[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Evaluate rationally?
In what universe should Ferland be mentioned in the same breath as Seguin or Scheiffle?

In the universe where it is a fact that he had as many 5 on 5 points as Seguin and Scheifele

Both players carry their lines. drive them.

Both players are excellent, but also play with linemates like Blake Wheeler, Jamie Benn, Alexander Radulov, Nikolaj Ehlers. They don't exactly carry their lines. Few in the NHL do.

are far more productive than ferland ever has or will.

Which is fine, and why they are both franchise player type talents. But there is a huge gap between a top six forward and a franchise player.


Fact - Ferland had just as many 5 on 5 points as Tyler Seguin and Mark Scheifele. There is no opinion in that statement. You can make an argument as to why he had fewer total points or the importance of each player on their line, but you can't make an argumenet that Ferland was as productive as he needed to be. If your third wheel on a top line is producing as top star players do, that's a top six forward. You do not need to be a an all-star to be a top six forward.

Originally Posted by Gaskal

You two are describing the "Jekyll" and "Hyde" versions of Ferland, respectively. He is two different players.

He is one player. He is streaky, just like most hockey players are.

When is 'on', GranteedEV is correct - he scores like a top 6 power forward. Soon after he was put with those two, he had something like 6 goals during that win streak. He has the finishing and hitting in that package too, which freed up space for Mony and Johnny.

When he is 'off', dammage is correct - he disappears entirely, goes into ghost-mode and you forget he's even playing most of the game. Occasionally also had catastrophically bad mistakes that ended up in the back of our net.

When he is on he scores far better than a top six forward (to the extent of his role, which is still limited). The fact that his scoring is better than a top six forward when he is 'on' is what allows him to average top six forward scoring overall, despite those off stretches you allude to. Again, he was top 75 in 5 on 5 points last year. There are hypothetically 186 top six forwards and 93 top line forwards in the NHL and I'm not even claiming he's a top line forward, I am claiming he's a top six forward.


And again, disappearing, being cold, and bad mistakes are perfectly common top six forward traits. Elite consistency is not a requirement for top six forward status. Further, elite consistency should not even be an expectation of a player who is not playing as a regular on a top PP, 4v4, 3v3, unit.

We're talking about a guy who would have been the fifth most productive forward on the Capitals. The sixth most productive forward on the Jets. The seventh most productive forward on the Knights with the caveat that he played fewer minutes than the top six scorers on the knights. This isn't a guy making hay on power play production, he's legitimately effective at ES. He brings more to the table than just production, and he's one of the most disciplined forwards in the NHL, period.

There are very, very few teams he's not playing a top six role of the sort he played last year. About the only criticism he deserves is that he can make risky breakout plays defensively, and so shouldn't be playing shutdown defensive minutes (which he's not, just as his linemates are not).