The Malik Report

Of course, after a pair of 12-hour days in the summer (with more to come), two foreign-language articles which require some translation popped up, and they're long ones.

Hockeysverige's Ola Winther points us to Vetlanda-Posten's Alexander Jepsen, who reports that Johan Franzen is training hard for the 2015-16 season and feeling good:

Johan Franzen has come a long way back from his injury. When the magazine met him at the fitness center in Vetlanda, he was training in Crossfit together with IK Oskarshamn player Daniel Ljungqvist and workout buddy Tobias Johansson: "I try to hang on to them when we start, they run pretty hard," says Franzen. "The Mule" is preparing for a new NHL season. He's been injured in the past and is now looking forward. After 600 regular-season games, a Stanley Cup and a World Championship medal, this isn't the end. The 35-year-old wants more. Johan Franzen's set his sights on a new season in the world's best hockey league, the NHL. After an injury-filled season last year, which was spoiled by a head injury, he's well on his way back to hockey again. At the moment he's in Vetlanda in Sweden, where he gathers force to train at full speed. "It's bad weather, and it's easier to go to the gym," says "The Mule," and continues: "Often I go to exercise in the morning and often even in the evening, I haven't gotten there to two-a-days yet, but I'll be there soon." Last year he only played 33 games for the Detroit Red Wings. The Boro/Vetlanda product explains about the difficult time: "It was cruelly difficult, that I played a little more than 30 games wasn't fun. I've been struggling with my head for the last two seasons now. I will try again now, if I get an injury or feel that I can't fulfill a season, then maybe it's over. But right now I feel positive, I can train hard given that I have setbacks now and then, but they pass with a little rest." Earlier this spring, you said in an interview with an American newspaper that it was even difficult to play with your children? "In the beginning, there were two months when I didn't get out of bed. When the playoffs began late, I could still participate and practice on the ice and at the time it felt as if we'd gotten to the 2nd round, I would have been able to play with them. In retrospect, I wasn't there, I got headaches even then, but I went ahead and I was able to run at full speed every day." You're 36 years old, you've won the Stanley Cup, World Championship and played 10 seasons in the NHL. What is it that still drives you? "You want to finish in your own way. I want to feel that I've got more to give. Now I feel fresh as anything. I feel that my body has more to give, and when we have physical tests I'm always at the top, the body wants more." Golf simulator Franzen is currently on vacation and is back home in Sweden. "The Mule" says that he has a golf simulator in the basement of his house in Birmingham, outside of Detroit, and that in the United States he plays a lot of golf. At home in Sweden, things are different. "The simulator is fun, but it's idle a lot, but fun when friends come over and say hello. The last two years in Sweden, I played maybe two rounds. I try to make a trip a year with a bunch of friends. We'll see how it goes with it for this year." What do you do when you're at home in the summer? "My little brother is 16 years old and my sister is the same age, they usually like me to drive them in the wakeboarding boat. Then I'll take care of the place and try to have as many friends over as possible." Franzen once played for Boro/Vetlanda, but he doubts that he'll finish his career at home. "It'll be tough, if 'Mosquito' (Joakim Andersson) is making a comeback, maybe," laughs Franzen. "It's only he who I have chemistry with." Do you follow Boro when you're in Detroit? "I've been bad with it, it's just 'Mosquito' left who I played with there. In Sweden, I follow HV71 and Linkoping, those were the teams I played for, and I'm very impressed with Skelleftea in recent years." Franzen was part of the Red Wings who were designated as a dynasty for many years. The Stanley Cup title in 2007-2008, but in recent years, the team's had a tougher time. "We were almost like Chicago, but they've won more. Now for the next year there will be a new coach and new blood, and I believe we'll have a better year next year." If you had to pick another team to play for in the NHL, which would you choose? "Wow, that's hard. Florida, Tampa or Anaheim, perhaps, when you get older, it would be great to get to the heat and help the joints," laughs "Frazze." "I wouldn't choose New York, it would be too stressful." Do you have a favorite player in the NHL? "Jonathan Toews, he's by far the best. He doesn't stand out as much offensively, but he does the dirty work and drives the team. Kane is also good ,but he's a different type of player. I like Hjalmarsson who's sick to watch and develop as he has. Praise for Karlsson Franzen goes back to Detroit in August. Training camp will start on September 19th, and then Franzen will be ready for his 11th season in the NHL. Then another Boro/Vetlanda product will be in the NHL--Erik Karlsson, Norris Trophy-winner and winner of heady praise from Franzen. "He's definitely by far the best offensive defenseman, he's if not the fastest, one of the top 5 in the league," says Franzen. "It just happens that if he's at a speedy clip, he can take the puck up ice himself and create his own scoring chance. The worst part is that he dominates more each passing year." What's he like in person? "Ha ha, he's relaxed and what I like most is that life is a blast for him. Another might try to be grumpy on game day and he just goes around and cruises through the game, and finally you want to do it yourself, too. Often when I go out to check him Erik pushes me on the calves, and I push back." Franzen says that when he's watching hockey on television, it's mainly Erik Karlsson who directs the games he sees. "When I have the chance to check when Erik plays, he's sickly impressive. He's so young and yet strong and explosive."

The second article comes via Sport-Express: Alexey Marchenko engaged in a very, very long interview with Sportizen.ru's Alex Shevchenko, and here is a rough translation thereof:

Alexey Marchenko: "I considered myself a strong man, until I got to the NHL" The defenseman for Detroit has a love for the theater, dislikes country music, and talks about life in the United States and plans for the upcoming season. Last season, Alexey Marchenko played for the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL playoffs, scored his first goal, and finished the season in the AHL, but only because the farm club continued to play, and the first team lost. THe defender said that he was struck most of all in the last season, but he gave up the fight, and declared his love for the theater. This week, you went to the theater. Suddenly I hear that hockey players are vacationining everywhere. "By the way, I was with Sasha Kuznetsov, who plays for the Admiral Vladivostok, so I wasn't the only one. We went to the show 'Players' with Oleg Meshnikov in the title role. I liked it very much. When I'm in America I go to the theater. We went to the English theater production "The Mousetrap" by Agatha Christie. But it was from England and it was quite difficult to understand them at first. "You're in America. There's only one language." "English from Britain and English from America are significantly different. Now they're similar of course, but whether there's emphasis in one word, whether you say it another way, I had to strain. I went overseas with basic English myself, but I still had to get used to some things. Are you surprised? Residents of the south and the north of England sometimes don't understand each other. Do you love American country with all your heart? "Oh no. But I listen to it a lot, because in the locker room music's playing continuously. As I understand it, the coolest singer in America is Luke Bryan. But that's all I know about that music. I remember when our team arrived in Nashville, all the AMerican guys were excited. The city's the capital of country, and therefore it's hip. Me and the other Europeans just sat and looked at each other. We just thought, well, okay..." Are you one of the unlucky Russian players? You missed all the important events at the youth level because of injuries, received a serious injury on the eve of a tournament. But in North America the black stripe stopped. Why is that? Did you begin to work out differently? "That's one thing, save a small injury in Detroit, I was healthy. But you're right, nothing serious has happend, pah pah pah. Perhaps partly due to the fact that it really is another job. Do you know what's the most interesting thing?" Tell what it is. "I talked to our strength and conditioning coach, and he says he took a lot of Soviet system exercises. That's the basis of our training. It's just corrected because the players have to take care of themselves for more than 82 games." What's the longest that you've run cross-country? "We never run cross-country. It's not considered useful. But we have a lot of running for short periods, because it's a skill that helps us in games." And where's the Soviet training? "Hockey players in the NHL, if we're only talking about the NHL, are much stronger than ours. I'm from CSKA and considered myself a pretty tough guy, but when I arrived, I realized that I was somewhere at the bottom of the rankings. Now I'm in the middle, but I still need a lot more work." In the NBA, newcomers have to sit in the bus over 40 minutes before departure. What are the NHL rules? "Nothing. I don't remember, of cours,e if you're young you don't have to come to the bus two minutes prior to departure. In the AHL, rookies clean the trash after the trip. Help with the trunks, but it's usually a little bit of everything. We'll talk to you on the eve of your departure to America. When you're asked, and when you go, might it be better to spend another season in Russia? Tell me whether there was a single day for the past two years, where you regretted that you went overseas? "I haven't had such a thought. Even when I was sent to the AHL, I reacted to it properly. This is the general rule of Detroit. Any young hockey player has to play on the farm team, to grow, to feel North American hockey. And I really gave it a lot of time. At least, after the games in Grand Rapids, it was much easier in the NHL." You onced thanked Pekka Rinne, after you scored your first goal for Detroit? "I wanted to send him a gift, but I couldn't. It was an awesome game. You know that after that I didn't go back out on the ice." Why? "I got injured. Moreover, the injury happened a lot earlier. I suffered, endured, and until the end of the game there was a lot of time, and I didn't want to let my teammates down. But it got really hard, and I decided that on the last shift, if there was a good pass from my teammates. I got it and went." And after that you had to sit on the bench? "Once released from the penalty box. But I was really hurt, I couldn't even pass the puck out of the zone." You finished the season in the AHL. When we talked with Andrei Pedany of Utica, that your team had just met. He went to visit you. Is that normal on a team? "So what? They didn't say anything, and Andrei, either. In the AHL there are very few Russians, so we talk to each other." Pedany often fights. You're also strong, but don't get involved in the skirmishes. "Once in the AHL, I was offered to fight in a game against Hamilton, but refused. It's not easy--you don't want to go. Nobody will jump on you unless you're vulgar. And Andrew never refuses. But he's a powerful man, has had good training, but I know he's not in awe of his fights." The traditional question we ask everyone who goes overseas--when will you come back to Russia? "In the coming year I won't come back for sure. I have a contract year, and this summer is a good opportunity to get into the main team in Detroit in general. In early August, I start training on my own and I have to go into the first exhibition game in optimal shape." How do you live in the dead city of Detroit? "It's reviving. I've seen models--everything looks good. But the bottom's been reached, so now it's easier to develop. In the city there's nothing to do--everybody lives in the suburbs. Though the team will have new apartments near the stadium, nobody stops there. But it's much more convenient to live in the suburbs." Where do you feel the momentum of your career is going? "Yes, part of it was prevented by my injury, but I actually made it onto the team after playing for Detroit in the playoffs. In the fall I will start from scratch, but I have very good expectations. I'm going to play this entire season in the NHL." You know about Detroit's team. How many defenders are under contract? It's OK with the defensemen. But they say that there's one spot for three players and I'm among those three. If you don't break into the team, will you ask for a trade? "In theory, I can ask for a trade, but you need another team, and a hockey player who requires a trade immediately at the slightest problem? I have that option, but I don't think so, even though I don't hide that I don't want to spend another season in the AHL." Coach Mike Babcock went to Toronto, and he believed in you. For players the change in coaches is always a problem. "But the team in Grand Rapids was led by Jeff Blashill. I worked with him in the AHL, and he was pleased with me, too. But it doesn't matter. I won't get a place on the team because I played well last season." We were waiting for the national team this May [at the World Championships]. At least, we had problems on defense. "Nobody talked to me from the team, there was no contact." I understand this is a very dangerous topic, but did you ask the AHL team to let you go to the [World Championships]? "I don't know because I never complained. But I know Tomas Jurco was allowed to play for Slovakia." For the next season the NHL will play overtime "Three on Three." You've already played in the AHL under those rules. Tell me more. "We had a hybrid overtime. We started four-on-four and three minutes after the whistle, we had three players. I will say that there were more chances to score immediately. Plus the goalie uses his stick actively to play the puck, which can easily assist the attack. Most often two forwards and a defender appear. You don't play indoors this way. The only problem is that over half the team doesn't get onto the ice in overtime."

Comments

Add a Comment

Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.

Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.

Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.