5 Players New Jersey Devils Could Offer Paid Tryout
By Nick Villano
4. Cody Franson
Cody Franson was a defenseman that many teams went after last season to give a flyer on. He ended up signing with the Chicago Blackhawks, and what took place was a trainwreck in so many ways.
Franson never seemed to mesh with management, and it ended with a stink in the AHL. In the minors, he was great. He scored 28 points in 37 regular season games for the Rockford IceHogs. Then in the playoffs, he ended up scoring 14 points in 13 games while helping them make a run to the Western Conference Final.
This can be attributed to a lost season all around in Chicago. All of the advanced stats showed that Franson wasn’t the problem. His Corsi For and Fenwick For were at career highs, even if its just in 29 games. He was starting a ridiculous amount of his faceoffs in the offensive zone (70.9%), but those stats still tell a story.
Joel Quenneville is a hard nut to crack. Sometimes players don’t mesh well with a coach. John Hynes is much easier to vibe with. Franson could be the kind of player the Devils want on the right side to pair with Butcher or Lovejoy.