Injury Report: Micheal Ferland (Upper Body)

[Svechhammer]

I totally agree we aren't here in the ecf without him. I totally agree we need him 100% in this series and what he brings. But I'm also not lost on him not taking road trips (Svech, Marty were there) and having a generally defensive ****ty personality about it.

Maybe he's frustrated and wants to play. Maybe hes protecting his off season value. It's no real secret we all think he's gone in the off season because he has seemed to be holding out (on signing) to increase his value, which he isn't doing. At least not with us.

There's a lot of "talk" around him, and he's the only one not taking the road trips, and he's the only one with what seems to be excuse after excuse. I too, hope he comes back and starts obliterating people and scoring. But I just don't think he will.

As a fan, Im sick of it dragging out when we need his physicality. I'm also not keen on the hold out thing. Turbo signed a team friendly deal. I bet Aho signs for like 7-8. Jwilly will retire a cane, and I bet Petr stays here with the org that gave him a chance. Ferland isn't any more special than any of these guys, and needs to stop acting like he is.

Yeah, Ferland, such a problem

 

[tarheelhockey]

Economically, the best thing for Ferland would be to play in the playoffs and have a great series. Teams would line up to pay the guy if he was out there hitting everything and scoring goals.

This is something we need to keep reminding ourselves when the drama flares up. Being injured for the playoffs is the worst thing for Ferland. Guys like Foegele and McGinn are out there looking like superheros right now. PNC Arena is chanting Curtis McElhinney's name. These guys are going to get PAID (relatively speaking) based on what they're doing right now, as opposed to Ferland who's not just an afterthought but a source of tension.

I have to imagine this is killing him. While we go online and talk about this once or twice a day, he's dealing with it as his full-time job. And that's probably why he popped off with the "rehabbing" reply.

 

[Lempo]

Nothing is lost though. One year show-me deal is a valid option for Ferland to retry getting a big one in next summer... the prospective shutdown season notwithstanding, obviously.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Nothing is lost though. One year show-me deal is a valid option for Ferland to retry getting a big one in next summer... the prospective shutdown season notwithstanding, obviously.

Compared to getting a spotlight on him during the playoffs, that's a pretty big opportunity loss. Especially for a 27-year-old power forward with nagging injuries.

 

[Lempo]

Compared to getting a spotlight on him during the playoffs, that's a pretty big opportunity loss. Especially for a 27-year-old power forward with nagging injuries.

He can pick some proper team on July 1st and showcase himself again in the next spring playoffs.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Just a reminder, if he's healthy, this is what we might get.

 

[tarheelhockey]

He can pick some proper team on July 1st and showcase himself again in the next spring playoffs.

The more likely thing, given his career phase and injury risk, is that he takes the security of a multi-year deal worth substantially less than he would have made if he had been playing the whole time.

A guy in his position taking a show-me deal is gambling with millions of dollars.

 

[Borsig]

Meh. Ferland won't be signing a one year anything with desperate teams dangling god knows what in front of him.

 

[lawrence]

Just a reminder, if he's healthy, this is what we might get.

He will be needed for the jerks if they are to get past the bears.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

He can pick some proper team on July 1st and showcase himself again in the next spring playoffs.

He most certainly can, but that's a fallback position vs. having teams line up to sign him to a big money, longer term deal.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Nothing is lost though. One year show-me deal is a valid option for Ferland to retry getting a big one in next summer... the prospective shutdown season notwithstanding, obviously.

I seriously doubt that's how this goes. It only takes one team. One desperate GM. One owner who thinks he's one player away. I think Ferland will get his multi-year deal. I think he knows this, too, and that's part of his poor second half, statistically (as well as the injury).

The last thing he wants is another lame-duck season like this one. The guy wants to get paid. And who can blame him. He's tearing up his body playing the way he plays and he's a UFA. Go for the money, big guy.

I just hope we can squeeze one or two good series out of him between now and then.

 

[My Special Purpose]

It was the reflection on his character by saying he's got a ****ty personality, making excuses, holding out, not a lockerroom guy, acting special, etc... is what I disagreed with.

Ferland is in a really rough spot. He can play, risk getting hurt, and losing a ton of money. Or sit out, and lose a ton of money. From a selfish standpoint, the Hurricanes are better when he's in the lineup and productive, but we may not ever see that version of Ferland ever again here. To be fair, he got himself into this jam, so I don't feel all that sorry for him. But I do understand that he's between a rock and a hard place.

 

[raynman]

I’d love to have Ferland back next year but where does he fit? With Nino’s steady play, the emergence of Foegele this postseason, and Svech being Svech there isn’t any room on the left side for him. Next season it’d make sense for Necas to make the jump as a RW behind TT and Williams. Talk about a wrong place and time for injuries. Hopefully if he ends up back in the Western Conference so we don’t have to worry about collapsed lungs.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Ferland is in a really rough spot. He can play, risk getting hurt, and losing a ton of money. Or sit out, and lose a ton of money. From a selfish standpoint, the Hurricanes are better when he's in the lineup and productive, but we may not ever see that version of Ferland ever again here. To be fair, he got himself into this jam, so I don't feel all that sorry for him. But I do understand that he's between a rock and a hard place.

I can see that. I don't see it as a rough spot though. If he's worried about getting hurt (and I'm not suggesting he is), then Rod won't play him or will limit his icetime. So playing "scared" and not getting on the ice or sitting out will, in the end, have the same outcome.

I know it was a small sample, but based on how he played in his limited action against the Caps, he was looking like that same Ferland to me. He had 6 hits in game 1. He only got 6 minutes because of the bad call where he laid out Dowd with a big hit in game 2. Then got injured after 2 minute going after Wilson with a big hit in game 3.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I’d love to have Ferland back next year but where does he fit? With Nino’s steady play, the emergence of Foegele this postseason, and Svech being Svech there isn’t any room on the left side for him. Next season it’d make sense for Necas to make the jump as a RW behind TT and Williams. Talk about a wrong place and time for injuries. Hopefully if he ends up back in the Western Conference so we don’t have to worry about collapsed lungs.

We have the following wingers locked in (on contract or as RFAs) for at least two more years:

Top line talent
Nieddereiter (UFA 2022)
Svechnikov (RFA 2021)
Teravainen (UFA 2024)

Middle-6 glue guys
Foegele (RFA 2020)
McGinn (RFA 2019)

4th line grinders
Maenalanen (RFA 2019)
Martinook (UFA 2021)

AHL
Gauthier (RFA 2021)
Kuokkanen (RFA 2021)
Lorentz (RFA 2020)
Necas (RFA 2021)
Saarela (RFA 2020)


That's a lot of competition for ice time among the wingers. As it stands, the top lines are already squeezed for opportunity. Realistically, the only ways that Ferland plays a major role here is if Williams takes a big step back or retires this summer. I don't see Ferland taking a contract here unless it comes with some opportunity for quality minutes. He's probably looking for a top-talent sort of opportunity, but the reality is he's more of a McGinn glue-guy type in our system.

 

[raynman]

Just a reminder, if he's healthy, this is what we might get.

I hadn’t seen that before, considering his back story and the way he plays he’s definitely one of my favorite players in the league. If he can come back and be that same player against the Bruins it’d be monstrous considering what they’ve been able to do without him so far.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I'm fine with moving on from Ferland, and have been for some time. I think there's just a tendency to make mountains out of molehills or nothing at all because we all assume he's not going to be back. The situation may be a little weird and frustrating at times, but I don't buy most of the conspiracy theories and speculation around him. I hope he comes back, makes an impact, and people will admit they might have gone a bit far with all of the speculation.

 

[Canes]

I’d love to have Ferland back next year but where does he fit? With Nino’s steady play, the emergence of Foegele this postseason, and Svech being Svech there isn’t any room on the left side for him. Next season it’d make sense for Necas to make the jump as a RW behind TT and Williams. Talk about a wrong place and time for injuries. Hopefully if he ends up back in the Western Conference so we don’t have to worry about collapsed lungs.

We can find a spot for him in the top 9 still, even if Necas makes the team for good next season. Whether we'll be able to afford it is a different question.

Even with Foegele's emergence this postseason, Ferland is still more proven as a top 9 player. Who knows if Foegele will keep this up next season.

 

[bleedgreen]

I totally agree we aren't here in the ecf without him. I totally agree we need him 100% in this series and what he brings. But I'm also not lost on him not taking road trips (Svech, Marty were there) and having a generally defensive ****ty personality about it.

Maybe he's frustrated and wants to play. Maybe hes protecting his off season value. It's no real secret we all think he's gone in the off season because he has seemed to be holding out (on signing) to increase his value, which he isn't doing. At least not with us.

There's a lot of "talk" around him, and he's the only one not taking the road trips, and he's the only one with what seems to be excuse after excuse. I too, hope he comes back and starts obliterating people and scoring. But I just don't think he will.

As a fan, Im sick of it dragging out when we need his physicality. I'm also not keen on the hold out thing. Turbo signed a team friendly deal. I bet Aho signs for like 7-8. Jwilly will retire a cane, and I bet Petr stays here with the org that gave him a chance. Ferland isn't any more special than any of these guys, and needs to stop acting like he is.

This. This is what I’m arguing against. This is excrement.

 

[bleedgreen]

Look, even Rod has dealt with his injury status differently. And he's weary of talking about it. There are clearly signs that the situation surrounding Ferland's status hasn't been "normal." But even if that's real, and I believe it is, it doesn't mean I'm questioning his commitment. It simply means I'm wondering why it's different.

bleed's post above is directed at my feeling about three weeks ago that Roddy is probably sick of having Ferland leave in the first period and wants him to say he's healthy enough to play a full 60 before he uses a lineup spot on him. Only to have bleed tell me that was preposterous, then BBA repeat the same theory three weeks later.

I'm the only guy on this board to choose Ferland as my playoff avatar. And he's *still* my avatar. I know how important he is. I know what he brings. I know how much we need him. But there's simply no way you can tell me that Ferland's injury has been handled the same way as Martinook's by Brindy and the team.

There *is* something deeper there. That doesn't mean it reflects on Ferland's character. It just means it's weird.

Most of my recent action on this has been the character call outs. You were hardly the only one. Hank blasted him. It’s all blind speculation. Calgary would love to have him back if they could afford him. His character is his calling card to this point and he either bleeds or makes people bleed for this team. He’s an obvious figure to admire which makes the character stuff so baffling. There’s nothing weird about a guy staying home to rehab, even during the playoffs. Happens all the time. Svechnikov was there because he was day to day. Or he would’ve been home rehabbing too. Would he have been a coward? Shunning his team?

He obviously hasn’t been kicked off the team which was ludicrously speculated around here. No one is taking that one back yet. We’ll see how it all goes. Maybe you guys are all right! You’re not reading anything real though, you’re all pulling theories out of air.

 

[A Star is Burns]

We can find a spot for him in the top 9 still, even if Necas makes the team for good next season. Whether we'll be able to afford it is a different question.

Even with Foegele's emergence this postseason, Ferland is still more proven as a top 9 player. Who knows if Foegele will keep this up next season.

Yep. Foegele may have turned a corner, or he may be closer to the guy that was barely a 4th liner for like 60 games in the middle of the season. There is a long history of guys performing well in the playoffs and not being able to sustain that level of play consistently every year. He should be a valuable role player, but we'll see if he can be more than that long term.

 

[tarheelhockey]

We can find a spot for him in the top 9 still, even if Necas makes the team for good next season. Whether we'll be able to afford it is a different question.

One interesting unknown in all of this: given the good vibes since January, is there now more appetite to spend on talent? Are we willing to tack on another million if it means we keep a Ferland in the fold rather than lose him for nothing?

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Don't want drama? Tell the org.

 

[Roboturner913]

Tripp is IIRC the one who started all this **** speculating about Ferland supposedly "not fitting in" or "not playing hurt" or whatever people are calling it.

My guess is that it's just Tripp being Tripp because Rod doesn't seem the type to go around badmouthing anybody on his team to a reporter, but the problem with somebody like Tripp spouting off the way he has is people think he has a special insight into the locker room and they assume somebody with the team is feeding him this stuff.

 

[ChuckW]

The desperate need for something deeper to be going on with Ferland has a life of its own that I hardly need to point a finger at anymore. It’s pure comedy to me at this point. I would say I hope he comes back and lays out every Bruin in sight while scoring five goals just to see everyone eat crow about the really pretty low down things they’ve said about him but they’ll just find some other crap to make up or minimize what he’s done. This board has always needed a scapegoat to hate on. Somehow Ferland is that guy currently. So be it. We’re a fickle bunch.

This is my kind of post! And, for the record, I agree with this 100%. Once, a long time ago, Ray Whitney and even Justin Williams were "the scapegoats". I remember it well. Doug Weight. Erik Cole. All had their turns. You are right bleedgreen, and you were here back then too. You remember it as well as I do.