The Vancouver Canucks have signed another free agent forward, inking Micheal Ferland to a four-year, $14MM deal. The contract carries a $3.5MM cap hit, and will have a no-movement clause in the first two years before transitioning to a partial no-trade clause. Canucks GM Jim Benning released a short statement on his new forward:
Micheal is an energetic player that drives the play and can contribute in all three zones. He’ll make our team harder to play against on a nightly basis and we’re excited that he’ll call Vancouver home.
Ferland, 27, was the highest forward remaining on our Top 50 UFA list, coming in at number 11 just ahead of Ryan Dzingel. His versatility and effectiveness over thel ast two seasons made him an attractive target for many teams, though it does seem as though his market was shrunk somewhat given how long it took for him to sign. A deal with Vancouver represents a return to the Pacific Division where he started his career with the Calgary Flames, and a reward for a ton of hard work to this point.
Originally a fifth-round pick of the Flames in 2010, Ferland didn’t catch on as a full-time NHL player until 2015 when he used his physical play to establish himself in Calgary’s bottom-six. Within a few years he was playing alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan for long stretches on the top line, scoring 21 goals and 41 points in the 2017-18 season. That summer he was flipped to the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the bigger Elias Lindholm–Dougie Hamilton deal, bringing a new dimension to their attack.
In Carolina he got off to a blistering start and was setting himself up for a huge payday this summer. Through his first 54 games he had 17 goals and looked like he was well on his way to a career-high. Unfortunately, Ferland didn’t score a single goal in the 17 games after the trade deadline and was held to just a single assist in seven postseason contests. Dealing with various injuries, he finished the year with 40 points but is still a potential top-six add to a club like Vancouver.
After showing that he could keep up with top players in Calgary, there’s good reason to believe he might get the same opportunity with Vancouver. The team has Bo Horvat and Elias Pettersson anchoring their top two lines, and Ferland could slide in on one of their wings to give them a little more physicality. The interesting thing will be where he fits in with relation to J.T. Miller, who is another big-bodied forward that can play either wing and add a little punch.
The addition of Ferland though raises more questions with how the Vancouver roster will shake out after training camp. The team already had 13 forwards on one-way contracts plus Pettersson and Adam Gaudette on their entry-level deals. That’s not even including restricted free agents Brock Boeser and Nikolay Goldobin, at least the former of which will be assured a spot on opening day. There may be more moves coming for Vancouver, who have been looking for a landing spot for Loui Eriksson for some time and are set to pay him a hefty bonus on July 15 according to David Alter.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report a deal was close.
4 years probably for 4+ for another 3rd liner in van seems about right.
Vancouver should focus on signing Boeser , more than likely players like , Goldobin, Hutton, Eriksson, Biega , Granlund, etc. will be out the door soon , Canucks have enough of toughness in current roster , think this will be a bad move with all the changes they have made, where does Miller or Pearson slot in on left side , not a good move by Vancouver,
He stinks in the playoffs which is why he chose Vancouver.
How to *not* overpay the top-six players: overpay the bottom-sixers so there isn’t an abundance of cash left for those top-line guys who earn it with their play. Jim Benning…a GM in need of a new brand of shoe polish for the head lettuce — one that doesn’t have the fumes to affect the judgement center of the little gray cells…
Seems Benning is sharing the fumes, and head lettuce with a lot of teams, with overpaying selfish players costing most teams from signing their key players that produce. seems those gray cells have become non existant with lots of GM”s
Hornqvist and a 2nd and a 3rd for Ferland.
Well them fumes just engulfed Benning according to rotoworld.com , 4 years for $14 million dollars. now have to wait til 15th so Eriksson can collect bonus that bonus then take the money and run.
link to rotoworld.com
sorry Josh Hornqvist is still a Penguin.
And the Tanev deal just keeps looking worse. Not to mention the Kevin Hayes deal.
If he can stay healthy for most of that contract, maybe it’ll be worth it. But that’s a big if.
Ferlund took a haircut imo, he’s a 2nd liner on a 3.5 AAV yet you sad people come here just to complain
Ferland is slow and can’t kill penalties. I’d take him over Hornqvist, who is slower, but he’s a very different player than Tanev and wouldn’t fill the hole the Pens had in their roster.
There wasn’t a single other player on the market that had Tanev’s specific combination of speed, skill and grit. They were looking for a Chris Kunitz. Those are rare.
What I love is that many of the same people who love to call the Pirates cheap whine when the Penguins sign a two time Cup champ coach and the lone player on the market who fills a specific hole in their roster to deals that are too rich for their blood.
Mario’s Wallet!!!
It could turn out to be a great signing, or it can go off the rails. 3.5 for a hitter that barely scratches 20 goals isn’t all that far off. Ferland has concussion issues and plays a hard hitting game with a somewhat fragile body. 2nd line on the Canucks is ok, but a 3rd line grinder that can move around if needed is the MO here. Ferland has a knack of scoring out of the gate and then drying up after Christmas. This has been the deal for 2-3 years… He’s a great kid, but 3.5 is probably right where he belongs with 4 years maybe being 1 year too long. It’s weird as well cuz the Canucks fans hated this guy (especially the playoff massacre). He will become an instant favourite I think.
Urrrr… wrong
Sorry, above comment was supposed to be a response to bigdada
This is a decent signing for the Canucks. They could be a miserable team to play against
Canucks adding JT Miller, Ferland, Myers, Q. Hughes, Benn (and Pearson at tail end of last season) means they just got a whole lot bigger and better. These guys are replacing the Goldobins, Erikssons, and Gubransons…talk about an upgrade
Agree. He can play up and down the lineup. Lotta haters out there.
I know I’m wrong, but I needed something to stifle this laughter I have brewing on my insides. Just to think…
Benning was the fav in the media and certain “NHL” circles to take over as GM of the Flames right before they hired Treviling. Whewwww….
Disaster averted!!!
Burke gets my vote for HOF builder right there