Quote:
Originally Posted by keenan87
He was an agitator when he came into the league. That was supposed to be his role in the league. Someone who can open up space for other players on his line, agitate, and pot some goals.
How many times did Ferland make a bone-crushing hit this season? How many times did the other team call him "Ferklund" or even acknowledged his presence post-game?
Before you say that top line players don't need to play that game, there are plenty of guys who do it (Perry, Marchand etc.). He is obviously not as good as those guys but he was extremely effective against Vancouver in the playoffs. Especially when playing with guys like Monahan and Gaudreau - Guys who aren't naturally mean natured on the ice.
Personally, I would take playoff beast Ferland on the third line putting in 10-15 goals a season rather than what we saw this year with his 20 goals. How sweet would it be if we had both Tkachuk and Ferland agitating the crap out of other teams.
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Sorry. I don't agree at all. There is no possible way that Micheal Ferland—nor any other human being, for that matter—could maintain the same level of physical intensity in the seven game stretch of the 2015 first round of the playoffs over the course of a full season.
Like I said: this is NOT a matter of Ferland making a decision about what sort of player he is. It is rather tied to his placement on the roster—a coach's decision—combined with the need for him to manage his game over for the duration of +82-games. A MUCH more reasonable explanation of Ferland's performance this season is tied to the health of his centreman.
You are never going to get "playoff beast Ferland" every game of the year regardless of which line he plays on.