Jonathan Huberdeau To Miss Start Of Flames Season

Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau will miss the start of the 2026-27 season as he continues to recover from a hip resurfacing surgery performed in the Spring, general manager Craig Conroy told Pat Steinberg of Flames Now 770. Huberdeau will begin training camp working on his own and be reintegrated into team skates later on. The surgery ended Huberdeau’s season before the Olympic break. This news confirms a fear that has followed Calgary’s summer, after Conroy revealed that Huberdeau suffered a setback over the summer.

Huberdeau’s 2025-26 season was capped at 50 games due to his injury. He recorded 10 goals and 25 points in that span; a decrease in scoring pace from his 28 goals and 62 points in 81 games of the 2024-25 season. Huberdeau hasn’t lived up to the 115-point season he posted with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22 during his time in Calgary – though he has remained one of the Flames’ top scorers in each season with the club.

Calgary promoted rookie Matvei Gridin up the roster in Huberdeau’s absence. Earning a focal role right around his 20th birthday, Gridin managed 14 points in 24 games after the Olympic break. That scoring pace would net 48 points across a full 82 games – an impressive rate for a rookie winger who began the year in the AHL. Gridin should remain the beneficiary of Huberdeau’s absence, though Calgary could also award extra minutes to Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich.

The absence could also present an opportunity to a long list of Flames prospects. Rory Kerins is the most poised for NHL minutes after commanding AHL play for the last few seasons – though William Stromgren, Aydar Suniev, and Andrew Basha also seem fit for the test. They will try to prove their case during Calgary’s preseason, while the Flames try to sort out a more concrete timeline for the veteran Huberdeau.