[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

This is not kindergarten. For these guys it is a job, not free play time.

And for Bob Hartley, he's obviously doing his job pretty well.

There is a boss on successful teams and the players do what they are told.

And maybe they're told not to be idiots.

Energy guys who don't score should perhaps check with intensity, wear down the opposing D with a vigorous forecheck, get in people's faces and under their skin. At least do something that gives your team an advantage.

You would think the team leader in hits despite missing a dozen games, sixth in takeaways despite missing a dozen games, and has one of the best carry-in percentages among forwards is doing "something" that gives his team an advantage.

Unless Bob is asking him to do something else. That is another story

Well based on the fact that he has not "grabbed him around the neck, leaned down and told him that if he does [that] again, he will not play him" that might be a reasonable assumption.

(whatever [that] is, considering Ferland finishes his checks just fine.)

If Ferland can't summon the energy to play the style that makes him effective consistently, he needs to be reminded that there are guys nipping at his heels every day that would love his job.

Running buckwild and charging people is not a "style" that makes him effective consistently. It's a style that gets him called for phantom charging penalties even when he's making a clean hit.

Making smart reads with and without the puck, getting shots towards the general vicinity of the net, being hard on puck battles, clogging the neutral zone with a great stick, and screening goaltenders with his frame, is a style that makes him effective consistently. And he does those little things better than anyone else on the team. And if Hathaway is doing them similarily well, that too is not a knock on Ferland, it's a compliment to Hathaway. The fact that they're both on a line together flanking our best defensive center should tell you what Hartley sees in this player.

He made a difference by getting under Vancouver and Bieksa's skin. Now he doesn't get under anybody's skin. So how else is he differentiating himself?

Do you not realize there's a difference between playoffs and regular season? How are Matt Stajan, or Lance Bouma, or Michael Frolik "differentiating" themselves? They're not, they're playing the sport they're paid to play, not being a side show. And if someone else, like Hathaway, wants to be an agitator, that also has no effect on Ferland. Ferland didn't make it to the NHL by being an agitator, he chose to be an agitator in the playoffs but that doesn't mean he "has" to agitate to play in the NHL.

Ferland brings a lot to the table with his intelligence, puck skills, and strength down low. These are more valuable traits than running guys through boards to impress his coach.

And is he effective? Because the team isn't

Well, if that's your measure of effectiveness we should just trade Johnny Gaudreau for Artem Anisimov. "Because team success".