I tell ya I've fought tougher men

but I really can't remember when

he kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile

-Shel Silverstein, "A Boy Named Sue"

The Mule is a favorite in Detroit. He's not an out-of-nowhere story like Henrik Zetterberg rise from the seventh round to NHL superstardom - Franzen was drafted in the third round and had some minimal fanfare when selected. What has been a surprise, however, is his offensive outburst over the last three seasons. A look at this time in Sweden and his first few seasons in Detroit through Desjardins' NHLE shows a player that "got it' very late in his development curve:

Season Team NHL82 G NHL82 A NHL82 P 2001-02 Linkoping HC 4 11 15 2002-03 Linkoping HC 3 7 10 2003-04 Linkoping HC 16 23 39 2004-05 Linkoping HC 10 10 20 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings 12 4 16 2006-07 Detroit Red Wings 12 24 36 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings 31 13 44 2008-09 Detroit Red Wings 39 29 68 2009-10 Detroit Red Wings 30 33 63 2010-11 Detroit Red Wings 37 30 67

The Linkoping totals are calculated using NHL Equivalency. It's not often that a forward breaks out at age 27, are it's even more strange that he gets better at age 30.

But Franzen isn't a fluke. He's not relying on teammates or shooting percentage. He's a bonafide player, capable of outshooting his competition and moving the puck in the right direction.

Johan Franzen #93 / Center / Detroit Red Wings Height: 6-3 Weight: 222 Born: Dec 23, 1979

Season Corsi RCorsi RCorsi RK Adj. Corsi

QC

QT

OPct ZS RK

EV +/-

+/- RK

2007-2008 18.18 2.1 6/13 0.77 3/13 6/13 61.3% 7/13 .86 8/13 2008-2009 22.19 11.3 1/12 22.97 4/12 5/12 48.4% 11/12 1.22 4/12 2009-2010 20.70 13.6 1/15 19.62 6/15 1/15 51.9% 9/15 .45 4/15 2010-2011 2.18 -9.5 11/12 1.40 5/12 10/12 51.3% 5/12 .70 7/12

His Corsi numbers have fallen off this season, but that may be attributable to playing second liner competition with bottom of the barrel quality of teammates. His EV +/- is still solid (though bottom half of the roster on the dominant Red Wings). Many of these numbers can be located on Franzen's Player Card at behindthenet.ca. Even without Pavel Datsyuk in the lineup, it's likely Franzen's Corsi will rebound.

Franzen is an example of a player getting it very, very late in his development curve, and a shining example of patience in player development - a hallmark of Ken Holland's regime in Detroit. A lesser management team may have dumped a player with such a seemingly low ceiling, but Holland stuck with him and brought him straight to Detroit. There's much to be said about the Detroit model and most of it starts with Holland's player development organization.