There is no doubt that this season was a disappointing one for a team that thought they would have a bounce back in a major way. From missing out on the playoffs just a season ago by a matter of a couple of points, the team took another step back this year and finished in the bottom ten of the league wide standings.
Many thought that after getting Darryl Sutter and his so-called “antics” away from the team and promoting Ryan Huska to the head coaching position, the team would have a more positive mentality, therefore making them a more cohesive unit. That did not happen.
It was only Huska’s first year as the bench boss, but is he the guy who is the long-term option behind the bench? Or is he just a stop-gap before the Flames try and find someone else?
The positives in Huska’s first year behind as the head coach
Let’s start off with some of the positives in Huska’s first season as the bench boss. I think the first thing everyone can agree on is the atmosphere around the Flames was a lot more positive. The players seemed happier, it didn’t seem as if they hated being there.
There was a lot more positivity around the team even through all the losing and players being traded out throughout the year, from a pure vibes standpoint, the vibes were much better—you were even able to see that during locker room clean-out day, the players seemed excited to come back next year, which is much different than a year ago.
The other big positive in having Huska behind the bench was the opportunity he gave to younger players throughout the season. Under Sutter, I really doubt we would have seen Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Matt Coronato, or Daniil Miromanov play, but also play in the big roles they did and as high up in the lineup as they did. They became legit difference makers at certain points in the year, and they never would have become that without the opportunity that Huska gave them. So, I have to give Huska lots of credit for doing that and being patient with the younger players.
The negatives in Huska’s first year behind the bench as the coach
Now, let’s get into the negatives, and the list is much longer than the list of the positives. The first one I will start with is the structure of the team. Defensively this season the team was a nightmare. In the past two seasons under Sutter, the team was very sturdy and tight, they did not give up a ton of high-danger chances. What sunk them a year ago was goaltending, they ranked in almost the top-five of every defensive metric in 2021–22 and 2022–23, and this year they sank to the bottom.
Huska changed up the approach the team would take to defending in their own zone, and it did not work, not even a little bit. The team gave up a boatload of chances every night and was caught running around the defensive zone multiple times a game. I get trying to put your own stamp onto a team, but the defensive system was not the issue, and Huska went and changed it anyway. It was a major reason as to why the Flames season went the way it did, it was hard to watch.
Secondly, line combinations. Look, I know Sutter had his issues with putting together a competent lineup, and this year was a little better than that, but for the life of me, I was never able to understand Huska’s obsession with Dryden Hunt of all players. On many nights we saw Hunt playing with either Jonathan Huberdeau, Yegor Sharongovich, Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund, or Blake Coleman.
Hunt is a pretty clear replacement-level forward and he spent a lot of time in the team’s top-nine while Matt Coronato or Jakob Pelletier were either buried on the fourth line or in the press box. It was mind-numbing and it lasted all year long. I would have liked to see Huska utilize guys like Coronato or Pelletier more like he did with Zary and Pospisil, and I don’t know why he didn’t.
The last thing I will mention is the power play, and first off I want to state that yes I know that is more Marc Savard‘s job, but Huska definitely has input on it. The power play for the majority of the year was a hot mess, there was zero creativity, no passion and on most nights it was just a joke to watch.
From the breakout to the setup in the zone and to the execution, they didn’t do any of it well until the last month of the season when Andrei Kuzmenko found his footing with the team. The power play can make or break a team’s season, it broke the Flames last year and it did the same this season. Huska and the rest of the coaching staff will have to sit down this summer and figure out what they can do to make it more effective for next season.
Is Huska the long-term option as the head coach?
The burning question is, when the Flames finally become a good team again, will Huska still be the head coach? My prediction would be no. I don’t think Huska is cut out to be a high-end coach in this league, plenty of times this year he left me scratching my head as to why he strategized the way he did. It reminded me a lot of the dark days of Glen Gulutzan and Geoff Ward.
I don’t love the way he handled Coronato or Pelletier like I mentioned, I don’t love the way he scratched Zary in meaningless games down the stretch when at times this year he was the team’s best player, and I don’t love how flat the team came out on most nights.
The players seem to love Huska—MacKenzie Weegar was pretty vocal on that front—but just because the players like the coach does not necessarily mean that he is cut out for the job. I think through a retooling phase, Huska is fine, the team will be expected to be bad, and they won’t need an elite coach through these times. In saying that however, when the retool or rebuild is over, I believe they will need a guy who can perform better than Huska.
I guess we will see how it plays out through the few next years, but we certainly have a long road ahead of us to determine if Huska is cut out for this job or not.
