Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
I see it as a guy with a limited skillset who is still an NHL level player and thus has NHL level skills and can convert on NHL level setups from other NHL players. It just happens that his NHL level skillset is towards the lower end of the spectrum. I think most of the time he's playing within himself and if he doesn't score 10 goals in a season but otherwise doesn't hurt the team by taking a regular shift, that's not a bad thing or a knock against him.
Expectations for him are/were in my opinion, ludicrously high. He's a 3rd of 4th liner who can get hot occasionally and who probably plays his best hockey when the tempo and emotion are at their peak. Over an 82 game schedule, that's not going to happen much, but there are spots in the league for guys like that.
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If Ferland can be faulted for anything, it's maybe his conditioning. I saw an analysis of him as a player, can't recall where, that cited conditioning as a weakness. And he does seem to be gassed a lot when he goes to the bench. Problem is that as a role-player, you gotta play with energy every shift.