The Detroit Red Wings lost quite a bit of offensive production this past offseason when Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson and Jiri Hudler moved on to new teams (or, in Hudler's case, a new league). Such losses would have crippled most teams, but the Wings appeared to be deep enough to overcome the free agent departures thanks to a core that included Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen among others. On Friday, the Red Wings learned they are about to lose even more offense as the team announced Franzen, after scoring the game-winning goal on Thursday against Chicago, will miss a minimum of four months with a torn ACL in his left knee.
This is going to be a sizable blow to the Red Wings' offense, as Franzen has developed into one of their top goal-scorers over the past two seasons. Including playoffs, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound forward has scored 87 goals in 185 games dating back to the start of the 2007-08 campaign. Only Zetterberg has scored more (98) over that time period, and he did so in more games (200).
He was rewarded with a 12-year contract extension late last season, while the one concern going in was the fact he's been prone to some injuries (he's played more than 72 games just once) in the first four years of his career.
The four-month timetable is, obviously, the best-case scenario for the Wings, and while that seems extremely optimistic for a torn ACL, it still leaves the door open for a return for the stretch run of the regular season and the playoffs, the time of year when Franzen has been a force for Detroit. Or they could put him on the long-term injury list and swing a trade.
