Micheal Ferland | #79 | LW

[Boudrias]

Wish him well. He plays a style that the Canucks desperately need. Health has to come first.

[aqua59]

8 hours ago, Captain Canuck #12 said:

And is there anybody who still hasn't guessed what his mystery "illness" in the preseason really was?

I do believe it was an illness caught from his child simply because he lost so much weight. 

 

Very sad. The guy has a young family and a lot of living to do. We fans have to realize this.  Good luck to him and if he's advised not to play he shouldn't. He needs to walk away regardless of what we feel. 

 

I would even wish this upon Loui Eriksson. 

[Father Ryan]

Even if Ferland wants to continue his career, he needs to shut it down for the year. Period. He has a long life ahead of him, with a family that needs him. An injury settlement, properly managed and invested, will look after his family quite well. Maybe not the millions per year that is being made right now, but it could easily be $200-300K yearly. He could likely stay in hockey, with some coaching and scouting, starting in one of the CHL leagues, probably the WHL.

 

After this year is over, and he has undergone a series of CTs to see if he is clear of potential brain damage (read CTE), maybe he can pick it up again next year. But I wouldn't hold out too much hope for that. His style, and seemingly the only way he is successful, is a very physical style and very conducive to repeat head injuries.

[Westcoasting]

12 minutes ago, Father Ryan said:

Even if Ferland wants to continue his career, he needs to shut it down for the year. Period. He has a long life ahead of him, with a family that needs him. An injury settlement, properly managed and invested, will look after his family quite well. Maybe not the millions per year that is being made right now, but it could easily be $200-300K yearly. He could likely stay in hockey, with some coaching and scouting, starting in one of the CHL leagues, probably the WHL.

 

After this year is over, and he has undergone a series of CTs to see if he is clear of potential brain damage (read CTE), maybe he can pick it up again next year. But I wouldn't hold out too much hope for that. His style, and seemingly the only way he is successful, is a very physical style and very conducive to repeat head injuries.

I would not all be surprised to see him sit out until next season now.

[Elias Pettersson]

On 12/15/2019 at 11:29 AM, Father Ryan said:

Even if Ferland wants to continue his career, he needs to shut it down for the year. Period. He has a long life ahead of him, with a family that needs him. An injury settlement, properly managed and invested, will look after his family quite well. Maybe not the millions per year that is being made right now, but it could easily be $200-300K yearly. He could likely stay in hockey, with some coaching and scouting, starting in one of the CHL leagues, probably the WHL.

 

After this year is over, and he has undergone a series of CTs to see if he is clear of potential brain damage (read CTE), maybe he can pick it up again next year. But I wouldn't hold out too much hope for that. His style, and seemingly the only way he is successful, is a very physical style and very conducive to repeat head injuries.

Unfortunately CTE can only be fully diagnosed post mortem, i.e. after you have passed away.  They are looking at ways to try and detect it in the living through proteins in the blood but I am not sure they are there yet.  All the athletes diagnosed with CTE so far have been diagnosed after they had passed away and their brains donated for testing.

[Gurn]

On 12/14/2019 at 7:43 PM, wai_lai416 said:

Lol at this point I think ferland is done. He has a history of concussions and he already on ir twice this year for concussion symptoms.. he had a long time to heal in the summer and it took less than 1 month after the start of the season for him to get concussed again

Not sure why you would laugh about a Canuck player's injury, perhaps you are not really a Canuck fan?

[higgyfan]

33 minutes ago, gurn said:

Not sure why you would laugh about a Canuck player's injury, perhaps you are not really a Canuck fan?

Hopefully he doesn't find F's injury amusing; probably just an inappropriate use of lol? 

 

I see that the Canucks have put him on LTIR, which means he will be gone for most or all of the season.  It was a risk signing him and it could have turned out to be a fantastic signing, but for the damn concussions.  I feel bad for Ferland, but I hope that when all is said and done, the best choice(s) for his well being are taken.

[Gurn]

1 minute ago, higgyfan said:

Hopefully he doesn't find F's injury amusing; probably just an inappropriate use of lol? 

 

I see that the Canucks have put him on LTIR, which means he will be gone for most or all of the season.  It was a risk signing him and it could have turned out to be a fantastic signing, but for the damn concussions.  I feel bad for Ferland, but I hope that when all is said and done, the best choice(s) for his well being are taken.

As you say, hopefully, but around here I often wonder.

I've  had a few concussions ,so Ferland has my sympathy, and best wishes.

Never mind the career just get healthy enough to enjoy the rest of his life.

[bree2]

On 12/14/2019 at 7:43 PM, wai_lai416 said:

Lol at this point I think ferland is done. He has a history of concussions and he already on ir twice this year for concussion symptoms.. he had a long time to heal in the summer and it took less than 1 month after the start of the season for him to get concussed again

Ferland has already been back on the ice skating, nobody  in the Canucks org has said he is done for the year. he never got concussed again, he was just having symptoms, so the Canucks are just taking precautions with him

[Father Ryan]

15 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Unfortunately CTE can only be fully diagnosed post mortem, i.e. after you have passed away.  They are looking at ways to try and detect it in the living through proteins in the blood but I am not sure they are there yet.  All the athletes diagnosed with CTE so far have been diagnosed after they had passed away and their brains donated for testing.

Actually, that may not be the case anymore. There is a study, through Boston University, that has identified a  protein that is a clear marker for CTE. They have not proven the theory as of yet, but the study shows that this protein is very elevated in people with CTE. And this is a specific protein for CTE only; they used Alzheimer's as a comparative study group, with normal people that had no known head injuries as the control group. It showed that this protein, titled CLL11, is highly elevated in 110 out of 111 brains with CTE. This ratio was very significantly higher than those with Alzheimer's, and much more so than normal, non-injured brains.

In Ferland's case, a psych eval to find depression, aggressive tendencies and potential substance abuse could be used to figure out if he needs to be concerned for CTE. I would say that, if this eval came back with significant findings, he should very seriously consider retirement. There is a former football player, Rodney Harrison, who has undergone something like this, and though no diagnosis is given, he retired pretty much in line with getting these diagnoses. There is no need for Ferland to expose himself to further injuries and go the way of Rypien or Junior Seau.

[wloutet]

I always thought LOL stood for "Lots Of Love".   Maybe that is why so many of my sympathy texts weere never answered!!

[Elias Pettersson]

6 minutes ago, Father Ryan said:

Actually, that may not be the case anymore. There is a study, through Boston University, that has identified a  protein that is a clear marker for CTE. They have not proven the theory as of yet, but the study shows that this protein is very elevated in people with CTE. And this is a specific protein for CTE only; they used Alzheimer's as a comparative study group, with normal people that had no known head injuries as the control group. It showed that this protein, titled CLL11, is highly elevated in 110 out of 111 brains with CTE. This ratio was very significantly higher than those with Alzheimer's, and much more so than normal, non-injured brains.

In Ferland's case, a psych eval to find depression, aggressive tendencies and potential substance abuse could be used to figure out if he needs to be concerned for CTE. I would say that, if this eval came back with significant findings, he should very seriously consider retirement. There is a former football player, Rodney Harrison, who has undergone something like this, and though no diagnosis is given, he retired pretty much in line with getting these diagnoses. There is no need for Ferland to expose himself to further injuries and go the way of Rypien or Junior Seau.

Yes I read about that study, that's why I mentioned that they are looking at proteins in the blood, specifically the one you mentioned.  I am sure they will eventually find a way to 100% detect CTE in the living, which may force a lot of athletes to retire early.  Imagine if every athlete who received a concussion was tested for CTE and the protein CLL11, I am sure they would find a lot of these guys would have elevated levels of the protein and are in the early stages of CTE before the main symptoms have kicked in.  A guy like Ferland could easily be in the early stages of CTE while having very little symptoms other than post concussion effects.  When you get to the point where you are depressed and show aggressive tendencies the disease may already be at an advanced stage.

 

In any event Ferland should definitely shut it down for the rest of the year and re-evaluate in the summer and go from there.

[dpn1]

I have Multiple Sclerosis and MRI's have helped doctors to diagnose the disease.  They can see the actual scares in the Brain, brain stem and spinal cord.   Much of the same advances have improved doctors ability to Diagnose CTE.  They don't have to wait until your dead before being able to examine the brain.

[wai_lai416]

On 12/26/2019 at 6:59 PM, bree2 said:

Ferland has already been back on the ice skating, nobody  in the Canucks org has said he is done for the year. he never got concussed again, he was just having symptoms, so the Canucks are just taking precautions with him

of coz no one is saying he's done for the year.. with concussions you just don't know.. and he has a history of them. symtoms may go away and he plays a couple games and all of a sudden they are back again.. he got the green light from the medical staff to play before his symtoms are back again.. how effective would he be if and when he's back? 1 random hit or 1 fight he could be back on the shelf again.

[Captain Canuck #12]

First he had a recurrence of his concussion symptoms after a fight with Clifford where he really didn't take any good shots to the head.  Then he got the symptoms again from just throwing some good hits and not even getting hit/punched himself.  His brain is obviously very fragile at this point and he needs to take a good long time to let it heal now...if it ever really does.

[Slegr]

On 12/29/2019 at 1:11 AM, Captain Canuck #12 said:

First he had a recurrence of his concussion symptoms after a fight with Clifford where he really didn't take any good shots to the head.  Then he got the symptoms again from just throwing some good hits and not even getting hit/punched himself.  His brain is obviously very fragile at this point and he needs to take a good long time to let it heal now...if it ever really does.

I have a gut feeling that Ferland had concussion symptoms for most of this season, and prior to the start of the season. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Ferland fan.

But here's what I noted: 

Despite being new and likely wanting to begin gelling with teammates, he hardly played in training camp and preseason.. because he was 'sick'. ... really? (I'm guessing concussion symptoms that lingered, possibly throughout summer, but that he may have been quiet about it in order to get a UFA contract)

Several of the games that he played, he looked very timid, not playing physical. 

A few of the games, he did bring it hard, playing the physical play we expected.

This sounds a bit nutty, but I'm almost thinking Ferland took that staged fight with Clifford hoping that he could use that as an excuse to bring himself out of the line-up because he was already feeling concussion symptoms but didn't have anything direct to point it to. As people noted, he didn't actually receive a clean head shot in that fight.

I'm willing to be patient with Ferland in hopes that he will feel symptom free. But I don't think he's been completely honest with medical staff / doctors up until more recently.

 

[Captain Canuck #12]

2 hours ago, Slegr said:

I have a gut feeling that Ferland had concussion symptoms for most of this season, and prior to the start of the season. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Ferland fan.

But here's what I noted: 

Despite being new and likely wanting to begin gelling with teammates, he hardly played in training camp and preseason.. because he was 'sick'. ... really? (I'm guessing concussion symptoms that lingered, possibly throughout summer, but that he may have been quiet about it in order to get a UFA contract)

Several of the games that he played, he looked very timid, not playing physical. 

A few of the games, he did bring it hard, playing the physical play we expected.

This sounds a bit nutty, but I'm almost thinking Ferland took that staged fight with Clifford hoping that he could use that as an excuse to bring himself out of the line-up because he was already feeling concussion symptoms but didn't have anything direct to point it to. As people noted, he didn't actually receive a clean head shot in that fight.

I'm willing to be patient with Ferland in hopes that he will feel symptom free. But I don't think he's been completely honest with medical staff / doctors up until more recently.

 

Not sure about the staging the fight to get out of the line-up part, but otherwise I've had all the same thoughts/suspicions as you.

[Alflives]

2 hours ago, Slegr said:

I have a gut feeling that Ferland had concussion symptoms for most of this season, and prior to the start of the season. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Ferland fan.

But here's what I noted: 

Despite being new and likely wanting to begin gelling with teammates, he hardly played in training camp and preseason.. because he was 'sick'. ... really? (I'm guessing concussion symptoms that lingered, possibly throughout summer, but that he may have been quiet about it in order to get a UFA contract)

Several of the games that he played, he looked very timid, not playing physical. 

A few of the games, he did bring it hard, playing the physical play we expected.

This sounds a bit nutty, but I'm almost thinking Ferland took that staged fight with Clifford hoping that he could use that as an excuse to bring himself out of the line-up because he was already feeling concussion symptoms but didn't have anything direct to point it to. As people noted, he didn't actually receive a clean head shot in that fight.

I'm willing to be patient with Ferland in hopes that he will feel symptom free. But I don't think he's been completely honest with medical staff / doctors up until more recently.

 

Interesting idea.  If Furley did do what you say, so he could get one last contract, it doesn’t hurt us, because he goes on LTIR.  Plus, smart NHL teams insure their players’ contracts, so it’s the insurance company that’s out the dough.  I’m hoping he’s back, but accept he may never be. 

[Nucker 67]

I don't think he staged a fight to get out of the lineup. He was probably playing a bit passive, concerned he would get reconcussed. Maybe he decided to tussle to see where he's at with his health. Didn't work out well at all. I wonder if he will be able to play that style of game anymore. Or play at all, if he's getting concussed taking hits.

[bree2]

3 hours ago, Slegr said:

I have a gut feeling that Ferland had concussion symptoms for most of this season, and prior to the start of the season. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Ferland fan.

But here's what I noted: 

Despite being new and likely wanting to begin gelling with teammates, he hardly played in training camp and preseason.. because he was 'sick'. ... really? (I'm guessing concussion symptoms that lingered, possibly throughout summer, but that he may have been quiet about it in order to get a UFA contract)

Several of the games that he played, he looked very timid, not playing physical. 

A few of the games, he did bring it hard, playing the physical play we expected.

This sounds a bit nutty, but I'm almost thinking Ferland took that staged fight with Clifford hoping that he could use that as an excuse to bring himself out of the line-up because he was already feeling concussion symptoms but didn't have anything direct to point it to. As people noted, he didn't actually receive a clean head shot in that fight.

I'm willing to be patient with Ferland in hopes that he will feel symptom free. But I don't think he's been completely honest with medical staff / doctors up until more recently.

 

I don't believe he staged a fight to come out of the line up, he is not a lazy player, and this last time he came out , he only had symptoms not a concussion. sometimes these symptoms linger. as to missing training camp, he had an illness that he caught off his daughter and he lost several pounds. Ferland should take all the time he needs to get better, looking forward when he is healthy to joining the team.