Johan Franzen

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

It seems like everyone has been really understanding about him not playing, and rightfully so, he was arguably our best player down the stretch. But, literally no one on this board has taken the antagonistic opinion.

I, however, am somewhat upset that he is out for game 1 against Pittsburgh. I understood that we didnt want to take any risks with him against Dallas, as we clearly outmatched them and that doctors wouldnt even let him practice, but my god, this is the Stanley Cup Finals. I thought hockey was the sport where players gutted it out and played without the OK from the doctors? He says he feels fine, he is practicing, why can't you play in game one of a CHAMPIONSHIP round? Isn't this why you play the game? What every hockey player dreams of?

Don't get me wrong, I love Franzen, I think he is an awesome player, but i kind of want him to be that player that refuses to be taken off the ice. Who knows, maybe it's just the European mind set.

Does anyone else echo my thoughts, or am i totally off base?

Another vote for way off base.

As others have said, we're talking about an injury involving his brain. It's one thing to take a bunch of stitches or play with a broken hand, it's quite another to gut it out when you're dealing with your nogging. Just ask Eric Lindros.

Furthermore, based on Babcock's comments, my impression is that it's not even up to Franzen, he has to be cleared to play by the doctors.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

im with you, as they have been saying its just headaches.what the heack you cant play with a headache.tests have shown nothing.bottom line take some bayer and go get that trophy.

i dont see why everyone is bashing on you now. ITS A HEADACHE!

go wings

are you being serious?

Headaches was one of the symptoms of whatever is going on with Franzen. That's not the underlying problem or he would be playing, like he did against colorado and game one against Dallas. They eventually figured out it was a larger problem than just a headache.

[wingsownnhl43 14]

I appreciate the responses of most of the posters in this thread who decided to respond in a respectful manner, without name calling or smart a$$ comments. I'm not into that, I don't think it adds to any discussion. I post on here to feel out other peoples thoughts. I know I'm not always right and that sometimes my thoughts are off base.

I just can't understand why Franzen gets a free pass without anyone questioning the injury at all. I know I'm not a doctor and that I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I also know that a concussion is a serious injury and is nothing to mess around with, but like Maltbymaniac said, all thats been reported are headaches and concussion like symptoms, not a full blown concussion. I've had mild concussions before and none of them lingered 13-15 days. I don't think it's ignorant to simply call him out. The people on here that are getting so defensive are only doing so because they cant fathom that their newly beloved star could possibly be a china doll.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

I appreciate the responses of most of the posters in this thread who decided to respond in a respectful manner, without name calling or smart a$$ comments. I'm not into that, I don't think it adds to any discussion. I post on here to feel out other peoples thoughts. I know I'm not always right and that sometimes my thoughts are off base.

I just can't understand why Franzen gets a free pass without anyone questioning the injury at all. I know I'm not a doctor and that I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I also know that a concussion is a serious injury and is nothing to mess around with, but like Maltbymaniac said, all thats been reported are headaches and concussion like symptoms, not a full blown concussion. I've had mild concussions before and none of them lingered 13-15 days. I don't think it's ignorant to simply call him out. The people on here that are getting so defensive are only doing so because they cant fathom that their newly beloved star could possibly be a china doll.

How exactly is he getting a free pass? Who the hell are any of us to question his injury? We don't know what's going on. They the Red Wings & medical staff do. They would not be holding him out this long if it was just a simple headache and nothing more. So yes, it is ignorant on your part because we all know Johan is raring to go out there and play but is getting held back for now for pre cautionary reasons. It's not up to him, and it's not up to us. It's the Doctor's job and they are doing a great job making sure he is 100% before getting back out there.

[betterREDthandead 58]

I appreciate the responses of most of the posters in this thread who decided to respond in a respectful manner, without name calling or smart a$$ comments. I'm not into that, I don't think it adds to any discussion. I post on here to feel out other peoples thoughts. I know I'm not always right and that sometimes my thoughts are off base.

I just can't understand why Franzen gets a free pass without anyone questioning the injury at all. I know I'm not a doctor and that I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I also know that a concussion is a serious injury and is nothing to mess around with, but like Maltbymaniac said, all thats been reported are headaches and concussion like symptoms, not a full blown concussion. I've had mild concussions before and none of them lingered 13-15 days. I don't think it's ignorant to simply call him out. The people on here that are getting so defensive are only doing so because they cant fathom that their newly beloved star could possibly be a china doll.

I don't know if you noticed (ok, that was sarcasm....you'd have to have never even heard of LGW to notice) but a solid percentage, if not a majority, of fans here have been repeating the call for ages: Get tougher, get tougher, get tougher, get tougher.....

In other words this is not a crowd that lightly hands out free passes for softness. So our "free pass" to Franzen ought to speak volumes.

And really now - I don't care what's been reported, haven't you seen enough of the NHL playoffs to know that there's always more to an injury story beyond what's reported? We're lucky they even told us it was headaches and a possible concussion....."upper-body injury" is often the way they go with that.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

I appreciate the responses of most of the posters in this thread who decided to respond in a respectful manner, without name calling or smart a$$ comments. I'm not into that, I don't think it adds to any discussion. I post on here to feel out other peoples thoughts. I know I'm not always right and that sometimes my thoughts are off base.

I just can't understand why Franzen gets a free pass without anyone questioning the injury at all. I know I'm not a doctor and that I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I also know that a concussion is a serious injury and is nothing to mess around with, but like Maltbymaniac said, all thats been reported are headaches and concussion like symptoms, not a full blown concussion. I've had mild concussions before and none of them lingered 13-15 days. I don't think it's ignorant to simply call him out. The people on here that are getting so defensive are only doing so because they cant fathom that their newly beloved star could possibly be a china doll.

The bottom line is none of us really knows what exactly is going on with Franzen's injury, so for me it's not really about deciding whether or not he's a china doll.

As I said in my previous post, I'm pretty sure he's not even the one able to decide whether or not he can play. He has to be medically cleared.

[betterREDthandead 58]

By the way, to dispel the "china doll" theory, remember: Franzen played the entire Colorado series with these headaches.

[maltbymaniac 13]

u know f all of you with the name calling and what. i for one have had headaches for my entire 27 years and when i was younger had tests and all that good stuff only to never figure it out.and im one that falls in the no insurance catagory.any ways been living with headaches ever since and im doing just fine so i for one kinda know what its like to have headaches.and im doing just fine if you ask me.and i thought this was a place to exprees what u think but of course not like a bunch of school bullies you start callling names and whatnot. so i say a big F U to you.thanks

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Well this thread is going to take a turn for the worse. Shocking.

[Izzy24 44]

This thread is giving me a headache.

[chrisdetroit 189]

This thread is giving me a headache.

I've read some dumb threads but this is one....never mind.

[betterREDthandead 58]

u know f all of you with the name calling and what. i for one have had headaches for my entire 27 years and when i was younger had tests and all that good stuff only to never figure it out.and im one that falls in the no insurance catagory.any ways been living with headaches ever since and im doing just fine so i for one kinda know what its like to have headaches.and im doing just fine if you ask me.and i thought this was a place to exprees what u think but of course not like a bunch of school bullies you start callling names and whatnot. so i say a big F U to you.thanks

In which case you don't know how scary it can be to start having them all of a sudden. So who are you to judge how serious Franzen's injury is?

[maltbymaniac 13]

well geez it was just a opinion,i know your health is the most important but when u read - test results and he has headaches b4 i wouldnt think its nothing big unless they had said somthing.if i had known i was going to be tard,feathered and thrown under the bus i wouldve kept my mouth shut as i do the majority of the time as i am more a reader then writer.so thanks for getting my blood pressure up with the name calling.

(on a side note im leaving for the u.p in the morning for some deserved vaca)

thanks everyone

[RockyMountainWingGal 108]

Don't take it from us - listen to Babcock himself:

Babcock interview

He says he is ready to play Franzen and Franzen is ready to play BUT they have to wait for a doctor's clearance. He said if it was his knee, not his head, he'd be playing already.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Don't take it from us - listen to Babcock himself:

Babcock interview

He says he is ready to play Franzen and Franzen is ready to play BUT they have to wait for a doctor's clearance. He said if it was his knee, not his head, he'd be playing already.

Exactly.

[P. Marlowe 748]

This thread is giving me a headache.

This thread is giving me a concussion.

[Izzy24 44]

This thread is giving me a concussion.

I just hope it doesn't give me a myocardial infarction.

[lets go pavel 2]

i'm with the OP, franzen's a wuss ... brain damage, shmain shmamage, if rocky can tough it out, why can't franzen? and that was boxing, and he's still fine ... speaking of lame excuses for injuries, why aren't fischer and konstantinov playing? what's with all these soft euros? this is the stanley cup finals, suck it up and shake it off boys!

[norrisnick 1]

A couple things.

A. It's not a head injury. It was headaches. The worrisome part being that Franzen didn't know why he was having them and that they didn't go away for two weeks so he mentioned them to the trainers after game 1 of the WCF.

B. NHL injury protocol pigeon-holed these headaches as "concussion-like symptoms" and from that point on the Wings and Franzen were forced to treat it like you would a concussion. Absolutely no major activity until the symptoms are gone for a week.

Could he have played through them? Obviously if you look at the way he was playing with them. But if you suddenly get a headache and it doesn't go away for TWO WEEKS, you're going to ask a doctor about them. The second he asked, the decision to play was no longer his but the doctors'. And there isn't a reputable doctor that would sign off on letting a guy with unexplained headaches play a contact sport like hockey. That's a multi-million dollar malpractice suit waiting to happen. Remember all those threads about Franzen re-signing and how expensive that would get? It wouldn't take the best of lawyers for Franzen to win a hefty settlement should he have played and gotten messed up.

Better safe than sorry by all involved.

[wingsownnhl43 14]

Don't take it from us - listen to Babcock himself:

Babcock interview

He says he is ready to play Franzen and Franzen is ready to play BUT they have to wait for a doctor's clearance. He said if it was his knee, not his head, he'd be playing already.

very good post. Babs summed up the thread.

[wingsownnhl43 14]

A couple things.

A. It's not a head injury. It was headaches. The worrisome part being that Franzen didn't know why he was having them and that they didn't go away for two weeks so he mentioned them to the trainers after game 1 of the WCF.

B. NHL injury protocol pigeon-holed these headaches as "concussion-like symptoms" and from that point on the Wings and Franzen were forced to treat it like you would a concussion. Absolutely no major activity until the symptoms are gone for a week.

Could he have played through them? Obviously if you look at the way he was playing with them. But if you suddenly get a headache and it doesn't go away for TWO WEEKS, you're going to ask a doctor about them. The second he asked, the decision to play was no longer his but the doctors'. And there isn't a reputable doctor that would sign off on letting a guy with unexplained headaches play a contact sport like hockey. That's a multi-million dollar malpractice suit waiting to happen. Remember all those threads about Franzen re-signing and how expensive that would get? It wouldn't take the best of lawyers for Franzen to win a hefty settlement should he have played and gotten messed up.

Better safe than sorry by all involved.

Also a very good post, put some things in perspective for me, unlike this fukin idiot..

"i'm with the OP, franzen's a wuss ... brain damage, shmain shmamage, if rocky can tough it out, why can't franzen? and that was boxing, and he's still fine ... speaking of lame excuses for injuries, why aren't fischer and konstantinov playing? what's with all these soft euros? this is the stanley cup finals, suck it up and shake it off boys! blink.gif"

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Franzen says he won't play in Opener.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20..._for_opene.html

As for the cause of his headaches, Franzen said: "I thought it was the altitude in Colorado at first, but it didn't go away. Then I thought it was (teammate Kirk) Maltby giving me a headache, but it wasn't that either.

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

Say he does play and still has these headaches and symptoms. Do you honestly think he can give 100% when feeling like complete crap? I think that it would make more sense to put in a healthy player because he would have a little bit more to give (for now).

[lets go pavel 2]

Also a very good post, put some things in perspective for me, unlike this fukin idiot..

"i'm with the OP, franzen's a wuss ... brain damage, shmain shmamage, if rocky can tough it out, why can't franzen? and that was boxing, and he's still fine ... speaking of lame excuses for injuries, why aren't fischer and konstantinov playing? what's with all these soft euros? this is the stanley cup finals, suck it up and shake it off boys! blink.gif"

lighten up ... you're the one who started this thread, calling out one of our players and insinuating he's soft, questioning his heart and why he isn't playing, and in the process bringing up the same old tired stereotype that all europeans are soft ... nobody here has told you anything you couldn't have figured out on your own ... why start this thread?

[va Winger 0]

I'm currently majoring in neuroscience, so I may have a slightly better appreciation of the effects of trauma in that area, but I am really surprised at the ignorance of people basically telling Franzen to "man up, it's the finals!" An injury to the head always has to be approached with the utmost sensitivity. This isn't a broken finger or toe (not to say those injuries aren't severe as well), this is a head injury! C'mon people, it's a game. An important game, but still, a game. I'm glad the decision is left up to the doctors instead of the fans.

With that said, I don't think the Red Wings have exactly been fully truthful about the whole situation. It seems like they haven't quite pinned down the problem, as Franzen just said today he'd miss game one and he'd be doing some more tests.

I can't even believe I am reading this post. H E L L O !!

It's a game ! You know , I agree totally with Yzerman191 , having some medical knowledge in my background, You Don't mess with concussions, or any type of BRAIN injury for that matter. You may end up with lifelong effects.............and remember it's JUST A GAME !!