51 replies to this topic

[T.Low]

Him feeding off of Datsyuk passes is exactly what he's paid to do. He's not that gritty big guy who would dig pucks out of the corner or make eye popping plays night in and night out. His job is what it is: to put the puck in the net.

With all due respect, I can't agree with that. Remember, he was drafted as a checking forward and after a considerable amount of work, he blossomed into a scorer, much to everyone's suprise.

Now, yes, he gets paid to score, but not in the Lang or Hull sense of "just put the puck in the net"; We expect a lot more out of his game than that.

[GoalieManPat]

Him feeding off of Datsyuk passes is exactly what he's paid to do. He's not that gritty big guy who would dig pucks out of the corner or make eye popping plays night in and night out. His job is what it is: to put the puck in the net.

That logic would work if he was more consistant. Hes not consistent enough to be a "just put he puck in the net" player. At his size going into the corner and being gritty needs to be the strong-point of his game. That is what frustrates us who are hard on Franzen because he used to do those things. Now when hes not scoring he is useless. If he would at-least use his body and hustle then he wouldn't catch as much flack when he goes into scoring droughts.

[Dimaline312000]

Great Goals by the Mule and a Great Effort by the entire team. It seemed like that Blues 2nd goal really lit a fire under the Wings and that's what they need moving forward into the playouffs. Nice Work Wings!!

[b.shanafan14]

We really are that bi-polar, aren't we?

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. From what I saw last night, Franzen only looked good the second half of the third period, and that's NOT because of the goals. The goals themselves, while great shots with a nice finish, were both the result of absolutely marvelous plays from Datsyuk; Franzen was just waiting in the weeds. I honestly thought he started to look great AFTER the two goals, making moves and hanging onto the puck. Before that, he was as invisible as he has been.

Definitely some encouraging things from Mule last night, but he's always had that capability. Its the consistent effort that's the issue. A step forward, but 2 gifts, a good 5 minutes in the 3rd period and great OT does not a Mule's return make Two games left in the season, its good to be optimistic, but lets try to keep our feet on the ground...

[b.shanafan14]

That logic would work if he was more consistant. Hes not consistent enough to be a "just put he puck in the net" player. At his size going into the corner and being gritty needs to be the strong-point of his game. That is what frustrates us who are hard on Franzen because he used to do those things. Now when hes not scoring he is useless. If he would at-least use his body and hustle then he wouldn't catch as much flack when he goes into scoring droughts.

Egg-zak-ry. Mule showed us how he's scored his goals all year, and why he should have WAY more. Two amazing plays from Pavel that he managed to bury. Afterwards, with two goals in his pocket, THAT'S when he finally started to show the hands and drive that lead many of us to believe that he SHOULD be a 40-goal scorer if he actually applied himself for more than about 20-30 games.

Riding shotgun with Pavel like he has been all season, he should be able to bury more. Skating and being strong on the puck - like he was in the last 5 minutes of the 3rd and OT last night - consistently, he should be able to bury more.

[Wing Across The Pond]

Anyone wonder what he'd be like on a lower line? Like, much lower? Not because he's a bad player but because he could really use that size playing with someone like Helm or Abby. I understand matchups and everything, but I'd love to see a game with balanced lines. For example I love Nyquist with Dats, a good young rookie with a more veteran player, then Bert who can score a few and be physical. Say Franzen was on a line with Helm and, say, Miller, that would be a line that can hit but can also score? I mean Miller's shown that much all season.

I'm probably not explaining myself very well but hope it's coming across.

[korrowan]

Franzen always has a game like this every once in a while. Until he does it game in and game out it does not even matter. Hell period in period out would be a start since even when he has good 'games' he only plays half of it hard.

[b.shanafan14]

Franzen always has a game like this every once in a while. Until he does it game in and game out it does not even matter. Hell period in period out would be a start since even when he has good 'games' he only plays half of it hard.

Remove his 5 goal game vs. Ottawa last season, and Franzen was a 22 goal-scorer. Think about that: 5 of 27 came in 1 of 82.

[Z and D for the C]

instead of the gift-wrapped pucks that Datsyuk fed him tonight.

This.

.There are more than a few guys in the league who could have done what Franzen did at the end of the game. No one else could have done what Datsyuk did. No one.

And this.

His two goals weren't the result of him playing great, it was a result of Pavel Datsyuk. That said, he did seem to have a better game than usual. Hopefully he can have success in the playoffs.

[brett]

yeah im not sold on mule being back yet. he got 2 goals that were handed to him from datsyuk. but he was playing with snarl which was nice to see

[Yak19]

Datsyuk really just used Franzen as a median to get those pucks in the net, he made the plays but it looked to spark something in Mule after that, hope to see him pick it up for the playoffs.

[LeftWinger]

Fantastic Game from the Big Man! Now play like that for the rest of the season and we definitely have a chance to win the whole f'ing thing!

Great Comeback tonight... Go Wings!

[gcdc14]

More like good 10 minutes of a game.

[kylee]

It was weird it was like he was actually looking to shoot the puck

[Dabura]

Well, he did glove-punch what's-his-face, in his face. That was kind of tenacious, I guess.

[b.shanafan14]

Yeah... welcome back, Johan

[Lonewuhf]

Anyone wonder what he'd be like on a lower line? Like, much lower? Not because he's a bad player but because he could really use that size playing with someone like Helm or Abby. I understand matchups and everything, but I'd love to see a game with balanced lines. For example I love Nyquist with Dats, a good young rookie with a more veteran player, then Bert who can score a few and be physical. Say Franzen was on a line with Helm and, say, Miller, that would be a line that can hit but can also score? I mean Miller's shown that much all season.

I'm probably not explaining myself very well but hope it's coming across.

He was on the 3rd line, for like 4-5 games, and was equally as terrible there as he had been.

[b.shanafan14]

He was on the 3rd line, for like 4-5 games, and was equally as terrible there as he had been.

On top of that, the 3rd line at the time with Abdelkader, Miller, and Helm was one of, if not our best line. They were really grinding the opposition defense, providing a lot of garbage and chaos in front of the crease, and even putting the puck in the net at a decent clip (considering its essentially a Grind Line). Ironically, we demoted Franzen to the 3rd line and instead of lighting a fire under him and while providing the checking line with a useful big body, he continued to suck tremendous ass and effectively cooled down that line until Helm's injury.

Pretty sad when the most accountability he's seen is being demoted 4 games or so, and still playing so badly that Babcock just gave up on the experiment and put him back on the first line. Its been two seasons straight now in which Babcock disrupts the chemistry throughout his lineup just trying to get Johan Franzen to play like he's capable of. Line 2 has chemistry? Put him there! Line 3 has chemistry? Put him there! Line 1 is starting to come around and score consistently? Great, its fixed; put him there! *sigh*

[RedWingsExpert1988]

Yeah for 1 game and technically all he had to do was shoot the puck on an open net from a great feed from datsyuk, on both goals he was just standing there. Guy is in-con-sis-tant. Period. Stats even prove it.

Plays like top 20 player when he is scoring (20% of season). Plays like lebda (80% of other season).

[RedWingsExpert1988]

I also think he is mainly in it for the money... especially with a locked up contract