Jonathan Huberdeau hopes the 2023-24 season can be a bounce-back year for him and the Calgary Flames.
After scoring 115 points with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22, Huberdeau was traded to Calgary, along with MacKenzie Weegar, in exchange for Matthew Tkachuk. His first season with the Flames was a struggle, producing 15 goals, 40 assists and 55 points, his lowest point total in a full season since 2014-15.
On Wednesday’s episode of "Daily Faceoff LIVE," Frank Seravalli discussed how the wholesale changes made in Calgary this offseason could have an impact on Huberdeau and the Flames heading into 2023-24.
Frank Seravalli: I think this is the time Jonathan Huberdeau properly introduces himself to Calgary. You look at all that unfolded last year: the all-star left winger, the guy who scored the most points in a single season by a left winger in NHL history, plays 55 games on the right side. It makes your head explode.
You also get to late in games, you have a $10M player…you need him to be out there (on the wing) for the faceoff and make magic happen, and he’s not there in the last two minutes of the game. I don’t know what Darryl Sutter was thinking. The pushback on that which I’ve gotten was, “Well these guys need to fight through that.” I don’t know if that’s the answer. You need to put players in a position to succeed and that wasn’t happening last year. It was quite obvious to everyone that no one enjoyed playing for Darryl Sutter.
Here’s my big question for the Flames: All these positive vibes, smiling, the good feel in training camp, the positivity from Mikael Backlund extending and becoming captain, the fresh approach from Ryan Huska and now Craig Conroy as the new GM…does that actually mean anything? Does that translate to success and wins?
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