Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen will miss the 2014 Sochi Games because of a conciussion, according to the Detroit Free Press. He had nine goals and 14 assists this season for Detroit. Other Swedish players fighting injuries: forwards Henrik Zetterberg and Henrik Sedin, and defenseman Alex Edler.

Franzen is the only one guaranteed to miss Sochi, though. A quick look at the best bets to replace him, based on Sweden's reserve list:

Patric Hornqvist, Nashville Predators. Hornqvist, like Franzen, is a big right winger who can score goals; he’s got 10 so far this season and three others of 21 or more. He also drives puck possession; when he’s on the ice at even strength, 51.8 percent off all shot attempts are for his team. That’s the best Corsi percentage among the Predators’ forwards. He probably makes the most sense, based on need, production and underlying stats.

Marcus Johansson, Washington Capitals. On the other end of the spectrum is Johansson, who plays on a line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom and, against all odds, has one even-strength goal on 54 shots this season. That, as noted by Japers Rink, is more bad luck than anything, and the Caps as a whole struggle at 5-on-5. Johansson is certainly productive on the power play (six goals). He’s also not a right winger or a goal-scorer.

Gustav Nyquist, Red Wings. Franzen’s teammate is a more efficient scorer than Johansson (9G, 8A in 28 games). He’s also capable of playing on the right side — plus he’s a Red Wing, which might win him brownie points. He has a 13.6 percent even-strength shooting percentage and 1050 PDO, though, which is indicative of some pretty significant luck.

CANUCKS LOSE BIEKSA, SANTORELLI


Things keep getting worse for the Vancouver Canucks.

The team lost its second straight Wednesday night, are now 4-6-0 in their last ten, and are without their head coach John Tortorella due to suspension. Henrik Sedin remains out with a rib injury, alongside and Chris Tanev, who may be out until after Olympic break with a broken thumb.

Now staring down a five-game road trip to close out their schedule before the break, the Canucks got more bad news on the injury front Thursday.

The blue line took another hit as Kevin Bieksa will not travel with the team for at least the start of the road trip. The injury is undisclosed, but Bieksa has been dealing with foot injuries this season. He is out indefinitely. Even worse, forward Mike Santorelli has undergone shoulder surgery and is done for the rest of the year.

Santorelli had been a nice find. A guy who scored 20 goals in 2010-11 for Florida and just 11 in the three years following, the 28 year old had picked up 10 scores and assisted on 18 more in 49 games this season. He suffered the shoulder injury against the Coyotes on January 16 and had not played since. 

Is Santorelli a guy whose individual loss will break a team’s season? Of course not. Neither is Bieksa’s or Tanev’s.

But all of them together, combined Sedin’s absence and Tortorella’s suspension to boot? That’s a tough mountain to overcome. For a team struggling before these problems began to pile up, that Olympic break has to look very appealing. In theory, all of their missing pieces, sans Santorelli, will be back in action when the Canucks return to the ice on February 26. 

The Canucks just have to hope their season doesn’t go up in smoke before then.


REIMER ON BREAK, SCRIVENS


Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer has big plans for the NHL Olympic break, which begins on Feb. 9 and ends the night of Feb. 25. As taken from James Mirtle's twitter:

Reimer on what he'll do over Olympic break: "'I'm going to be burnt like a lobster.' Will go somewhere warm for few days then start training."

Reimer also had a good line about former backup Ben Scrivens' 59-save shutout Thursday night for the Edmonton Oilers: "I think I taught him everything he knows."

Because Toronto gets drastically outshot all the time, you see. Reimer is backing up Jonathan Bernier at the moment, and both carried the Leafs at the start of the season — Reimer's numbers have dipped, though, as he's played less. His overall save percentage is down to .911. Part of that is attributable to Toronto's decline on the penalty kill; his even-strength save percentage is still at .926.

That's beside the point, though. He said he wanted to look like a lobster.


VARLAMOV'S CONTRACT TOO BIG, TOO SOON


It's not impossible to see what the Colorado Avalanche were thinking when they signed goaltender Semyon Varlamov to a five-year, $29.5 million contract extension — Varlamov is 25 years old with a .925 save percentage, and both the salary cap and market price for goaltenders is on the rise.

Still, that's a gigantic, early commitment, given that Varlamov is one season removed from a .903 save percentage (.911 at even strength), that his career mark is .915, and that he was only set to reach restricted free agency after this season.

It's the same school of thought that surrounded Corey Crawford's post-Stanley Cup extension with the Chicago Blackhawks; why guarantee so much money, and cap space, to a player coming off 40-ish games at a level significantly higher than any he's hit in the past? What could Varlamov have done to earn more? Why not wait a bit, and see if the guy at the game's most volatile position can sustain at a high-end level of play before signing a high-end contract?

The Avs, for their part, didn't need to see any more; Varlamov has indeed been good, and the Avs are comfortably in third place in the Central Division with a young, talented core. That core, though, is about to get a lot more expensive; Matt Duchene's cap hit jumps from $3.5 million to $6 million next season, Gabriel Landeskog's from $925,000 to $5.57 million and Varlamov's from $2.8 million to $5.9 million. Ryan O'Reilly can become a restricted free agent, and Paul Stastny is headed for unrestricted free agency.

Colorado acquired Varlamov from the Washington Capitals for a first-round pick after the 2010-11 season. He posted a .917 save percentage in first season with Avs before dipping to .903, then jumping back up to .925. In 189 career appearances, he's 93-67-23 with a .915 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average.

Varlamov's ex-girlfriend earlier this season accused him of domestic violence. Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges against him because they didn't believe they could prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.

Contributors: Sean Gentille and Ben Valentine