Ferland has missed 41 of the past 43 games. He returned to the lineup against the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 7 after missing 17 games and played two games before his symptoms reoccurred; he was placed on long-term injured reserve Dec. 14 and has missed another 24 games.
He said he plans to skate in another practice with the Canucks before going to Utica, Vancouver's affiliate in the American Hockey League, for a conditioning assignment.
"One more skate with the team, and then I think I'm good enough to get down and practice with Utica and start playing, he said. "I haven't had any symptoms here for a while, and we're just kind of taking our time with it.
"We're not just jumping right into play tomorrow, we want to make sure I'm 100 percent. The plan is to go down to Utica and play. … Go down however long I can go down, make sure I'm 100 percent healthy, there's nothing going on, and then obviously the plan is for me to come back and play for sure this year."
The Canucks go for their 10th consecutive victory at home when they host the Calgary Flames on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN360, SN1, CITY, NHL.TV).
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report
