Toronto Maple Leafs Should Sign This Free, Unwanted All-Star Defenseman

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a team with some salary cap problems.

They hype and the fear mongering is a bit ridiculous – more than a bit, actually – but the Toronto Maple Leafs are tight up against the cap.  It’s not going to result in one of their good players being offer-sheeted, or anything ridiculous like that, but with Patrick Marleau and Nikita Zaitsev taking up over $10 million, the Leafs do need to be on the look-out for bargains.

So what if I told you that there was a defenseman available who has a career of unblemished NHL success?

A player who is right handed, plays defense and is cheap?

Wouldn’t you think the Leafs should pursue him?

Ladies and Gentleman, do you remember our friend Cody Franson? He is not technically an all-star, but he puts up all-star numbers.

Bargain Basement All-Star

In parts of ten seasons, Cody Franson has had a positive shot-attempt percentage (Corsi) relative to his teammates in 100% of them. (All stats naturalstattrick.com).

100%.

He might look slow, he might not appear to be as effective as he is, but Cody Franson gets it done.

Franson signed with a KHL team last year, and his absence from the NHL is a mystery only Robert Stack could possibly solve.  As the league trends more towards analytics by the day, no one I talk to can answer the question of why Cody Franson isn’t in the NHL.

Not only should he be in the NHL, but he is an extremely effective NHL player at the rarest and most sought-after position: right-handed defenseman.

And, in a cap league, he would come cheap.

He is 6’5, he has a cannon for a slap-shot, he moves the puck, he’s an elite passer, he drives possession and, when he is on the ice, your team is almost guaranteed to be winning.

The last time he skated a regular shift in the NHL he has 58% of shot-attempts, 59% of the shots, 54% of the scoring chances, and 52% of the goals.  Those are borderline elite numbers.

Know what else? 100% of the players who played a minimum of 190 minutes with Franson from 2015 to 2018 had better numbers with him on the ice, than they did without him.  100%.

How the hell is Cody Franson not in the NHL?  Did I mention that he scored 27 points in 54 KHL games, then followed that up with 18 points in 19 playoff games? (hockeydb.com).

Oh, one more thing: He’s always been a slow skater, and his game is based on intelligence, so like other famous slower guys (Thornton, Jagr) I predict he will age gracefully.   At 31 he should still be in his prime.

Consider the Leafs play a left handed, extremely slow, terrible in every way, 39 year old on the top pairing, replacing Hainsey with Franson should be an absolute no-brainer.

The numbers don’t lie.  The entire point of analytics in hockey is to find inefficiencies and exploit them. The NHL is a reputation based business, where group-think reigns supreme.  Cody Franson was cut by a terrible Blackhawks team, and because people falsely credit them with knowing what they were doing, they think there is something wrong and they pass on him too.

It’s a mistake that was made by all 31 teams.

It’s time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to correct it.  They should sign Cody Franson and insert him onto the their blue line.  He would be far, far superior to either Hainsey or Zaitsev, and far cheaper too.

Franson makes it so you win hockey games. When he is on the ice, your team will be better than the opposition.  He will make everyone he plays with better.

Cody Franson needs to be back in the NHL.  Preferably with the Toronto Maple Leafs.