A Leader On and Off the Ice, Defenseman Cody Franson Takes Home IceHogs 2021 MVP Honors

ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Rockford IceHogs, proud American Hockey League affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League, announced today that defenseman Cody Franson is the winner of the team’s Most Valuable Player award for the 2021 season.

Franson, 33, picked up his second IceHogs Best Defenseman award yesterday after receiving the honor during the 2017-18 season and placed second among IceHogs skaters and tied for 13th among AHL blueliners this season with 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) and led the team with nine power-play points (one goal, eight assists) and 67 shots.

It’s pretty special,” Franson reflected. “It’s a really young group and a great group of guys. It’s been a lot of fun and it’s been an interesting year with how far we’ve come as a group. At the start, we were starting from the ground up. We had to learn it seemed like almost everything brand new. To see how far these guys have come is a pretty special feeling as a player and as a guy trying the help them along. It’s a pretty good feeling.”

In addition to his point production, the Sicamous, British Columbia, native was counted on as a veteran leader on the ice, on the bench, and in the locker room, appearing in the second-most games for an IceHogs defenseman this season and was one of only seven skaters to dress in 26 or more games during the team’s 32-game schedule. He paced all IceHogs skaters with an average ice time of 23:07 per game.

He’s like a third coach out there,” added IceHogs Head Coach Derek King. “He settles things down, especially with our young defensemen. He talks to the guys a lot. He’s a huge asset for us as an organization and as a staff also.”

He becomes the first IceHogs AHL defenseman to capture both the team’s Best Defenseman and MVP award in the same season and the first player in franchise history to do so since Jeff Da Costa (UHL, 2000-01).

IceHogs Most Valuable Players

1999-00 J.F. Rivard and Mike Figliomeni

2000-01 J.F. Rivard and Nick Checco

2001-02 Jeff DaCosta

2002-03 Alex Alexeev and Matt Loen

2003-04 Dave Paradise and Ronnie Vogel

2004-05 J.F. Dufour and J.C. Ruid

2005-06 Greg Barber and Preston Mizzi

2006-07 Frederic Cloutier and Preston Mizzi

2007-08 Martin St. Pierre

2008-09 Tim Brent

2009-10 Mark Cullen

2010-11 Jeff Taffe

2011-12 Carter Hutton

2012-13 Brandon Pirri and Martin St. Pierre

2013-14 Jeremy Morin

2014-15 Michael Leighton

2015-16 Michael Leighton

2016-17 Brandon Mashinter

2017-18 Tyler Sikura

2018-19 Jacob Nilsson

2019-20 Brandon Hagel

2020-21 Cody Franson