With the Flames season about to come to an end, decisions need to be made about who should return to the team and who should not. Not only does this need to be assessed for the players on the team, but also the coaching staff. At the start of the year, many had the Flames as a bottom-10 team. However, the Ryan Huska-led team surprised the league and is still fighting for a playoff spot with just a couple of games left in the year.
Despite this, there are still areas of the team that need major improvement, especially regarding their offence. After his second full season as the Flames’ head coach, should Huska be back next year? We asked, you answered.
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Should Ryan Huska return as head coach?
We presented the below poll to our readers:
Should Ryan Huska return as head coach next season? #Flames
— The Win Column (@wincolumnCGY) April 11, 2025
Huska should coach next year
Roughly 51% of voters believe that Huska should return next year as the coach. One thing is certain from this year: Huska got the players to buy in all year long. This team greatly outperformed their expectations, and a lot of that is due to the emergence of Dustin Wolf. But the team looks like they never lost any sort of faith in the locker room, and much of that faith is what came from the messaging from Ryan Huska.
Even in the series “The Chase” that the Calgary Flames have put together, it is clear that the players fully bought into Huska’s message. I’m not sure whether the Flames see Ryan Huska as the answer for their franchise long term, but the record of the team this season may lead the organization to reassess if he should stick around longer.
Huska should not return
Roughly 49% of voters do not want to see Huska as the Flames’ coach next year. While the Flames are surprisingly still fighting for a playoff spot, the statistics of the team are not too pretty. Firstly, the Flames are one of the worst teams in the league for goal scoring. They are third last in goals for per game, only behind the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks, who are both likely picking in the top three in next year’s draft.
They also have a bottom-10 penalty kill at just 76%. Huska has also received criticism for his lineup decisions, like when he would put Connor Zary on the fourth line, his usage of Kevin Rooney, and lack of usage of Rory Kerins. Though the lack of usage of Rory Kerins falls under both Conroy and Huska, as Conroy would have needed to call him back up to the roster, it appeared that the organization didn’t give the player a true chance. The Flames played very low-event hockey all year long, and a system like that may not help players like Sharangovich, Coronato, and Parekh show off their creativity next year.
The franchise needs to decide
This offseason, the organization will need to assess what their plan is for Huska if they don’t already have one. Do they see him as a coach who can properly develop the younger players and get them to their full potential? That should be the number one priority for the organization.
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