[Signing] Canucks sign Micheal Ferland

[18W-40C-6W]

2 hours ago, WHL rocks said:

He'd go on LTIR. Wouldn't count against cap but Aqua would have to pay his salary. Insurance would be very expensive for a guy with bad concussion history.  

 

So that's why teams would be hesitant. Not fans' money but no owner wants to pay millions of dollars per year to a player who can't play

 

In Crosbys case he was misdiagnosed. Turned out it was some sort of nerve issue in his neck. Penguins medial staff was fired.  

Really? I didn’t know that last bit about it being a nerve issue. Interesting. 

[WHL rocks]

14 minutes ago, 18W-40C-6W said:

Really? I didn’t know that last bit about it being a nerve issue. Interesting. 

It's been a long time but it was pretty widely reported. He had a concussion. Came back went out again. Sat out for a while and it was at that time he got 2nd opinion. Ended up being some sort of neck issues or nerve in neck issue. They dealt with it and he's been fine since. 

 

Pens fired their doctor after that.  

 

That's from memory. Been a while but I'm sure a quick Google search will provide better details. 

[gameburn]

6 hours ago, Kanukfanatic said:

Ferland has rarely lost a fight.

 

I think he has it down.  

He kind of slugs on til he gets his pound of flesh.  So, fighting for him appears to be about making a point: that he will not be pushed around, that he will end whatever someone else starts.  I don't see him being the type who cheapshots and goes after the other team's smaller players. Defensive fighter I think: either for himself if he is challenged, or for a mate if he has been targeted.  I haven't seen all of his fights, but it would appear that he is kind of respectable about this.  Reminds me of Bieksa (is that safe to say that now? lol)  He has grown as a hockey player: not just a forechecker and occasional tough guy.  I think he will get more points here than he did in Calgary or even Carolina.

[N4ZZY]

1 hour ago, gameburn said:

He kind of slugs on til he gets his pound of flesh.  So, fighting for him appears to be about making a point: that he will not be pushed around, that he will end whatever someone else starts.  I don't see him being the type who cheapshots and goes after the other team's smaller players. Defensive fighter I think: either for himself if he is challenged, or for a mate if he has been targeted.  I haven't seen all of his fights, but it would appear that he is kind of respectable about this.  Reminds me of Bieksa (is that safe to say that now? lol)  He has grown as a hockey player: not just a forechecker and occasional tough guy.  I think he will get more points here than he did in Calgary or even Carolina.

I think so too. Especially if he’s given top six minutes with EP40 and Brock. 

[oldnews]

16 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

I am not sure why but i feel better about having a forward enforcer.... then a d man enforcer.....

 

Maybe easier to get involved in front of the other teams net ?

It's always been better to have your enforcers be forwards - for the more obvious reasons - when you lose a defenseman, it's harder on your lineup / easier to roll with 11 forwards than 5 D - and also easier to sustain injuiries to forwards than blueliners.

Gudbranson was never lacking willingness to fight - I don't know where people like yourself come up with this stuff.   I guess you expect him to chase every culprit around the ice and pound on players way out of his weight class - enforcers never did that.  Guys like Matheson for example - 25 lbs smaller than Gud and nowhere near in his class - are the responsibility of other team-mates - middleweights - to deal with.

People that watched hockey in the enforcer era understand this - enforcers fought enforcers - which is why, in case folks were paying any attention, Haley wound up having to fight Matheson's battle for him, because Matheson would not answer his own bell.

People whined incessantly around here that 'Gud didn't do anythng' about the idiotic cheapshot on EP - they have no idea what they're talking about.

Likewise when Gudbranson fought Matt Martin for his idiocy via Stecher - and the league tried to pre-emptively break his balls over it.

Gudbranson is as tough - and as willing - to stand up for his team-mates as anyone in the NHL.

I love Ferland - very happy to have him - and glad he's a forward that can, at least occasionally skate with EP - but I would not want to be him if he had to fight Gudbranson.

[PhillipBlunt]

8 minutes ago, oldnews said:

It's always been better to have your enforcers be forwards - for the more obvious reasons - when you lose a defenseman, it's harder on your lineup / easier to roll with 11 forwards than 5 D - and also easier to sustain injuiries to forwards than blueliners.

Gudbranson was never lacking willingness to fight - I don't know where people like yourself come up with this stuff.   I guess you expect him to chase every culprit around the ice and pound on players way out of his weight class - enforcers never did that.  Guys like Matheson for example - 25 lbs smaller than Gud and nowhere near in his class - are the responsibility of other team-mates - middleweights - to deal with.

People that watched hockey in the enforcer era understand this - enforcers fought enforcers - which is why, in case folks were paying any attention, Haley wound up having to fight Matheson's battle for him, because Matheson would not answer his own bell.

People whined incessantly around here that 'Gud didn't do anythng' about the idiotic cheapshot on EP - they have no idea what they're talking about.

Likewise when Gudbranson fought Matt Martin for his idiocy via Stecher - and the league tried to pre-emptively break his balls over it.

Gudbranson is as tough - and as willing - to stand up for his team-mates as anyone in the NHL.

I love Ferland - very happy to have him - and glad he's a forward that can, at least occasionally skate with EP - but I would not want to be him if he had to fight Gudbranson.

While Gudbranson may have the advantage from a reach perspective, they're around the same weight, and Ferland is just as willing to drop them. I don't think Ferland would decline and I'm not so sure that it would be an automatic Gudbranson victory.

[oldnews]

15 hours ago, debluvscanucks said:

Gino told a story about how Bure skated over to him on the bench once and told him to quit going after someone on the other team.  Gino asked why and Pavel told him because they said they're coming for me if you don't.

 

Speaking of Gino...not sure if it's been mentioned, but Hartley actually steered Ferland toward  Gino when he needed a bit of mentoring.  That makes him part Canuck before he even arrived here.  

I'm glad if Gino and Ferland were able to build a friendship, but I'd give Hartley literally no 'credit' regardless.

He was a grade a 'aho' imo.

 

Guys like Ferland - who can play, but are also sizable/ tough - got steered (to put it lightly) into becoming face-punchers all the time, whether or not it was their nature and regardless of how much talent they might have had - their ticket to advancing very often depended on their willingness to assume that role.

 

Hartley reminds me of the story of a family member - a big, tough young powerforward who was seriously talented and somewhat fearless - but was coerced into a reductive, compulsory face-punching role - at age 16 - in th WHL, where he was expected to punch his way through the likes of Dave Brown if he wanted to stick and advance in the W.   He was big, fast, hit like a train, could rip the puck.....but was no-one's whipping boy, so he told that coach to go have sex with himself and his hockey career was met with a roadblock.   Anyhow, the Hartleys of the hockey world deserve no praise (not suggesting you're praising him, but I can imagine what Ferland's instructions were via Gino - and I'm guessing it wasn't to gain a measure of caution about suffering repeated concussions).

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/former-avs-enforcer-scott-parker-says-coach-bob-hartley-was-a-bully/

[higgyfan]

26 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

While Gudbranson may have the advantage from a reach perspective, they're around the same weight, and Ferland is just as willing to drop them. I don't think Ferland would decline and I'm not so sure that it would be an automatic Gudbranson victory.

The thing about Guddy is how hard he hits.  If he connects, it hurts...bad.  Very powerful punch.  Ferland should stay away.

[stawns]

27 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

While Gudbranson may have the advantage from a reach perspective, they're around the same weight, and Ferland is just as willing to drop them. I don't think Ferland would decline and I'm not so sure that it would be an automatic Gudbranson victory.

Guddy would hand Ferland his ass, imo.  Hamonuc would probably give Ferland a good run and TH wasn't even in the same universe as Giddy.

[PhillipBlunt]

1 minute ago, higgyfan said:

The thing about Guddy is how hard he hits.  If he connects, it hurts...bad.  Very powerful punch.  Ferland should stay away.

Totally. He pummeled Hamonic. Ferland is a bit tougher than Travis, and can lay some pretty powerful punches too.

[PhillipBlunt]

1 minute ago, stawns said:

Guddy would hand Ferland his ass, imo.  Hamonuc would probably give Ferland a good run and TH wasn't even in the same universe as Giddy.

Well, we'll have to wait and see. I'm not totally convinced.

 

Gudbranson - 6'5" 220

Ferland - 6'1" 217

 

Gudbranson has a clear height/reach advantage, but they sit within three pounds of each other, and both are very tough. I don't see it being as cut and dry.

[higgyfan]

9 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Well, we'll have to wait and see. I'm not totally convinced.

 

Gudbranson - 6'5" 220

Ferland - 6'1" 217

 

Gudbranson has a clear height/reach advantage, but they sit within three pounds of each other, and both are very tough. I don't see it being as cut and dry.

That's a match up I really don't want to see.

[oldnews]

46 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

While Gudbranson may have the advantage from a reach perspective, they're around the same weight, and Ferland is just as willing to drop them. I don't think Ferland would decline and I'm not so sure that it would be an automatic Gudbranson victory.

There is no such thing as an 'automatic' victory in the fight game when you have guys as capable as both of them.

 

But that's somewhat beside the point - I've seen enough Gudbranson fights to know better than to want to be on the other end of him - there is literally no one in the NHL I'd rather face less - and that is no disrespect to any Ferland, Kassian, Reaves, Wilson, Martin, Haley, etc - any of them could win any fight on any given day.  Perhaps the question is  - imagine yourself lining up to fight any of those guys - who makes you the least comfortable with the outcome?  Gudbranson has the ability to pin most of his opponents at a distance, locking them in with his left (tremendous strength with extension) keeping that right arm well out of reach/range - very difficult to tie him up - and he throws those long, heavy, viscious rights - straight through - that pound away.    He doesn't fight inside, he does tie his opponent up - again, no disrespect to the great fighters who fight to their strengths - but Gud has one intent - to throw pretty much exclusively those devastating heavyweight rights - pounding straight throw - no real wasted economy - and he takes a punch as well as anyone (although you rarely see him get tagged).   Of course, it's all 'eye-test' and one's own perspective - their are always outliers in fighting - particularly with heavyweights who can end a fight in one punch - but Gud imo is as dangerous as anyone in the league.

He has manhandled a handful of his peer heavyweights.   I doubt any of them really want to take that risk (would be interesting how they rank each other).   The last guy I'd consider that dangerous might be Brashear.

He may be a handsome guy, gentleman, etc blah blah - but when it's time to fight -  he's one mean s.o.b. who throws intending to punch holes through his opponent.

[PhillipBlunt]

8 minutes ago, oldnews said:

There is no such thing as an 'automatic' victory in the fight game when you have guys as capable as both of them.

 

But that's somewhat beside the point - I've seen enough Gudbranson fights to know better than to want to be on the other end of him - there is literally no one in the NHL I'd rather face less - and that is no disrespect to any Ferland, Kassian, Reaves, Wilson, Martin, Haley, etc - any of them could win any fight on any given day.  Perhaps the question is  - imagine yourself lining up to fight any of those guys - who makes you the least comfortable with the outcome?  Gudbranson has the ability to pin most of his opponents at a distance, locking them in with his left (tremendous strength with extension) keeping that right arm well out of reach/range - very difficult to tie him up - and he throws those long, heavy, viscious rights - straight through - that pound away.    He doesn't fight inside, he does tie his opponent up - again, no disrespect to the great fighters who fight to their strengths - but Gud has one intent - to throw pretty much exclusively those devastating heavyweight rights - pounding straight throw - no real wasted economy - and he takes a punch as well as anyone (although you rarely see him get tagged).   Of course, it's all 'eye-test' and one's own perspective - their are always outliers in fighting - particularly with heavyweights who can end a fight in one punch - but Gud imo is as dangerous as anyone in the league.

He has manhandled a handful of his peer heavyweights.   I doubt any of them really want to take that risk (would be interesting how they rank each other).   The last guy I'd consider that dangerous might be Brashear.

He may be a handsome guy, gentleman, etc blah blah - but when it's time to fight -  he's one mean s.o.b. who throws intending to punch holes through his opponent.

I was a Gudbranson supporter throughout his time here and enjoyed how dominant he was in fights, and when he connected on a hit. I'm not sure how he'd measure up against Reaves, although I'm sure that would be one hell of a fight.

 

Most likely he'd use his size advantage on Ferland if they mixed it up, and probably stands  60-70% chance of winning in that match up.

[wloutet]

I once went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out...  Sorry, not a fan of fighting in any sport.

[oldnews]

22 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

I was a Gudbranson supporter throughout his time here and enjoyed how dominant he was in fights, and when he connected on a hit. I'm not sure how he'd measure up against Reaves, although I'm sure that would be one hell of a fight.

 

Most likely he'd use his size advantage on Ferland if they mixed it up, and probably stands  60-70% chance of winning in that match up.

I'm not too concerned about Ferland having to fight Gud - Gud isn't a dirty player, doesn't cheap shot anyone, plays the game the right way.  He may have thrown a slightly late hit without intent that wound up costing Hamonic a broken face in the end, but aside from hitting like a train and generally cleanly, I doubt Gud goes out of his way to fight anyone, including Ferland.  Gud's fights tend to be responsive - as the guy that answers the call for his team.   I don't recall him going out and initiating, looking to find a fight - not really his style imo.

Now, if Ferland were to run a Pen, all bets are off haha. 

Anyhow - I really like both of them - they are both toughness that can play.

Anyone that could potentially beat Gudbranson in a fight - even if it's only 30% odds - is one tough guy.

[Jam126]

God, shut up about fighting. What I'm excited about is that we signed a guy who plays a power game and produces, we did not sign him to go headhunting or fighting all the time. Unnecessary fighting will lead to more concussions and do not make an impact at any point in the game. Guddy was a good fighter but a terrible HOCKEY PLAYER, stop talking about this useless BS, it's hockey, not ****ing boxing. 

[oldnews]

18 minutes ago, Jam126 said:

God, shut up about fighting. What I'm excited about is that we signed a guy who plays a power game and produces, we did not sign him to go headhunting or fighting all the time. Unnecessary fighting will lead to more concussions and do not make an impact at any point in the game. Guddy was a good fighter but a terrible HOCKEY PLAYER, stop talking about this useless BS, it's hockey, not ****ing boxing. 

[PhillipBlunt]

28 minutes ago, Jam126 said:

God, shut up about fighting. What I'm excited about is that we signed a guy who plays a power game and produces, we did not sign him to go headhunting or fighting all the time. Unnecessary fighting will lead to more concussions and do not make an impact at any point in the game. Guddy was a good fighter but a terrible HOCKEY PLAYER, stop talking about this useless BS, it's hockey, not ****ing boxing. 

Clearly Ferland and Benn will be the two best pugilists on the team now, with Roussel being a solid third. What I love about how all three fight is that they're fearless in how they fight.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by PhillipBlunt

[-DLC-]

43 minutes ago, Jam126 said:

God, shut up about fighting. What I'm excited about is that we signed a guy who plays a power game and produces, we did not sign him to go headhunting or fighting all the time. Unnecessary fighting will lead to more concussions and do not make an impact at any point in the game. Guddy was a good fighter but a terrible HOCKEY PLAYER, stop talking about this useless BS, it's hockey, not ****ing boxing. 

Why can't we have both?

 

No headhunting...I agree.  Rather, enforcing the law of our team - which is: don't do it (mostly, mess with our young'uns).  It doesn't have to jump straight to fighting.  A staredown.  A nudge.  But then the willingness to take that next step if the other side isn't tuning in.

 

We MUST have that because, up to now, the word was out that we didn't.  And it's laughable (to those who do take liberties) because they hone right in on the superstar who makes them look bad knowing full well that they can get away with it.  It has to stop.

 

Personally, I hate fighting and cringe at the thought of the possibility of serious injury and concussion.  But we'll be at the receiving end of a lot of that if we don't step it up.  Deterrents.  Rather than an ongoing deal.