Cody Franson entered free agency hoping for an easy road to another NHL contract, but he also was prepared for a tough one.

Franson realized his reputation as a defenseman took a hit around the league after playing for the Buffalo Sabres the past two seasons. He personally didn’t believe he played all that poorly – and some of the underlying numbers support that – but he knew others had their own opinions.

When a player tryout contract became the necessary route, Franson took his time choosing the team he would play for. He decided on the Blackhawks because of fit and their potential need.

On Monday, Franson was still practicing with the Blackhawks, and that was a vital step in him making the team. While he is still without a contract, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Monday he had made his final cuts and finalized his season-opening roster. Franson is expected to be signed by the Blackhawks within the next few days.

Franson discussed his different offseason, joining the Blackhawks and more after practice on Monday.

Scott Powers: Coming here on a PTO, what has this experience been like? Obviously very new to you.

Cody Franson: Yeah (laughs). You know it’s a little nerve-racking, I guess you can say, if I had to choose one word to sum it up. You know put a lot of onus on your exhibition games and making sure you go out there and perform well. It’s a little different once you start having kids and things like that. You know all of a sudden you have a completely different purpose to play for, puts a little bit more pressure on every type of situation. I have two little ones at home. Coming in on a PTO is something I chose to do, put a lot of pressure on myself and so far it’s gone pretty well. Hopefully, it finishes it out here.

SP: Did you know after last season free agency would be like this?

Franson: I didn’t think it would be quite like this. I knew it would be one of those years where I have to find the right situation, you know a situation where you can go in and have success and have a bounce-back year. I wouldn’t say per se I’d seen this side of it coming. In saying that, I’m very happy Chicago was one of my options. It’s one of those situations where you make $3-whatever it was for the last couple years, and it’s going to be different that way. That will be a change. But going out and being able to play with this group of guys and prove yourself all over again and hopefully get in a position to get back to that status is the idea.

SP: To be sitting here today, do you feel like you made the right choice in which team you chose to do the PTO with?

Franson: You know even though there’s no contract signed yet — it’s not 100 percent that I made the team and things like that – right from the first couple of days of camp it kind of had that feeling. You know just being on the ice with this group of guys, that group of forwards, [Duncan] Keith and [Brent] Seabrook and those guys out there, it’s just a completely different environment than what I was used to. And it’s a lot of fun. Just going out there is fun every day. Like I said in other interviews, every guy in this room has one goal. It’s not about individual things. It’s not about anything along those lines. Yes, everybody wants to go out there and do a job and wants to have individual success, but you can really feel it with this group that they believe when the team does well, everybody does well. That’s all that matters, is going out there and putting wins up on the board and going deep into the playoffs.

Cody Franson (11) has admired how the Blackhawks go about their business. (Raj Mehta/USA TODAY Sports)

SP: I’m sure you’ve gone through a lot of mental hurdles in your career. Was this a different one or were you able to pull from any previous experiences knowing how important these preseason games were and people were watching your play?

Franson: I’ve definitely had some bumps in the roads. I’ve been in mainly contract situation type things. Having gone through those experiences helps. But you know coming in on a PTO is one of those things where you almost have to sit back, take a deep breath, wrap your head around what’s actually going on. You don’t foresee that coming, per se. So, once we made the decision to come to Chicago, you had to wrap your head around no job security, nothing like that. Just that in itself puts a little extra pressure on you. Going into camp, you’re always going in fighting for spots, staking your claim in the lineup, trying to make sure you’re on the power play or whatever type of player you are, if you’re a penalty killer making sure you’re in that mix. So, there’s a little extra going into it with no contract.

SP: You’re still relatively young for hockey at 30. Do you see this season where hopefully things go well and you don’t have to do this on a yearly basis?

Franson: Yeah, I mean after the two slower years in Buffalo, just the way they played out, like I said, I didn’t necessarily see a PTO coming, but I definitely don’t see myself as a person that would or should be in this situation again. But in saying that, the league’s kind of doing some different things than when I was coming up. When I was coming up, it was one of those things where you made the smaller amounts of money and getting to free agency was when you got paid. Now it’s flipped. Now the younger guys that come into the league get paid, and the older guys who get to free agency are taking the more depth-type contracts. In knowing that, it’s tough to say what the future is going to hold. All I can do is control how I play and how I produce here. And hopefully having a good year here will change some of the minds of the people who have doubts about my years in Buffalo. I feel like I played a lot of good hockey there and can still be very productive.

SP: Do you know how the next few days play out with a contract?

Franson: Not exactly, no. I haven’t spoke to them too much about that. I took a lot of pride in the exhibition games. I thought they went well. I put up some numbers and things like that. Really just trying to put my foot in the best position possible to go out and have a good role on this team and help this team be successful.

SP: Why did you choose 11 as your number?

Franson: I’ve worn 4 or 6 most of my whole career, but in coming here with respect to [Niklas] Hjalmarsson, they wanted to have that where nobody was wearing that. My options were 11 and a couple other numbers, and my dad wore 11 when I was growing up and I wore 11 in minor hockey until I started playing juniors. It’s kind of funny, 11 was really the only number that didn’t feel like a camp number, I guess you could say. It was just kind of fitting that it all went full circle. I know my dad’s really excited and I’m excited about it, too. It’s not a typical defenseman’s number, but I grew up with it, my dad wore it, so there’s something to it.

(Top photo: Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports)