Franson has had a fantastic start to the season, and that?s a problem for the Leafs. He is a big, right hand shot who is only 27 years old, and he produces better than most, as evidenced by the fact he?s tied for 12th in NHL scoring among defencemen.
Franson has also grown into a top pairing role, logging 275 of his 348 even strength minutes (80 per cent) alongside captain Dion Phaneuf so far this year.
Despite those minutes and some tough situations, when Franson has been on the ice, the Leafs have been a 50 per cent possession team, nearly 4 per cent better than when he?s on the bench.
He drives play, and more than ever, teams are looking for that.
Why that?s a problem is he will be an unrestricted free agent come July 1, and some team is going to look at all of the above and back up a Brink?s truck full cash to his home on Okanagan Lake this summer.
A few things are immediately apparent when you look at this year?s UFA class. No. 1, there?s not much there. Of those that are there, Franson has more goals than all of them. He has more points than all of them. He plays more minutes than most of them. And he?s younger than just about all of them, too.
Notice a pattern?
Add in the fact he?s a righty ? an increasingly valuable commodity given more than 63 per cent of defencemen in the NHL are lefties this year ? and there?ll be a lot of suitors desperate to shore up perhaps the trickiest position to shore up.
That?s a list that includes the Leafs, given their depth chart after Franson currently consists of Roman Polak, Stephane Robidas, depth prospects and minor leaguers.
Save moving Phaneuf (a lefty) back to the right side, they?ll need someone there, too.
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Management could sell it as a new regime under new president Brendan Shanahan that had seen the light and that wanted Franson, along with Morgan Rielly, to help anchor the blueline for years to come.
Offering some sort of leadership role and the chance to wear a letter, even down the line, would also make sense.
He has that potential.
In that situation, it?s plausible Franson would take a discount from the homerun he will hit on the open market. How big that discount might be is tough to forecast, but if the Leafs can get him under contract with reasonable term and for under $5-million a year, they need to strongly consider it, especially with Monday?s news that the cap is expected to rise into the $73-million range.
A lot has been made of how tight the Leafs cap situation is, but they could shoehorn Franson in, even without radical restructuring. More foresight would have been better, as they could have had him under contract for less had they bought in long term earlier, but it can work, even at that kind of number, especially if they follow through on plans to play RFA hardball with Jonathan Bernier and Nazem Kadri.
