Mark Fraser
- Thread starter Freaky Habs Fan
- Start date
The Iceman
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- Sep 22, 2007
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Our "So called" bottom pairing defenseman Frasor a bunch are wanting to trade played 4 more shifts than anyone on the Leafs tonight.
Open your eyes folks. Dude is an extremely valuable player that has learned his strengths and weakness's.
Carlyle trusts him and he has earned the ice he is receiving. His minutes are up and the team is as hot as it has been in 10 years. Coincidence....no, RC knows what he has in Fraser.
Dude is 6'4" 220 lbs and still 26 years old and a joy to watch.
I hope he stays around for 8 more years.
Open your eyes folks. Dude is an extremely valuable player that has learned his strengths and weakness's.
Carlyle trusts him and he has earned the ice he is receiving. His minutes are up and the team is as hot as it has been in 10 years. Coincidence....no, RC knows what he has in Fraser.
Dude is 6'4" 220 lbs and still 26 years old and a joy to watch.
I hope he stays around for 8 more years.
TMLeafer
Rest in Peace Johnny Bower
A beast, and what a pleasant surprise! Perfect 3rd pairing guy for this team and has great chemistry with Franson. Decent puck handler, too, and can feed some rights into opposition's faces.
Fraser helps his partner feel fearless out there, in this case Franson. We (Randy) are trying to get O'Byrne to do the same thing with Gardiner or Liles . On talent alone both Fraser & O'Byrne are marginal 6th or 7th defencemen. What these guys specialty are is they can make their pairing better than the sum of their parts. Franson was a monster today. Franson with Gunnerson would be a big guy who never uses his body like a big man. Gunnerson >>>>>> Fraser as far as talent is concerned. Franson + Fraser >>>>>> Franson + Gunnerson as far as pairing goes.
I like Gunnarsson, but I don't mind seeing him out of the lineup or traded. Him and/or Liles need to go to make room for Rielly/Blacker next season anyway. And I don't see Phaneuf, Gardiner, Fraser or Franson going anywhere.
O'Byrne and Gunnarsson are pretty equal to me, except O'Byrne actually hits and uses his body. Gunnarsson is a bit more steady though.
Rielly - Phaneuf
Gardiner - O'Byrne?
Fraser - Franson
Coming up the ranks we still have Percy, Finn, Blacker, Nilsson, MacWilliam, Granberg... I left Holzer and Kostka out on purpose, I am so thankful they haven't been back into the lineup!
O'Byrne and Gunnarsson are pretty equal to me, except O'Byrne actually hits and uses his body. Gunnarsson is a bit more steady though.
Rielly - Phaneuf
Gardiner - O'Byrne?
Fraser - Franson
Coming up the ranks we still have Percy, Finn, Blacker, Nilsson, MacWilliam, Granberg... I left Holzer and Kostka out on purpose, I am so thankful they haven't been back into the lineup!
Holy cow, I had no idea he was that young. He's just getting settled into his niche, with some room to grow, that's exciting with a player as sturdy as he is. Expecting Carlyle to really lean on him and Franson in the playoffs, and I think they'll deliver.
A character guy who has done everything that has been asked of him this year. He might not be the most skilled player but he brings a ton of effort and you can see the passion he brings just by watching his interviews (always decked out in Leaf gear). Hopefully he will be here long term.
goguls
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Mr Knies Guy
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- Jul 5, 2008
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Very mobile for his size, hits everything, good first pass, gets his shot through when he takes it, and fearless. He's exactly what this team needed in D. I love him and I think he'll grow even more as he's just entered his prime
Diatomic
Mitch Matthewlander
I enjoy Frazer-Franson as a 3rd pairing, but I don't like it when they get over 20+mins or they face 1st-2nd line competition. They seem to play bad against those higher-tier competition, which is perfectly fine because their a bottom d-man pair
Hero
Uncle Leo
Fraser - Franson is an elite 3rd pairing, the best in the NHL.
Issue with them is Franson isn't good enough defensively to be a playoff calibre top 4 guy, and Fraser isn't fast enough to be a playoff calibre top 4 guy.
But when playing against slower guys they look amazing.
I would like to lock up both for 4-5 years to be our 3rd pair going forward.
Issue with them is Franson isn't good enough defensively to be a playoff calibre top 4 guy, and Fraser isn't fast enough to be a playoff calibre top 4 guy.
But when playing against slower guys they look amazing.
I would like to lock up both for 4-5 years to be our 3rd pair going forward.
Fun stat:
Dating back to when he was a rookie in junior, up until now, 8 seasons later, he has scored 10 goals, regular season and playoffs combined.
Must be doing something right.
Dating back to when he was a rookie in junior, up until now, 8 seasons later, he has scored 10 goals, regular season and playoffs combined.
Must be doing something right.
Diatomic
Mitch Matthewlander
One gem amongst stones and shards, like Connolly..Steckel...Lombardi..Komisarek.. etc etc
Steckel and Lombardi were throw ins or minor trade acquisitions. Now that you decide to only highlight the negative aspect of his tender here, here are some great acquisitions that he had while here: Kessel, Lupul, Gardiner, Phaneuf, Liles, Franson, Scrivens, JVR, Bozak, McClement, Orr, Brown, signing Komarov and the hirings of Carlyle, Nonis and Eakins.
You're right though. His signings of Connolly, Armstrong and Komi didn't turn out as expected though, so he was an all-around awful GM.
Gunnarson has not been good this season when he's been in the line-up, and while I know he's been injured, I don't think he was good enough the season before to have a spot reserved for him like that.
Ranger is a big question mark too. I see no reason to assume either of those guys would be in the lineup over Franson and Fraser.
Mr Knies Guy
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Agreed, I'd easily give Fraser a spot ahead of Gunnarson with Gardiner in the lineup.
The Fraser/Franson pairing is a lock for next season.
The only question marks heading into the summer are:
1) Choosing Liles or Gardiner
2) Who partners with Phaneuf
Phaneuf ---------
Gardiner/Liles O'Byrne
Fraser Franson
Kostka/Holzer as the #7
Money is on Liles and Gunnarsson becoming trade baits this summer.
sommervr
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- Feb 25, 2013
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I suppose we will see. We have lots of good young defencemen coming up and I suspect that they will force their way onto the lineup. Rielly is too good for the Marlies right now and Percy doesn't look too far behind. Ranger is a top 4 d on the leafs anytime he wants it.
Fraser should be a 7th defenceman. He is playing decently for 17 sheltered minutes per game while completely healthy. Gunnarsson is playing reasonably well for 22 difficult minutes per game while recovering from an injury. There is no contest at all on who the better player is between them.Saying he should be taking minutes from Gardiner because Gardiner's an 'offensive' defenceman is utter nonsense too. Handling the puck and exiting the zone is every defenceman's job. Totaling up blocked shots and hits and calling that 'defense' is garbage from the '90s when nobody bothered to try to analyze the game any more deeply than that.
Why is O'Byrne anywhere in this post?
ShLou Foot
6-8-5-13
ShLou Foot
6-8-5-13
Morgan 12 1 2 3 -3 0 0 37 2.7
Stuart 2 1 0 1 -1 0 1 0 1 100.0
Now as much as I want to see what you're saying I just think we should temper our expectations with the younger players. Those #'s aren't "Too Good" but decent as far as the evolution towards a great talent. Too Good would've been J. Schultz numbers.
I'm on the same page as you, I'm just trying to find a balance between prospect pride and Homer-ism.
Diatomic
Mitch Matthewlander
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