Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
Vision is not exclusively a term that describes ones passing abilities (although it's partially part of it), to me it's how one reads and sees the play develop.
Ferland is very rarely not in the right spot on the ice or doing the right thing based on how the play is unfolding, so I think he's got pretty damn good vision. That said, to your point, I think the only time I would have questioned his vision this was at the start of this season during his first stint up on the Mony and Johnny line. During that time, he was consistently making terrible or ill advised passes that seemed counter to the flow or development of the play. Certainly valid to question his vision after seeing that, but based not he fact that hadn't occurred previously, or since (including his latest stint on the top line) would lead me to suggest that wasn't a vision issue, but rather him trying to feed his top notch line mates and actually making plays that were counter to his instincts or what his good vision was telling him to do.
Widely reported that the coaching staff had to remind him to just play his game for his second stint with that line and it went well, so I think his vision is pretty good out there.
|
Ferland's first stint with that line wasn't this season at all. It was last season when Hartley had them together and Ferland was incredibly snakebit and Ramo was starting to cool down. Despite that, he actually made a lot of plays that resulted in fine chances, but nothing was going in for the line. He didn't turn the puck over all that much - he just wasn't playing with a gunning mindset as he had probably the lowest shooting percentage for a forward in the NHL last year. I think what you saw was just a confidence thing more than anything.
He didn't play with Johnny/Monny again until February this year.