best hockey the last few weeks. He's not giving the puck away, but he's also not putting it in the net. Considering how bad he was defensively the first ~60 games, I can stomach him not putting up points as long as he's not making glaring mistakes in his own zone.

 

[Duke Silver]

With Kadri it was just quality of competition. He was facing a lot of bottom pairing defensemen last season, now he's consistently playing against top 4's.

I actually think Franson has played his best hockey the last few weeks. He's not giving the puck away, but he's also not putting it in the net. Considering how bad he was defensively the first ~60 games, I can stomach him not putting up points as long as he's not making glaring mistakes in his own zone.

Desperate effort on Nyquist's first goal the other night.

 

[Semantics]

WOW, his numbers have really dropped off lately. Earlier in the year he was on pace for around 40-50 points.

Now he's only ahead of Morgan Rielly by 4 points, despite playing more games and being on the FIRST PP UNIT!

I'm glad his numbers are coming down to earth and exposing him for the scrub he is.

 

[Duke Silver]

ONE powerplay point in his last 20 games.

 

[Teeder9]

I think this offseason is Nonis' only chance to get rid of some of these guys. If we sign Franson to a contract other gm's see as too much, we're stuck with him and that goes for Reimer as well. We need to trade them pre-contract and let the other team make the deal. He'll still want 3m and the fact is, we don't need him anyway with Gardiner and Rielly here, and Finn coming at some point

 

[egd27]

WOW, his numbers have really dropped off lately. Earlier in the year he was on pace for around 40-50 points.

Now he's only ahead of Morgan Rielly by 4 points, despite playing more games and being on the FIRST PP UNIT!

I'm glad his numbers are coming down to earth and exposing him for the scrub he is.

Yeah, it's great.

 

[blue82]

makes you wonder if the hold out at the bigginning of the year had any affect, although PK subban won the norris after holding out last year so we can shoot down that excuse before it pops up again

 

[BrannigansLaw]

He sucks. It's too bad too because after that Boston series I thought he would be a significant part of this team moving forward.

Like Phaneuf, he's too slow and too dumb.

 

[Ricky Bobby]

Year - GP - G - A - Points - +/-

12/13 - 45 - 4 - 25 - 29 - (+4)
13/14 - 70 - 4 - 25 - 29 - (-14)

What explains this shift in Franson's stats? Even with first power play time, it has taken him 25 more games to match his stat line with worse +/- and more PIMs per game.

Who has taken his sheltered minutes and have they performed accordingly or has the production been lacking? Should Franson have been given the same sheltered minutes this season as he was given last year?

I personally like Franson, at least in the other end of the ice. However, this season, he does not have the same chemistry as he did last season with Fraser BUT even then I did not expect his +/- to be so much worse! His powerplay stats for this year are surprisingly better than last year's - 4 more points albeit 2 less goals. Should he be used more like a MA Bergeron or do you think his skills warrant a different role?

Franson simply had a good year last year and he was put in a position to succeed. Meanwhile Kostka was asked to play far beyond his capabilities and got exposed.

This year Franson is being asked to play above his capabilities just like Kostka was and is being exposed. At least Franson is helping insulate Rielly from getting exposed.

After this season Franson needs to go. Gardiner + Rielly can handle more PP minutes. This needs to replace Franson with a solid vet who can spell defence. Replace Franson with someone like Robidas, Salo, Mitchell, Stralman and this team is much improved.