Franzen Out For 4 Months

The Detroit Red Wings announced the other day thatAbdelkader played last year during the playoffs and
Johan Franzen is not going to be playing hockey for 4was extremely productive. He showed that he was
months. He'll be recovering from a torn ACL that heable to play at an NHL level and would be a great fit in
suffered in the Chicago game.the lineup.
Franzen did not complain about the injury until after theThis would be a great thing for the Red Wings
game. He suffered the injury during the game, butbecause they'll be able to use this situation to develop
decided to keep playing.a rookie. Even though I'd prefer to have Franzen on
This is a huge loss for the Detroit Red Wings. Franzenthe ice, it's never a bad thing to give a rookie a shot.
was probably going to score 20-30 goals this season.I honestly think that Abdelkader will be the next
The team's going to have to make a huge decision.Datsyuk or Zetterburg. He won't be able to do that
They have to decide who is going to replace Franzenwithout some experience.
and what is going to be best for the team.However, that doesn't change the fact that the injury
This will not be an easy decision for Mike Babcock.to Franzen is going to have a negative impact on the
Right now, it's looking like he's going to be calling upteam. They'll have to work a lot harder to fill the hole
Justin Abdelkader from the Grand Rapids Griffins to fillthe Franzen has left.
the hole in the lineup.