Pressure builds on Red Wings' Franzen

The Detroit Free Press notes Red Wings forward Johan Franzen's struggles so far during the playoffs, pointing out that he also declined to speak to reporters Friday.

In head coach Mike Babcock's presser, he called Franzen "a real good person, real good man and real good family man, tries to be a real good teammate."

Babcock continued with his usual candor.

"Sometimes he doesn't handle, probably, you people as well as he should to help himself — to me, if you just step right up and you just talk, it makes it easy. When you don't, things build, and I think that puts more pressure on yourself. I don't know why you'd do that, as a human being.

"It's no different than companies — you see this every day in business. You have a meeting, no one says anything. You walk out the door, you talk behind each other's back. If you just call each other out and have the hard meeting, then everyone would leave, and we'd get on with progress. Have the hard interview and get on with it. Make it easier on yourself. He's a man, he's got to deal with that himself."

Source: Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press