{"id":588416,"date":"2026-06-01T08:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T08:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/588416\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T08:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T08:18:12","slug":"former-red-wings-player-chooses-a-life-of-seclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/588416\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Red Wings Player Chooses a Life of Seclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, winger Johan Franzen<\/a> was front and center. The spotlight shone brightly on him, and rightfully so.<\/p>\n

That spring, Franzen shared the club lead, scoring 13 playoff goals. He set Red Wings single-series playoff records by tallying nine goals in the second round against the Colorado Avalanche, including a pair of hat-tricks. He\u2019d finish the postseason with five game-winning goals, another team mark.<\/p>\n

For Franzen, life in the limelight was never a choice he sought out or found welcoming. His preference was for a life of quiet solitude. It\u2019s how he\u2019s choosing to live in retirement in his home of \u00d6sterg\u00f6tland in his native Sweden.<\/p>\n

Franzen is seldom seen and heard from even less.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I hear from you once a year, that\u2019s really good,\u201d Franzen explained to Swedish website Vetlanda-Posten<\/a>. \u201cMany have taken it personally, but it\u2019s the same for everyone around me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s because I don\u2019t see myself as that interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franzen Suffered While With the Red Wings<\/p>\n

Post-concussion syndrome served to waylay his NHL career in 2015-16. Franzen was also suffering endless bullying during his Detroit days at the hands of coach Mike Babcock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It led to a battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the former Detroit player, one that extended well into his post-playing days.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I have gotten rid of my PTSD, which I didn\u2019t even know I had for seven years,\u201d Franzen said<\/a>. \u201cAll of that was caused by a coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe woke up one day and decided to hate me and to do everything to put me down. To this day, I don\u2019t understand why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through it all, the spotlight is suddenly shining again on this reclusive former Red Wings star. <\/p>\n

His No. 6 jersey has been retired in the KFK Mekan Arena in Landsbro. During this year\u2019s annual Vetlanda Festival in his hometown, he will be immortalized with a star at the Vetlanda Square of Honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve barely met a person in four years and then there are two such uprisings in a short time,\u201d Franzen said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, winger Johan Franzen was front and center.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[1511,93,5,65464,4],"class_list":["post-588416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-detroit-hockey-now","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-hockey","tag-johan-franzen","tag-nhl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116673872116963690","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}