RedWingsNow*
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and while he hasn't done that thus far this year,he did just that 5 seasons in a row
for all the whining about Franzen over the years he's been amazingly consistant about his goal scoring paces
Franzen, when he signed his contract, was in the midst of a season where he scored 34 goals in 71 games...
Basically, a 40-goal pace. It came on the heels of a 13 goal in 16 games playoffs.
So, this idea that Franzen is only paid to score 30 goals is revisionist history, in my eyes.
Take a look at these numbers:
From March 2 2008 to April 11 2009...
When Franzen got red hot, playing for Holmstrom, to the day he signed his contract...
15 goals in 16 games to end the 08 regular season
13 goals in 16 playoff games in 08
34 goals in 69 regular season games in 09
62 goals in 91 games.
He was scoring at a 56 goal pace when he signed with Detroit.
Since then he has 74 regular season goals in 208 games
And 21 playoff goals in 48 games
So 95 goals in 256 games
That's a 32 goal pace.
We signed Franzen when he was scoring at a 56 goal pace
He produces at a 32 goal pace.
So, I don't think it's fair to say that the Franzen we got is the Franzen we wanted when we signed him.
I don't think anyone expected Franzen to keep up his 56 goal place--But 35 to 40, I think, is about what was expected.
I also think fans expected Franzen to play with guts. What happened to the Franzen who would get the puck and go to the net and fire an eyepopping wrister?
Where the hell did he go?