Micheal Ferland does hope to play hockey again. You can understand why: It’s what he loves most to do and no one wants to see their career end on anything but their own terms.
But, quite simply, those in his camp are both hopeful and realistic, his agent Jason Davidson admits.
“His health is the priority,” Davidson said about what he and Ferland are thinking of when looking ahead to training camp for the 2020-21 National Hockey League season, whenever that begins.
Yes, Ferland, a winger who signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Canucks in 2019 has been skating at a rink near his home in Brandon, Man., Davidson acknowledged. And yes, Ferland’s feeling good, he added.
But.
“W e’re going to make sure we’re dialled in on whether Micheal is fit to play or not. We can’t keep doing this,” Davidson said, a nod to the fact that Ferland tried three times to make a return to the ice after suffering a concussion in a Canucks game nearly a year ago against the Los Angeles Kings.
First Ferland tried to make a comeback in December, but shut things down in his second game back when issues with his vision and balance — his brain’s vestibular system — emerged.
Those issues have been traced back to his October concussion, suffered in a fight with the Kings’ Kyle Clifford .
He tried again in February, but abandoned that attempt inside the first period of his first game with the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets, the Canucks’ primary minor-league affiliate.
Once again, his vision and balance were a problem. Everything, he would later say, was fine in practice, in daily life, but the speed of the game would cause issues.
He was shut down for the season, but the door was left open for a future return.
And then the pandemic arrived. All of hockey shut down. No one could skate or even work out. Like his teammates, Ferland and his family eventually went back to Brandon to be closer to family.
The enforced rest period, he said in July, seemed to make a difference and when the NHL returned to action in July, Ferland was back at it, feeling confident .
And then his return to play lasted less than two games, again .
He returned home to Brandon after that.
Davidson said that life seems good for his client back at home.
“H e’s enjoying some hunting,” he said. “H e sent me some videos of his oldest daughter Brynlee. She’s started her Timbits hockey.”
“W ith everything he’s gone through, with the unanswered, I think that was a real bright spot for him to see her out on the ice,” he added. “W ith such an upside-down year … in another year he might not be able to be there to see that.”
The NHL ’ s current hoped for restart date is Jan. 1, though many observers have a hard time seeing that being an actual launching point . No matter what, both Davidson and Canucks general manager Jim Benning say they will have to discuss Ferland ’ s health.
“That’s a conversation I know I’m going to have with Jim, ” he said. “I guess we’ll see what makes the most sense for Micheal and the Canucks. ”
If Ferland isn’t able to play because of post-concussion symptoms, the Canucks can put him on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), which would take most of his $3.5-million salary cap hit out of the equation.
“We’ll have to see how things go, ” Benning said of his expectations of Ferland’s status come training camp, committing to nothing.
Cap questions
While team and agent both say a discussion is pending on how the abrasive winger’s brain health will affect his future in hockey, looking at Benning’s roster moves so far this off-season suggest that the decision on Ferland’s roster status for 2020-21 may have already been made.
After Monday’s signing of Jayce Hawryluk — another of Davidson’s clients, by the way — and the re-signing of Adam Gaudette , the Canucks have just about run out of salary cap space for the 2020-21 season. They still have to sign Jake Virtanen, likely for just shy of $3 million.
Benning and his staff will have to make a few roster-juggling moves to get cap compliant, but putting Ferland’s $3.5-million cap hit on LTIR would go a long way to helping create further roster flexibility.
Coupled with a demotion, again, of Sven Baertschi to the minors, Benning could even sign another player, given he’d then have $1 million in cap space.
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