Seasoned American blueliner Franklin set to bring strong defensive game to Griffins in 2026-27
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – As the chapter closed on the end of Simon Fraser University's high-performance non-conference hockey program earlier this year, it left players searching for a new home.
Jack Franklin, who hails from San Jose, Calif., and has played all over North America in his hockey career to date, found a perfect match in Edmonton, and is set to join the MacEwan University Griffins in 2026-27.
The 6-foot-2, 201-pound defenceman will be a key addition to a Griffins' blueline that has seen three of its top-four blueliners from last season move on.
"I think we have some guys coming back who have been in the league for a while and they're going to be great leaders," said Griffins head coach Zack Dailey. "But with Jack's experience, the expectation is he leads by example as well. I'm sure guys will look up to him because of who he's played against and the experience that he has. If you can get guys who can contribute right away, it's always going to help your team."
Franklin managed major minutes for Burnaby, B.C.-based Simon Fraser last season as they played against NCAA Div. 1 competition regularly, even though they operated as an independent club program.
"I think he led their D in ice time, and they played against the Michigan's and the Boston's, so he's got a lot of good experience," said Dailey. "I just like the simplicity of his game. He's big (6-2), plays mean, is hard to play against, and doesn't turn over a lot of pucks."
While growing up in the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes elite stream, Franklin gained his first taste of Edmonton when he attended the St. Albert-based John Reid Memorial tournament in 2017-18, playing against two new Griffins teammates – Ethan Sundar and Carson Haynes (Edmonton Oilers forward Matthew Savoie was the tournament's leading scorer that year).
After four seasons in Phoenix, he played 18U AAA in Plymouth, Mich. with Victory Honda and continued his journey across North America by heading to Texas to kick off his junior career in the NAHL with the El Paso Rhinos in 2021-22.
At the movement deadline in January 2022, the AJHL's Whitecourt Wolverines brought him to Canada where he put up 42 points in 124 regular season games across three seasons, winning the Wolverines' top defenceman award in 2023-24. While in Whitecourt, he played with current Griffins goaltender Carson Ironside.
Recruited to play NCAA Div. III, Franklin kicked off his post-secondary journey at Rhode Island-based Salve Regina University in 2024-25 before transferring to Simon Fraser last season.
That brings us to today where Franklin is prepared to bring all of that experience to MacEwan. His ability to defend will be huge for a Griffins team looking to decrease their goals against totals in 2026-27.
"Last year, we did a lot of things really well, but we gave up too many goals, plain and simple," said Dailey. "He's someone who's going to defend a little bit better and take care of our end first. I think that's a focus our whole group needs to have.
"I'm really excited to have him and I think he's someone with experience playing at this level, so I think the transition will be a little bit easier for him."
