{"id":57669,"date":"2026-05-23T14:55:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/57669\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T14:55:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:55:22","slug":"is-ryan-huska-a-problem-for-the-calgary-flames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/57669\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Ryan Huska a problem for the Calgary Flames?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen you have younger guys with talent and skill, you don\u2019t want to hold them back. You don\u2019t 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\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connor Zary didn\u2019t hold back during the Flames\u2019 exit-day scrum<\/a>. It definitely seems like a slight jab at head coach Ryan Huska.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take a genius to see that Zary isn\u2019t thrilled with the role he had on a team trying to get younger in the 2025\u201326 season. <\/p>\n

And he has good reason to be upset. The 25\u201326 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"Connor Zary, alongside Matt Coronato, during their exit interview.<\/p>\n

Zayne Parekh spent most of his time during 25\u201326 playing on the third defensive pairing alongside Bean, Pachal and Hanley. Not the spot you\u2019d imagine a young defenceman coming off a record-breaking performance<\/a> in the World Juniors to be in.<\/p>\n

It seems obvious that there\u2019s a bit of a disconnect between the Calgary Flames\u2019 young players and Ryan Huska.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s The Problem?<\/p>\n

Huska has made some interesting choices since taking over as Flames head coach. <\/p>\n

Veterans Taking Priority <\/p>\n

Since taking over from Daryll Sutter back in 2023, Huska has prioritized his veteran core over young prospects.<\/p>\n

Deploying 37-year-old Backlund as first line centre while Zary, who\u2019s naturally a centre, plays 3rd line wing is a clear example of Huska\u2019s bizarre lineup.<\/p>\n

Not all of Huska\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"Huska during a post-game media scrum.<\/p>\n

Poor Talent Management <\/p>\n

Yegor Sharangovich is probably the player who\u2019s struggled the most with Huska at the helm. <\/p>\n

Granted, Sharangovich\u2019s tenure with the Flames has been exclusively coached by Huska. The utilization of him has been poor at best.<\/p>\n

After a slow start, Sharangovich finished the 2023\u201324 campaign with a career high of 31 goals and 28 assists.<\/p>\n

This strong season earned Sharangovich a new contract. As of today, it looks like one of the worst in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Sharangovich\u2019s 31 goals from 23\u201324 weren\u2019t Zach Hyman-esque tap-ins: they were elite-level snipes. That\u2019s proven talent.<\/p>\n

So, it was a shock during 24\u201325 when Sharangovich was playing primarily on the third line. That he was recording just 32 points.<\/p>\n

In 2025\u201326, Sharangovich posted a career low of 29 points.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Sharangovich went from a 31-goal scorer to healthy-scratched numerous times in 25\u201326.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than plausible that Sharangovich could come out of this slump under a different head coach. <\/p>\n

Top Flames prospect, Zayne Parekh, spent the 25\u201326 season opener sitting in the press box, after Ryan Huska decided to play Brayden Pachal instead.<\/p>\n

This continued, as Parekh was frequently healthy scratched or benched during the first half of the season.<\/p>\n

Whether Huska doesn\u2019t trust Parekh or if there\u2019s something more to the situation remains unknown. <\/p>\n

In the latter half of 25\u201326, Huska was forced to play his younger guys after Craig Conroy traded nearly the entire veteran group. It\u2019s not crazy to say that if this didn\u2019t take place, players like Parekh would have continued to be scratched or have limited ice time.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s The Solution? <\/p>\n

Huska is signed on as Flames head coach until the 2027\u201328 season.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

With Huska\u2019s coaching staff signed to new extensions, it all but locks in that he will once again be the head coach to start the 26\u201327 season.<\/p>\n

This is a big loss for Flames fans. <\/p>\n

\"\"Huska during a team meeting. <\/p>\n

Huska\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

With the coaching market featuring a lot of fresh faces to lead this young Flames group into the future, it\u2019s disappointing to see Huska back in the saddle for another year.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still time, however, and management could always have a change of heart and relieve Huska of his duties.<\/p>\n

Huska has an undeniable work ethic. But overall, it\u2019s the opinion that he\u2019s not the right man to lead the Flames into the future.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s healthy scratching a young superstar defenceman or creating lines using ChatGPT, the Ryan Huska experiment should be left in the past.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen you have younger guys with talent and skill, you don\u2019t want to hold them back. You don\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25145,25146,25147,51,1611,6888],"class_list":["post-57669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-flames","tag-ryanhuska","tag-zayneparekh","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-flames","tag-dustin-wolf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}