It's game 14 for the Leafs but only game 4 for Cody "Not Lebda" Franson (Leafs are presently 1-2-0 with Franson in the line-up.) Or at least it seemed like he wasn't going to be Brett Lebda. In Cody's limited appearances this season he has put up the Lebdaesque Plus/Minus -4 (-3 of that came in one game.)
The difference is that when Franson has drawn into the line-up he has been playing, averaging just under seventeen minutes a night and the Leafs haven't been shy about using him on the powerplay either at just under three minutes a game, both numbers are improvements over his career year icetime last season in Nashville.
The Leafs, meanwhile have the 8th worst goals against total in the league which begs the question, how is it that Franson hasn't played into the lineup more regularly?
Initially I'd assume that it was a choice to go with Komisarek over Franson in favour of having a defensive defenseman in the lineup instead of adding another...
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