Blackhawks Sign Cody Franson
In the wake of putting Marian Hossa on LTIR, the Blackhawks officially announced the signing of veteran defenseman Cody Franson to a one-year deal. The contract is reportedly worth $1M.
Franson, 30, has appeared in 527 games with Nashville, Toronto and Buffalo. He posted 19 points in 68 games last year with the Sabres.
CapFriendly is showing the Hawk’s LTIR salary pool to be down to $2.4M, That’s after signing Franson ($1M) and recalling DeBrincat ($778K) and Forsling ($872K).
I guess I thought the Hawks would have around $4M to “play with” after signing Franson. What happened?
re: ER – What happened is they’re carrying 8 defensemen.
Tab, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have a solid handle on all the LTIR stuff but I thought I saw (somewhere) the Hawks would have around $4M after signing Franson as the 8th d-man (13F/8D/2G). Probably misread or was misinformed.
That 4m figure was prior to the recalls, not before.
I’m really glad that Stan B. didn’t overpay/overterm Franson.
I’m also disappointed that Bouma is on the team and Hinostroza is in Rockford.
The Hawks clearly needed more size on the blue line recently and have now addressed that w/ Murphy + Franson. They have some bigger bodies coming, including Dennis Gilbert (who will be at Notre Dame this year). This is a rental for the Hawks and Franson betting that a year in Chicago will improve his market value.
Any Hawks fan not worried about the defense is living in denial. Murphy has not looked good at all during camp and Forsling is the antithesis of a Quenneville player. In fact, he’s virtually guaranteed a spot in the Q Dog House in rapid order. I like Franson as a depth move. But we may need him to play a crap ton more than is wise.
Very good news for the Hawks …Franson at 1 million is a good move…
re: Rufus – ” I like Franson as a depth move” – expecations are that he’ll be a bottom pair defenseman. Probably the 6th defenseman w/ some PP opportunities. I believe Hawks fans complaining about this signing with expectations that he’s going to get 21 min/gm aren’t being realistic about the Hawks’ depth chart.
Would I rather have Roman Josi – sure, but Franson isn’t terrible. He’s just not good, which probably describes most 7/8 d-men around the league. He’s better than Rozsival was the last couple seasons so from that perspective our 7/8 spot has improved. And for $1M for 1 year – no problem.
Ebony the ltir room is about 6.6m minus Franson salary plus Debrincat and Forslings after recall . Also just over a million they were over the 75m cap by using Tootoo and Rozivals ltir counts against room and leaves over 2.4m. If they were to pick up another dman say and go to 7 dmen at some point plus the 2nd salary being replaced they could have still around 4m in room. If they choose to.
Forsling is on the roster for the same reason Leddy was as a teenager. There’s a high ceiling. I’m glad we’re able to write a kid off after half of his first NHL season.
“…able to write a kid off after half of his first NHL season.” — I like(d) Forsling. One (including Q) should understand the adjustment Europe-to-NHL (including culture, language), especially someone that young and especially a dman trying to learn the Hawks system. I hope Q finds the patience to stick with him (and Kempny and Rutta) — quality minutes during the season are probably essential to development (even if it means they can’t chase the President’s Trophy).
Did you notice the final standings last year? You go from not chasing the President’s trophy to chasing a playoff spot in about two weeks of poor play in this league.
The young D should play, but there is not a large window of time for them to be ineffective.
Guys that need to learn on the job too much fill out the rosters of the AHL teams.
Yes good point
Here we go again ! The big bad incompetent clueless Quenneville never provides the proper investment time in young talented players to learn on the job. Give a break. The Forsling experiment will and should only last a few weeks. He’s got a LOT to clean up about his game, and if he can’t do it quickly then his butt needs to be out of here and it has NOTHING to do with Quenneville being a so called short sighted idiot. Forsling has been a turnover machine and plays like he is dumber than a hockey puck at times. That cannot be tolerated for long.
And Murphy? Well he’d better get with the program damn quick too because he has not looked good in camp. Very slow learner.
Don’t forget Snuggerud. When healthy he could be up with the Hawks, especially if Forsling struggles.
One more day to go!
What about the funds from the Rozival and Too too LTIR placements. Has Capfriendly taken those into consideration.
re: Dave Manson – yes. Capfriendly is on top of the game.
pretty excited about this roster, I agree, grudgingly, that Franson is a step up from 32 ;) . Lots of kids need to step up to make this thing work, I think most are ready. It’s been a while since there’s been a physical presence on each line (Sharp is a lot more physical than he gets recognized for), I have a feeling the D will work out, biggest question mark is… do we have 4 legit NHL centers? 3 rings say that’s pretty important…
RTF – of course, and you probably miss Rozsival already because he’s “consistent” and Q “always knows what he’s getting” = that give-it-a-break thing you mentioned.
(I’ve never referred to Q as “a so called short sighted idiot”, but if you don’t see he plays favorites…a mistake (nearly-identical) made by a veteran (and during last season’s brief playoff run there were more than a few of those!) does not banish them to the pressbox or Rockford they way it has in the case of certain young players – there’s little hope you’ll ever consider any different points of view.)
As Nick and others have said, a lot of players have to step up. That’s probably the case every year. but some years more than others. I would say the number of players that need to “step up” may be greater this year than in other years, but those players have more potential, if not probability to step up.
There are some veteran players that need to play better to get back to the level they used to play at, or closer to it (Toews/Seabrook/Sharp). There are other players who played better last year than in previous years and we need them at least maintain that level – to not slide back (Panik/Hartman). Then there are players who we need to do more than they’ve done before (Schmaltz/DeBrincat/Hayden/Rutta/Forsling).
That’s a lot of question marks, but there’s a lot of potential there. I’m optimistic.
The number of nhl ready players in Rockford able to contribute if injury bug hits could be a plus too.
Cheering for Stan Mikata today!
Last year we developed young Forwards….38, 8.
This year develop young D.
The key is that the elite must be elite…. 19.
I own all 19 jerseys. But in all honesty he hasnt performed as elite.
Tt o lead he must return to his early years and SCORE.
True, Toews has barely had 60 points per year the last 3. And he will slow down SAAD who plays a high speed offensive and aggressive game. TOEWS cannot do that anymore. I woukld rather him be part of a 2nd line with SHARP and PANIK. Give the number 1 tag to SAAD SCHMALTZ KANE!
Ebony – “There are some veteran players that need to play better to get back to the level they used to play at, or closer to it (Toews/Seabrook/Sharp). There are other players who played better last year than in previous years and we need them at least maintain that level – to not slide back (Panik/Hartman). Then there are players who we need to do more than they’ve done before (Schmaltz/DeBrincat/Hayden/Rutta/Forsling). ” — Yes. Absolutely. But, no reason to get all negative about it — we’ll see what happens. As far as the “players who we need to do more”, Schmaltz/DeBrincat/Hayden/Rutta/Forsling I believe, during the preseason have shown they are trending in that direction. We’ll see…
DD, didn’t mean to come across negative. Actually, even with the many questions going into the season I’m pretty optimistic.
RTF it’s true that Forsling hasn’t shown a lot of improvement from last year to this preseason but he is only 21 and Q can be stubborn with offensive rushing defensemen as he wants them to pass and not rush it out. Daley was an example and he did pretty well with the Pens and won a couple of Cups.