Ferland falling on him could have really happened to anyone. You would think at 6'4'' he's less likely to have that happen to him. He's had neck, knee, leg and ankle injuries and just random illness. Obviously not ideal, but it hasn't really been reoccurring.
If it was repeated groin, for example, or of course multiple concussions, yeah that would be a cause for major concern but a mix-and-match of injuries is closer to bad luck than a trend at this point.
It's also not like he was rushed back to the NHL. The team was tanking, as is Senators tradition, and while he practiced they sat him out. No reason to rush him, but I'm confident if he had been a playoff team we would have been hearing about how he played through injury like we do all the time.
And prime matters a lot less when you're discussing a player signing a one-year contract. He had the 14th highest point-per-game in the league last year. His comparables should be players who were putting up point-per-game numbers while providing amazing defense. Issue is, as RFAs, those are pretty much non-existent. At 5M, his comparables would be Lindholm, Niederreiter, Miller, and of course Tom Wilson but he's so much better than all of those guys that it doesn't make sense.
I'm not saying he deserves 9M. I'm saying it's more reasonable of a request than the 5M the Senators put forward. In fact, I think if this gets to arbitration I'd believe that the number he receives is closer to 9M than 5M.
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