Jonathan Huberdeau Is More Important to the Flames’ Rebuild

It feels like everybody has decided what Jonathan Huberdeau is at this point. He's the guy with the enormous contract. He's the former superstar who didn't live up to the deal. He's the player the Calgary Flames would probably love to move if somebody were willing to take the contract off their hands.

The critique is fair enough. The contract hasn't worked out the way anybody in Calgary hoped it would. But somewhere along the way, the contract and the player became the same conversation. They aren't.

Huberdeau is still a good hockey player.

And maybe, just maybe, there's still a pretty good hockey story left to tell here. The frustrating part for Huberdeau has to be enormous. He went from being one of the most productive offensive players in the NHL in Florida to arriving in Calgary under the weight of a massive contract and expectations that were almost impossible to meet. When things didn't go the way everybody expected, the contract became the story.

That's got to wear on a player. But look at what happened in 2024-25. Huberdeau scored 28 goals and put up 62 points in 81 games. Those aren't superstar numbers, but they're certainly not the numbers of a player who has nothing left. That distinction matters for the Flames.

Calgary isn't trying to win a Stanley Cup tomorrow. This is a team building around younger players, and that means having some experienced players around them who can actually play matters. Huberdeau doesn't have to become the Florida version of himself again to be useful.

Huberdeau just has to get healthy.

And that's where this latest injury becomes so frustrating. If Huberdeau can get back on the ice and put together another solid season, suddenly the conversation changes. Maybe he's an important veteran presence for players like Matvei Gridin, Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Samuel Honzek. Maybe he finds some chemistry with a younger player and becomes a useful part of the next version of this team.

And if he plays well enough, maybe he even gives Craig Conroy something else the Flames desperately need right now: options. Nobody is expecting Calgary to suddenly find a way to erase that contract. That's not how hockey works. But there's a big difference between saying, “We have an expensive contract we'd like to get rid of,” and saying, “We have a good NHL player who might still have some very useful hockey left in him.”

If the Flames are smart, they’d rather be dealing with the second situation.

That's why this season could be more important for Huberdeau — and for the Flames — than it appears on the surface. Maybe the comeback isn't about proving everybody wrong. Maybe it's simply about reminding everybody that Jonathan Huberdeau can still play.

And honestly, after everything that's happened, it would be pretty nice to see him do exactly that.