Apr 27, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Johan Franzen (93) warms up before the game against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. The Red Wings shut out the Stars 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

During the offseason the Detroit Red Wings will be able to use a compliance buyout on two players. Over the next couple weeks we will take a look at which players could end up being bought out during the offseason for the Red Wings.

Johan Franzen

HEIGHT: 6′ 3″
WEIGHT: 223
SHOOTS: LEFT
AGE: 33
CAP HIT: $3,954,545 / 7 years left
STATS: 31 point (14 goals, 17 assist) / 41 games played

With 7 years left on his deal, which would keep him under contract until he is 40 years old, Johan Franzen is a prime candidate for a compliance buyout. With seven years left on his deal it might not make sense to keep the big sniper on the Red Wings.

Why should the Red Wings buyout  Johan Franzen?

Johan Franzen might just be the streakiest player in the NHL and at 33 years old he is in his prime, which might only last 2 or 3 more years.

If Franzen retires before this contract is up the Red Wings would receive a recapture cap hit because of the new “Luongo Rule” in the CBA.

Why shouldn’t the Red Wings buyout Johan Franzen?

With seven goals and eight points in the last 8 games of the season, Franzen was a driving force behind the Red Wings run to make the playoffs.

He is the only pure sniper on the team at the moment and gives Pavel Datsyuk a shooting forward to play along side.

The question is, do we think he should be bought out?

This is an iffy one because Franzen is one of the streakiest players and can be invisible on the ice or even a disruption to the teams flow, but the Red Wings do not have a player like him on the roster this moment with his size and skill.

Johan Franzen will return to the Red Wings and while some Wing fans may not like his effort night in and night out he makes the Wings a better team.

Franzen will not be bought out.

May 18, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith (2) celebrates with teammates including Henrik Zetterberg (40) after scoring a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period of game two of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Redemption was the front page story of today’s game…at least for one of the teams playing. The Detroit Red Wings gave as good as they got from the Chicago Blackhawks in game 1 and traded a 4-1 victory back to them at the United Center. Several players who were much maligned or just plain sucked earlier in the postseason turned in remarkable performances. Brendan Smith turned in a goal and three shots tonight after playing the goat for much of the last series, Valtteri Filppula scored a highlight-reel goal and had 18:05 of ice time in which he was -NOT- a liability unlike the past few games, and Johan Franzen finally showed some of the playoff fire he’s famous for, after coming into the game with 3 goals and a -7 rating in 8 games. The team that looked like it could have been swept after game one came out and outplayed, outpossessed, and outshot (30-20) a Chicago team that looked surprised by the intensity of Detroit’s play.

The tilt didn’t start off as well as it ended, however. Chicago came out of the gate into the first period dominating and hemming Detroit into their own zone. The Zetterberg line in particular was heavily outmatched by Chicago’s trio of Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, and Brandon Saad. However, it was the second line of Patrick Sharp, Michal Handzus, and Patrick Kane that made Detroit pay. Brendan Smith mishandled a clearing attempt and fell over at Chicago’s blue line, which resulted in a 3-on-1 against – sigh – Kyle Quincey. Cleary attempted a backcheck and did a good job of blocking Sharp’s original pass, but the puck bounced off him and right to Handzus, who fed it over to Kane who made the score 1-0 with his first playoff goal in over two years.

Despite looking invigorated from being scored against, Detroit wasn’t able to equalize until the second period, from a deflection courtesy of Damien Brunner off a Jakub Kindl point shot; Kindl made a great play to keep that puck and send it toward the net – he’s finally starting to show the maturity and patience with the puck that everyone expected when the Wings drafted him 19th overall in 2005. Kindl wasn’t the only recent first round pick to shine in the second period though; Brendan Smith stepped in to join a rush at the end of the period and tapped in a Zetterberg pass to put Detroit ahead by 1 going into the third period.

Thankfully, Detroit’s third period fortunes seem to have turned, as they continued to dominate the game at both ends of the ice and wound up with two goals for and none against to show for it. The first one came off the stick of Johan Franzen, who showcased his beautiful snap shot with a blast that rocketed over the glove of Chicago goalie Corey Crawford. The Mule can be as dominant as any player in the league when he gets angry, so hopefully the ire of that game 1 loss doesn’t leave him for game 3 on Monday. Goal #2 came from another underachieving forward in Valtteri Filppula, who scored an amazing highlight reel goal from his knees to cap off scoring at 4-1. Good game.

But where does this leave Detroit?

The Wings have essentially nullified Chicago’s home ice advantage by defeating them so thoroughly at the United Center, but they absolutely NEED to win both games at home if they want to take this series. I highly doubt Chicago will play this badly again at home, so it’s imperative that Detroit takes advantage of being at home while they still can. Tonight was a big step though, as the team showed that they can stick with and dominate the apparently-superior Hawks.

Thanks for reading, and go Wings! Follow me on twitter: @dzkefalas