Franzen was in the middle of his contract, making five million a year when he got his concussion. Not much he or the Wings could do, it was a legitimate career ending injury despite his best efforts at coming back. You can't force him to retire and give up over $10,000,000.00 that he was entitled to, and you certainly can't force him to play through a concussion.
The NHL allowed this to happen when they accepted Kiprusoff's retirement contract and then kept the boundaries be pushed until Kovalchuk's. But of course, as you got these decade long contracts that went until the player was 40, we were going to see career-ending legitimate injuries and the situation we're in now. The policy itself has to change, (or I guess just wait it out until Weber finishes his career on the LTIR due to his knee injuries) but the last people I fault are the players if they are actually injured.
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