CFN – Cody Franson is an interesting hockey player. He has quite a set of skills. He’s put up some great numbers. Yet he doesn’t seem to be popular or get much respect from his NHL owners?
Nashville let him go for a bag of pucks when they traded him and Matthew Lombardi in a salary dump to the Leafs. At 6’5 with good mobility and some offensive upside he’s quite a monster on D.
He’s had several plus season including last year for the Leafs. He slates out to be a 40- 50 point defensemen with over 100 hits per season and some sandpaper.
More importantly his production seems to go up in the play offs.
Why not put in an offer sheet? Cody surely is a potential top pairing if definitely not a second pairing d man. He’s only 25 with no major injury history?
A team like Colorado should be jumping in. Maybe Toronto already has a deal in play for Franson and is just waiting to work out how to fit him in on their cap; but if not surely there isn’t a better time for a team to jump in with an offer in the $4M to 5M range which would yield the Leafs a 1st and 3rd round draft pick as compensation?
Toronto has a very deep defense right now; but huge questions loom. Would you rather have team captain Dion Phaneuf or Franson? Can Toronto afford both?
The easy answer is to buy out or trade Jean Michael Liles, but for some reason that hasn’t happened yet? The Leafs also have answers to find out about Paul Ranger and Jake Gardiner. Ottawa would be the team that has the most to gain from an offer sheet as they have the cap space and are targetted to do well which means their draft picks would not be worth as much.
Surely Franson or Phaneuf could bring a return to the Leafs. The question is how to play the hand that GM Dave Nonis has right now.
What do you think Leaf Fans? You can post your comments below.
Most teams will be hard pressed to come up with a $4 or $5 million to submit an offer sheet. Anything below $3.5 and Toronto will match. Anything over $3.5 Toronto likely takes the first round pick as the Leafs are deep on defense. Regardless of how it shakes out I can see Franson walking in a couple seasons as he’s twice been jerked around regarding a deal