Flames Made a Big Mistake by Hiring Ryan Huska

Another available coach was Gerard Gallant. The 60-year-old tends to have a short shelf-life with teams, but also always seems to have immediate success. He not only led the Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, but also helped the New York Rangers advance to the Eastern Conference Final in 2021-22. He too has had plenty of experience with the struggling Huberdeau, having coached him with the Florida Panthers for parts of three seasons.

Peter Laviolette was another big name on the market this summer after being fired by the Washington Capitals. Despite having been recycled through many teams over his lengthy coaching career, he has had plenty of success, which has included three trips to the Stanley Cup Final and a Stanley Cup championship in 2006.

Other names such as Bruce Boudreau, Patrick Roy, and Todd Reirden were also available, but perhaps the most shocking of all was that the Flames elected not to go with Mitch Love. He had plenty of success in his two seasons with the Flames’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, leading them to a combined 91-33-11 record. While he certainly appears to have head coaching potential at the NHL level, he wound up departing the Flames organization shortly after Huska’s hiring, and is now serving as an assistant with the Capitals.

Flames Have Regressed Under Huska

Despite all the great options they had available, the Flames instead chose to go with Huska. To this point of the season, that looks like a major mistake.

As I mentioned in a recent article, their power play went from being average at best a season a go to flat-out horrendous in 2023-24. Meanwhile, their play at even strength has also declined. They currently have a 5v5 goal differential of minus-11, compared to last season’s plus-13.

On top of all that, plenty of the Flames’ top offensive stars are struggling even more so than a season ago. Leading that list is Huberdeau, who is on pace for just 36 points. Elias Lindholm has also struggled, as he is currently on pace for 52. The fact that Blake Coleman is leading the team in scoring with 26 points shows just how poorly many Flames have performed to this point under Huska.

Others Would Have Taken the Role

An argument can be made as to whether Brunette would have been interested in joining the Flames, but that doesn’t make any excuses for Conroy. Several other options above are still available, and likely would be having a more positive impact than Huska. While things can still turn around, it is hard to see it happening in 2023-24 given that the season is nearly halfway complete.