Could The Montreal Canadiens Be Interested In Cody Franson?

With one month before the NHL trade deadline, action should pick up on the trade front as we are slowly separating contenders and pretenders. One player that will most likely be traded is Toronto Maple Leafs' defenseman, Cody Franson. The right-handed blue liner has reportedly declined the Leafs' latest contract offer of around $4.5 million annually.

According to Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun, the TLeafs are looking for a second-round pick in exchange for the 27-year-old Franson. This season, the native of Sicamous, BC has recorded 6 goals and 23 assists for 29 points in 49 contests for the slumping Leafs. The offensive-minded defender is also a good shot blocker with 96 this season (he would rank 2nd on the Habs behind Andrei Markov who has 101) and he can also be physical as shown by his 140 hits, which is three more than Montreal's most physical defenseman, Alexei Emelin.

The impending UFA is currently having one of his best seasons so far (he had 33 points in 2013-14) which means he will most likely want to cash in on the open market next July. This means that the team who will trade for him will get a rental player and not a long-term solution on the blue line. Will Habs GM Marc Bergevin be willing to pay the asking price (2nd rounder pick) for Franson, who is earning $3.3 million this season? That remains to be seen.

Can Montreal head into the playoffs with Sergei Gonchar, Tom Gilbert and Mike Weaver as the team's other right-handed options after PK Subban? We know for sure that Bergevin likes Cody Franson as he was the asset that the team would have landed if Josh Gorges had not refused a deal to Toronto prior to heading to Buffalo. Because of the aborted trade, Bergevin scrambled to find another solution on the blue line and was forced to settle for Tom Gilbert, who he signed to a two-year pact worth $2.8 million AAV. 

While Gilbert has been somewhat reliable on the team's blue line, his 2 goals and 7 assists for 9 points in 46 games are a far cry from Franson' offensive production this year and the Canadiens could certainly use Franson's offensive abilities on the second power play unit instead of Sergei Gonchar or Nathan Beaulieu. Used to play on average 20 or more minutes per game, Franson is a big defender at 6'5'' and 215-lb, which is exactly what the Canadiens' back end needs for a long playoff run.

Other options on defnse include Mike Green, Andrej Sekera, Marc Methot, Jeff Petry, Zbynek Michalek and Marek Zidlicky, among others.

Who would you want to acquire if you were Marc Bergevin?

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