Cody Franson | |||
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Born |
Sicamous, British Columbia, Canada |
August 8, 1987 ||
Height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) | ||
Weight | 213 lb (97 kg; 15 st 3 lb) | ||
Position | Defenceman | ||
Shoots | Right | ||
NHL team Former teams |
Buffalo Sabres Nashville Predators Toronto Maple Leafs Buffalo Sabres |
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NHL Draft | 79th overall, 2005 Nashville Predators |
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Playing career | 2007–present |
Medal record | ||
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Representing ![]() |
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Ice hockey | ||
World Junior Championships | ||
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2007 Sweden |
Cody Franson (born August 8, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenseman currently with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). Franson was drafted in the third round, 79th overall, by the Nashville Predators in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. He joined the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2011 as a free agent, before eventually returning to Nashville via a trade on February 15, 2015.
Franson played minor hockey for the Sicamous Eagles in Sicamous, British Columbia. During the 2003–04 season, Franson played junior 'B' hockey with the Beaver Valley Nitehawks, a team based out of Fruitvale, British Columbia, in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). The Nitehawks won the KIJHL championship the year Franson played on the team.
Franson went undrafted in the 2002 WHL Bantam Draft. Nevertheless, the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League (WHL) offered him a tryout and Franson was successful in making the team. He played full-time for the Giants starting in the 2004–05 season, where he put up 13 points. Franson then improved to 55- and 51-point campaigns with the Giants in the next two seasons, respectively. In 2006, he helped lead the Giants to the President's Cup as WHL champions, earning a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup. He then recorded the only hat-trick of the tournament and led all defencemen in scoring, with five points in five games. In the subsequent off-season, Franson signed an entry-level contract with the Predators in July 2006, the organization that drafted him in the third round, 79th overall, in 2005. The next year, he was named to the WHL West First All-Star Team and was nominated for the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the League's top defenceman, although the Trophy was ultimately awarded to Kris Russell of the Medicine Hat Tigers. After falling to Medicine Hat in the 2007 WHL Final, Franson and the Giants captured the 2007 Memorial Cup as tournament hosts, defeating the Tigers in the final.