He had a sequence weaving end-to-end that was Gaudreau-esque, started the rush from behind his Dmen and finished the rush with a good chance IIRC. His ability to stickhandle through neutral ice along with that size, skating, and intelligence will keep him in the NHL a very long time. He is not a generic third liner at all.
And out of anyone in the current bottom 6, he's probably the most poised with the puck when he's carrying it out himself from the defensive zone.
I don't see why people are able to just put him down into a career bottom 6'er when you see that he can
actually make the plays that top 6 forwards can - quickly carrying the puck through the neutral zone, beating the defender at the blueline using his size and speed, and making effective decisions with the puck. For him it's just a matter of doing it consistently.
You didn't see players like Jooris, Granlund, Bouma, Jones, Stajan, and even Colborne make those kinds of plays as much as he did. And that's why they're not going to be anywhere near the top 6 consistently. If Ferland can figure out his consistency, it's just not hard to see that he has a much better chance than the other current bottom 6'ers to end up in the top 6.