“When you have younger guys with talent and skill, you don’t want to hold them back. You don’t want to put a leash on them, right? At the end of the day, who gives a shit if they go out there and make a mistake? It’s going to happen.”
Connor Zary didn’t hold back during the Flames’ exit-day scrum. It definitely seems like a slight jab at head coach Ryan Huska.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that Zary isn’t thrilled with the role he had on a team trying to get younger in the 2025–26 season.
And he has good reason to be upset. The 25–26 season saw Zary demoted to playing 3rd and 4th line minutes for the Flames. Whereas, a couple of seasons ago, he was playing top-six minutes with Nazem Kadri.
Zayne Parekh spent most of his time during 25–26 playing on the third defensive pairing alongside Bean, Pachal and Hanley. Not the spot you’d imagine a young defenceman coming off a record-breaking performance in the World Juniors to be in.
It seems obvious that there’s a bit of a disconnect between the Calgary Flames’ young players and Ryan Huska.
What’s The Problem?
Huska has made some interesting choices since taking over as Flames head coach.
Veterans Taking Priority
Since taking over from Daryll Sutter back in 2023, Huska has prioritized his veteran core over young prospects.
Deploying 37-year-old Backlund as first line centre while Zary, who’s naturally a centre, plays 3rd line wing is a clear example of Huska’s bizarre lineup.
Not all of Huska’s lines have been bad, though. The Zary-Kadri-Pospisil line from a couple of seasons ago was fun to watch and elevated the play of all three guys.
Poor Talent Management
Yegor Sharangovich is probably the player who’s struggled the most with Huska at the helm.
Granted, Sharangovich’s tenure with the Flames has been exclusively coached by Huska. The utilization of him has been poor at best.
After a slow start, Sharangovich finished the 2023–24 campaign with a career high of 31 goals and 28 assists.
This strong season earned Sharangovich a new contract. As of today, it looks like one of the worst in the NHL.
Sharangovich’s 31 goals from 23–24 weren’t Zach Hyman-esque tap-ins: they were elite-level snipes. That’s proven talent.
So, it was a shock during 24–25 when Sharangovich was playing primarily on the third line. That he was recording just 32 points.
In 2025–26, Sharangovich posted a career low of 29 points.
It’s not all on Huska; Sharangovich has been an inconsistent player dating back to his time in New Jersey. But the coaching staff and their respective systems play a crucial role in player performance and development.
Sharangovich went from a 31-goal scorer to healthy-scratched numerous times in 25–26.
It’s more than plausible that Sharangovich could come out of this slump under a different head coach.
Top Flames prospect, Zayne Parekh, spent the 25–26 season opener sitting in the press box, after Ryan Huska decided to play Brayden Pachal instead.
This continued, as Parekh was frequently healthy scratched or benched during the first half of the season.
Whether Huska doesn’t trust Parekh or if there’s something more to the situation remains unknown.
In the latter half of 25–26, Huska was forced to play his younger guys after Craig Conroy traded nearly the entire veteran group. It’s not crazy to say that if this didn’t take place, players like Parekh would have continued to be scratched or have limited ice time.
What’s The Solution?
Huska is signed on as Flames head coach until the 2027–28 season.
And although it seemed like a firing could be on the horizon sooner rather than later, the Flames re-signed Trent Cull, Dave Lowry, Cail MacLean, Jamie Pringle and Jason LaBarbera on May 1st.
With Huska’s coaching staff signed to new extensions, it all but locks in that he will once again be the head coach to start the 26–27 season.
This is a big loss for Flames fans.
Huska’s insistence on promoting big, physical veterans over skilled younger players is slowly hurting the development of promising young guys like Parekh, Coronato, Zary and Sharangovich, to name a few.
With the coaching market featuring a lot of fresh faces to lead this young Flames group into the future, it’s disappointing to see Huska back in the saddle for another year.
Bruce Cassidy, Patrick Roy, Dean Evason and Kris Knoblauch are all without jobs heading into next season. A change behind the bench could have been very beneficial for the Calgary Flames organization.
There’s still time, however, and management could always have a change of heart and relieve Huska of his duties.
Huska has an undeniable work ethic. But overall, it’s the opinion that he’s not the right man to lead the Flames into the future.
Whether it’s healthy scratching a young superstar defenceman or creating lines using ChatGPT, the Ryan Huska experiment should be left in the past.
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