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I miss Johan Franzen - Current similar players?

vippe

vippe

Registered User
Mar 18, 2008
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No matter how you felt about him at the time - but damn what a unique player he was.

Solid 200feet player, a bit of a pest but most of all incredible skills scoring highlight reel goals from time to time.

A couple of highlights for those who cant remember, and sorry for the quality.. some of his best stuff is long gone from the internets but found a few.





So who do we have in the league with a similar skillset?

Also, for those unaware he's been struggling heavily after suffering 5+ concussions in the NHL and suffers great from depression and barely remembers stuff day to day.
 
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vippe said:
No matter how you felt about him at the time - but damn what a unique player he was.

Solid 200feet player, a bit of a pest but most of all incredible skills scoring highlight reel goals from time to time.

Also, for those unaware he's been struggling heavily after suffering 5+ concussions in the NHL and suffers great from depression and barely remembers stuff day to day.
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I wonder how does those Dallas, Colorado and Pittsburgh players fill feel, who tried to knock him on the head all the time during 2008 & 2009 playoff series.

Because he had a weakness on his head, so let's hit him on the head! They intentionally tried to punch him on the head on intermissions. Not gonna give any names, but the head-hunt was there.

And there he is now on depressions and brain-damaged.

Freaking morons. Must feel great after a career.
 
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Henkka said:
I wonder how does those Dallas, Colorado and Pittsburgh players fill feel, who tried to knock him on the head all the time during 2008 & 2009 playoff series.

Because he had a weakness on his head, so let's hit him on the head! They intentionally tried to punch him on the head on intermissions. Not gonna give any names, but the head-hunt was there.

And there he is now on depressions and brain-damaged.

Freaking morons. Must feel great after a career.
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???
 
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Franzen was a beast in his prime, no doubt. Not sure there are many players like him these days. How about Anders Lee or Alex Killorn? Not an expert on either guy but they seem to have a nice mix of physical play and goal scoring ability.
 
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East Coast Icestyle said:
Might be way off but I always thought Hornqvist was like.him.
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Good call. I heard the recent Spittin Chiclets interview with Kris Versteeg, who briefly played in the Swedish leage at the end of his career. He said that the refs don't call anything and the play is actually rougher than the NHL because of that. I had no idea, but it might explain why Swedish hockey players are so damn tough.
 
Henkka said:
I wonder how does those Dallas, Colorado and Pittsburgh players fill feel, who tried to knock him on the head all the time during 2008 & 2009 playoff series.

Because he had a weakness on his head, so let's hit him on the head! They intentionally tried to punch him on the head on intermissions. Not gonna give any names, but the head-hunt was there.

And there he is now on depressions and brain-damaged.

Freaking morons. Must feel great after a career.
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I will - Gary Roberts. Franzen came back in the 2008 finals after being out with a brain aneurysm, and big tough guy Gary Roberts showed what a tough guy he was by sucker punching him from behind. Absolute disgrace.

As for Franzen the player, incredibly streaky. Would score 5 goals in a game, then go on a 20+ game goal less streak. One of the sad parts about his final concussions is that he was playing his best hockey in years. Playing on a line with Zetterberg and Nyquist he was in beast mode and scoring at a ppg. The a couple of tame hits finished him off :(
 
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Reality Czech said:
Good call. I heard the recent Spittin Chiclets interview with Kris Versteeg, who briefly played in the Swedish leage at the end of his career. He said that the refs don't call anything and the play is actually rougher than the NHL because of that. I had no idea, but it might explain why Swedish hockey players are so damn tough.
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Hockey was directly introduced to Sweden by North Americans... whereas other places in Europe was developed more by natives.

Not 100% of the reason, but I believe part of it. SHL is for sure the most physical league in Europe. (barring say EIHL, but that is ECHL level while SHL AHL level.)

I would not say rougher than the NHL... but no-where else in Europe is really as physical.
 
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Appleyard said:
Hockey was directly introduced to Sweden by North Americans... whereas other places in Europe was developed more by natives.

Not 100% of the reason, but I believe part of it. SHL is for sure the most physical league in Europe. (barring say EIHL, but that is ECHL level while SHL AHL level.)

I would not say rougher than the NHL... but no-where else in Europe is really as physical.
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SHL is physical? That's new.
 
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BHD said:
Gary Roberts is a disgrace? Care to share thoughts on Kronwall? He was glorified for giving players concussions.
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Name the list of players he concussed? Lost in the outrage of most Kronwall hits was the guy was almost always fine because his ass actually hit the player in the stomach and/or he distributed his hits throughout the body because he was a legal hitter. That list which people think is 10 miles long is really a couple guys missing a game or two, which I think was Voracek and I think he knocked some guy out of the Worlds with Latvia. Havlat played the next game and was KO'd again by Stuart. Heatley, Kesler, Hemsky, Clowe almost his entire list of top 10 highlight hits played the next game and weren't hurt long-term with Clowe separating his should in one of them but not a head injury you're claiming. I get that people don't like him, but Kronwall wasn't a concussion monster.
 
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ArGarBarGar said:
Franzen's nine goals in four games against Colorado was one of his finest moments.



If not for the concussions, he could have had a lot more really productive seasons.
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He was a monster right before the concussions really set in.

I mean obviously his health is the biggest concern now.

I always thought it impacted Nyquist the most in terms of they had an unreal chemistry on and off ice in terms they were close friends from almost all accounts. I always thought that was the big part of the plateau with Nyquist was losing Franzen. He was still a damn good hockey player, but he looked like a budding star with Franzen, they were magic for a little while, it bums me out that we didn't get to see more of those two together.
 
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Henkka said:
I wonder how does those Dallas, Colorado and Pittsburgh players fill feel, who tried to knock him on the head all the time during 2008 & 2009 playoff series.

Because he had a weakness on his head, so let's hit him on the head! They intentionally tried to punch him on the head on intermissions. Not gonna give any names, but the head-hunt was there.

And there he is now on depressions and brain-damaged.

Freaking morons. Must feel great after a career.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I'm pretty sure he always dealt with the depression issues. I faintly remember stories that very early in his career he'd either deliberately play like shit or he'd pay teammates because his anxiety was so bad that he hated doing interviews.

But obviously mixing brain damage in with it is not a good thing.

This is kind of an ugly thought, but ever since that article came out a few years ago about his issues, I've always thought that he's the former player that would least surprise me to wake up and read he committed suicide.
 
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Atas2000 said:
I bet the KHL us a way more physical league.
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I watch enough of both to know that is not quite the case.

KHL might have more scrums tbf, and as many big hits. But on the cycle game teams are generally a bit more finesse, and not every line has a net-front presence. There is a bit less play along the boards and around the net. SHL refs also certainly let more go.

The KHL is a "better" quality league for sure. But SHL trumps it in terms of physicality in my eyes.
 
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Appleyard said:
I watch enough of both to know that is not quite the case.

KHL might have more scrums tbf, and as many big hits. But on the cycle game teams are generally a bit more finesse, and not every line has a net-front presence. There is a bit less play along the boards and around the net. SHL refs also certainly let more go.

The KHL is a "better" quality league for sure. But SHL trumps it in terms of physicality in my eyes.
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Okay, I'll take your word for it as I am not that familiar wih the SHL.
 
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Mount Suribachi said:
One of the sad parts about his final concussions is that he was playing his best hockey in years. Playing on a line with Zetterberg and Nyquist he was in beast mode and scoring at a ppg. The a couple of tame hits finished him off :(
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I remember his last stretch of hockey he had real hop in his step, like he was invigorated from all the time away. It was actually really awesome.
 
Appleyard said:
By European standards. More hitting, play on the outside along the boards more, almost every team wants to attack the crease and employ net-front presences.
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An average liiga game has 20 more real hits than the SHL. SHLs rinks are huge and only the hate matches between rivals get fired up physically.
 
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