The Calgary Flames have won their last three games, but that isn’t the most surprising part about this team. Jonathan Huberdeau has posted eight points over the past eight games. Huberdeau has also started to look more dangerous than he usually has while wearing the Flames uniform.
As Drew points out here, Huberdeau is generating more 5v5 offence around the front of the net in the higher-danger areas. Last year, we didn’t see much of that at all.
So that begs the question, is Huberdeau back? How long are you waiting until you would consider Huberdeau to be back? We asked, you answered.
Want to take part in Sunday Census polls? We send them out every week on our Twitter at @wincolumnCGY. Follow along or send in ideas for the next poll!
What will it take to be convinced Huberdeau is back
We presented the below poll on Twitter, with various time frames where Huberdeau needs to be consistently good.
End of January
Many readers picked the end of January as a timeframe to say Huberdeau is officially back. I can’t blame readers for picking this as Huberdeau showed for 4 straight seasons before coming to Calgary that not only is he a point-per-game player, he can be well above a point-per-game as well. I said it once and I’ll say it again, you don’t just lose those skills overnight.
Fans have been waiting a long time to see this version of Huberdeau, and if he does it for a full month, it should be enough runway for him to continue his performance consistently. At least we hope!
End of the season
Fans might be pretty wary of getting their hopes up on a potential Huberdeau resurgence. It would be fair to be of this mindset as well. We have seen 117 games of Jonathan Hubderdeau not looking like his prime self as a Calgary Flame. That’s a full 2022–23 season and the first 35 games of the 2023–24 season.
Should we be treading lightly before getting excited about something that may not end up being true? Based on how many games he played that weren’t good, he may need to play a lot of good games to reclaim himself and win back the trust of Flames fans.
Need a full season
Waiting for Huberdeau to show that he can be a point-per-game player for a year? There may not be a more accurate way than having him do it for a full season. Once fans see the number 82 under points and games when they search up “Jonathan Huberdeau” stats, it’s official that Jonathan Huberdeau is a point-per-game player.
However, through this option, Huberdeau wouldn’t be able to prove this to Flames fans until the end of the 2024-25 season. Unless he goes off for 59 points in 23 games (he won’t).
He will never be back
The pessimists have exposed themselves. Thankfully, this option got the least number of votes out of the rest. The Flames (and my sanity) can not survive seven more years of Huberdeau if he doesn’t find his groove. It has been incredibly depressing watching his struggles, but now, this gives something to the fans to cheer for.
Huberdeau has already been a great mentor for young players like Jakob Pelletier, imagine how much better of a mentor he would be while showing it on the ice. I get the pessimism from those who picked this response, but let’s hope for a better outcome. Please I am begging you.
It’s up to Huberdeau
At the end of the day, Jonathan Huberdeau will decide when he will be back to his old self. He must show it on the ice on a consistent basis in order for fans to believe it, however long it may take. However, for now, it’s great to see Huberdeau finally start to find himself again.
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